Loser No. 3
Noah Fant - Seahawks tight end
Fant is an interesting player. He is 6'4" and 250 pounds with good hands and speed, but he does not seem to be able to turn all of that into points. He has not had a touchdown catch since the 2022 season, and he didn't get one until the Seahawks' final game of 2024. To be clear: He went nearly two seasons without scoring a touchdown.
Maybe he will be a fantastic fit in Klint Kubiak's system. Fant is not a terrible blocker, but he is much more of a receiver. If he gets more targets, and he gets them in more effective parts of the field, he could blossom in 2025. But people have been hoping that about him for six NFL seasons now.
Seattle chose Elijah Arroyo in the second round this year, and Arroyo has the same skill set as Fant. He can run and catch, and is more of a receiver than a blocker. He is going to take some targets away from Fant, which, obviously, will limit Fant's overall productivity.
Fant is entering the last year of his contract, and there is still a chance the team could release him and save $8.9 million. But there is seemingly no point in keeping him on the roster past 2025 as the team drafted his replacement in 2025.
Winner No. 4
Mike Macdonald - Seahawks head coach
When the Seahawks hired Mike Macdonald after the 2023 season, he was signed to a six-year deal. He had never been a head coach before, however, so there was a large amount of risk involved in the hiring. Based on his first year, his addition to the team is going to be good for years.
This offseason, John Schneider rewarded Macdonald by bringing back most of the defensive players from last year. Schneider saw how well the defense had done, and wanted to keep the unit intact so that Macdonald would have less teaching to do and could tinker a little more.
Adding Nick Emmanwori is going to be a boon to the defense overall, too. Macdonald is a safety whisperer, and that should make Emmanwori more productive than he would have been had he been drafted elsewhere.
But only two of Seattle's 11 draft picks play defense. Schneider clearly understands Macdonald is going to make the defense good, and that does not mean many changes. The adjustments will happen on offense. A more efficient unit on that side of the ball will help Macdonald win more games. That should mean making the playoffs, where a Macdonald-led defense makes the team dangerous.