Seattle Seahawks 2025 Profile

Coaching Staff

Head Coach: Mike Macdonald
Offensive Coordinator: Klint Kubiak
Defensive Coordinator: Aden Durde
Special Teams Coordinator: Jay Harbaugh

2024 Summary (W-L Record: 10-7)

2024 was a good first year under new head coach Mike Macdonald. While Seattle just missed the playoffs, they went 10-7 and made major strides on defense that should continue into 2025 and beyond:

Every aspect of the defense got better. In 2023 they were 25th in points allowed and 30th in yards. Last year, they ranked 11th and 14th respectively.

They were 21st against the pass and 31st against the run in 2023. Last year, they ranked 11th and 16th.

They generated more pressure. They were better on 3rd down and in the red zone.

Schematically, the defense sought to keep everything in front of them, allowing the 2nd-lowest air yards per completion in the league. They were one of the league leaders in split-safety coverage, and deployed a decent amount of disguise and sim pressures.

I do wonder if they’ll dial that up in year 2 in this system with more players having a better understanding of the defense. We know that Macdonald is excellent at using disguise and sim pressures based on how he’s called his defenses at Michigan, in Baltimore, and last season. So it wouldn’t be a surprise.

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The other side of the ball was definitely the weaker link last season. It wasn’t bad, but it was too often derailed by negative plays and turnovers. The offensive line struggled to play with consistency, both as a run-blocking unit and in protection, and their effectiveness was further hampered by injuries.

As a result, they allowed the 3rd most sacks, ranked 26th in negative run frequency, and were below average in rushing yards before contact.

Ultimately, there were enough negative plays to cost them a playoff spot.

Key Additions

QB Sam Darnold
QB Jalen Milroe (3rd Rd, 92nd Overall)
WR Cooper Kupp
WR Tory Horton (5th Rd, 166th Overall)
WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling
TE Elijah Arroyo (2nd Rd, 50th Overall)
TE Eric Saubert
LG Grey Zabel (1st Rd, 18th Overall)

DT Rylie Mills (5th Rd, 142nd Overall)
EDGE DeMarcus Lawrence
CB Shaquill Griffin
S Nick Emmanwori (2nd Rd, 35th Overall)

Key Losses

QB Geno Smith
WR D.K. Metcalf
WR Tyler Lockett
TE Noah Fant
TE Pharaoh Brown
LG Laken Tomlinson
RT Stone Forsythe

DT Roy Robertson-Harris
EDGE Dre’Mont Jones
CB Tre Brown
S Rayshawn Jenkins

Did They Address Their Holes?

Defensively, Seattle’s vulnerability last year was their ability to stop the run. They didn’t make a ton of moves to address it this offseason, but they did sign DeMarcus Lawrence, who has traditionally been a great run defender. We’ll see how effective he can be in his 12th season after returning from a season-ending Lisfranc injury.

The other addition that might help in this department is safety Nick Emmanwori, who they traded up to take at the top of the 2nd round. Emmanwori has impressive size and speed and is effective playing near the line of scrimmage. I’m sure they have a vision of him being a key contributor against the run.

The other big hole the Seahawks needed to address was of their own creation. They were loaded at receiver but then chose to trade D.K. Metcalf to the Steelers and release Tyler Lockett. They also let go of tight end Noah Fant.

Those 3 alone combined for 163 receptions, 2,092 yards, and 8 touchdowns last season. That’s not a small amount of production to replace.

So why not go out and get former division rival and Super Bowl LVI MVP Cooper Kupp? The pairing of Kupp with Jaxon Smith-Njigba should be a formidable one.

To complement those two, Seattle also drafted wide receiver Tory Horton in the 5th round, took tight end Elijah Arroyo in the 2nd round, and signed Marquez Valdes-Scantling.

To address their offensive line, the Seahawks selected Grey Zabel 18th overall to man the left guard position. A great athlete, especially for a 6’6” 310-pound human, Zabel will be a good fit for new offensive coordinator Klink Kubiak’s zone-run scheme.

Biggest Questions Entering 2025

Judging by their offseason moves, the Seahawks feel comfortable with the state of their defense. On the other side of the ball, they went through a bit of an overhaul.

Above, I addressed the turnover amongst their pass catchers. They also fired offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and replaced him with the aforementioned Kubiak.

Their biggest move, however, was at the quarterback position. They basically exchanged Geno Smith for Sam Darnold.

Getting younger at the position certainly had to factor into Seattle’s thinking. Another consideration is that Darnold thrived with the Vikings in Kevin O’Connell’s offense, which has a similar style and approach to the offense that Kubiak brings to town.

In particular, he likes to operate from under center. And that might be the biggest difference between his offense and the one Ryan Grubb had in place last year.

With Grubb, Seattle was under center just 24.7% of the time, ranking 29th in the NFL. Kubiak was under center 44.5% with the Saints, good for 7th in the NFL.

And Darnold is comfortable operating this way. O’Connell had him under center 51.1% of the time, the 4th-highest rate in the NFL.

Play-action is another area where I expect to see change. Under Grubb, the Seahawks utilized it on just 14.7% of passes, which ranked 29th in the NFL according to Pro-Football-Reference. Kubiak utilized it 20.3% of the time, ranking 17th in the NFL.

And not only did Darnold throw off of play-action frequently in Minnesota (27.7% of passes, 5th in the NFL), he was very effective doing so. His passer rating was 128.2 on play-action, ranking 2nd in the NFL.

I don’t think it’s out of the question to believe that Darnold can continue to perform at a level close to what he did last season. However, it’s hard not to conclude that 2024 was his absolute peak considering how great the situation in Minnesota was for a quarterback.

And this is the major question that will determine how competitive this team is this year: Which Sam Darnold will we see?

This offseason, I did a deep dive into Darnold’s break-out year with the Vikings, examining how he improved from earlier in his career as well as where he still has issues (check it out below!). He is unquestionably a much better player now, but my concern is that his last two games against the Lions and Rams showed that the old Darnold is still lurking somewhere close to the surface:

Another big change from last year’s offense will be to the run game. Kubiak predominantly utilizes a zone scheme as mentioned above, whereas Grubbs utilized a heavier dose of gap-scheme runs. Zone should be a better fit for this team, and Kubiak has an assortment of ways to utilize play-action off of those under-center zone runs.

2025 Outlook

The Seahawks are in one of the toughest divisions in the NFL, but they’re absolutely capable of winning it. They are as balanced as any of the other 3 teams and should be able to win games in multiple ways.

I expect the defense to take the next step in year 2 under Macdonald. The offense will be the wild card with all the new parts, but the talent is there.

Either way, the NFC West division race is going to be a dogfight. And Seattle is positioned well to compete for the title.

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