Matt Calkins: Seahawks want 2026 season to be a sequel -- not a rerun

Matt Calkins, The Seattle Times on Jul 27, 2026

Published in Football

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SEATTLE — It's a little difficult to type these words when Leonard Williams, Devon Witherspoon and Ernest Jones IV are flying around out there on defense.

This statement comes with reluctance when Sam Darnold, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Rashid Shaheed are lining up on the other side of the ball.

Almost all of the Seattle Seahawks key figures from the Super Bowl champion Seahawks were in uniform on the first day of training camp Saturday. But make no mistake — this is a new team.

No, not new like the New England Patriots were in 2020 minus one Tom Brady. This isn't the post-Jordan Chicago Bulls or Gretzky-less Edmonton Oilers. In fact, in terms of roster turnover — this is the most intact defending Super Bowl champ in the salary-cap era.

But with over 20 new faces on the roster — including a running back that could replace a Super Bowl MVP — this is much closer to a sequel than it is a rerun.

We got, I don't know, 30% of our roster is probably different. We got changes on our coaching staff. We've got guys with new perspectives with life things that have happened," Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. "We're all kind of new people in this situation, which, by definition, makes us a new team, too. It's pretty simple."

Again, these Seahawks aren't glaringly different. They still have the fourth-best odds to win the Super Bowl (+1100) and would probably have the second-best odds if they played away from the Rams in the AFC. All but five players who got offensive or defensive snaps in the Super Bowl return.

But gone is Super MVP Kenneth Walker III, the running back who signed with Kansas City. Gone is defensive end Boye Mafe, who inked a $60 million deal with Cincinnati. Defensive backs Coby Bryant and Riq Woolen are in Chicago and Philadelphia, respectively, while receiver Dareke Young now resides in Vegas.

These are acceptable departures but not insignificant ones. In short: This team still has a lot of work to do.

Macdonald said Saturday that execution was not a Day 1 priority. Playing hard and adhering to the Seahawk mentality was. He likened it to being a schoolteacher: Lay down the law on the first day or risk losing the class.

But there are plenty of new students in this classroom. Most notable among them is first-round pick Jadarian Price, the running back out of Notre Dame. With fellow running back Zach Charbonnet rehabbing from a torn ACL, the rookie's contribution could be vital to an offense that set a franchise record for points scored last year.

TCU safety Bud Clark was selected in the second round with Arkansas corner Julian Neal taken in the third — the duo taken presumably to fill in for Woolen and Bryant.

Macdonald didn't comment specifically on any of the first-year guys, but did speak on them as a group.

“This has been a great rookie class. They're different than last year. It's a bit smaller, but a different personality," Macdonald said. "Those common threads that we want in our program, like respect and honest work, they're very talented in their own right; they have all those things."

I know, Coachspeak 101. Nobody's going to say "This rookie class? I'm not that impressed." But he's right about them being smaller. Last year's class had 11 players, with seven coming before the sixth round. This year's had eight, with just four coming before the sixth.

One of those draftees from last year was receiver Tory Horton, who was taken in the fifth round but found a roster spot after shining in camp. Unfortunately, a shin injury limited his season to just eight games last year, during which he caught 13 passes for 161 yards. He's back on the field, too.

Yes, much of the attention right now has been on defensive back Nick Emmanwori, who had surgery on the ankle that he injured just before the Super Bowl. There is also Witherspoon's imminent contract extension, the presence of HBO's "Hard Knocks" at training camp and the new Seahawks ownership group.

Storylines aren't absent. But neither are new players.

One of the hardest things to do in the NFL is win back-to-back titles. The Kansas City Chiefs are the only franchise to have done it in the past 20 years.

The Seahawks have a chance to do it again as a organization. But for this particular team? It would be a first.

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