Seattle Seahawks 2024 schedule is not as it appears
By Lee Vowell
There was no mystery as to who the Seattle Seahawks were going to play in 2024. Once the 2023 season ended and Seattle had finished in third place in the NFC West, Seattle knew they would be playing a third-place schedule as well as each NFC West team twice and the 2024 rotation of the AFC East and NFC North. The only question was when they would be playing those teams.
Seattle's schedule appeared to be easier than previous seasons at first glance. But in the NFL, of course, on any given Sunday any team can beat any other. CBS Sports had Seattle with the seventh-easiest strength of schedule in 2024, but that is wholly based on last season's win-loss records. In other words, the strength of schedule metrics are meaningless as teams make offseason moves in attempts to get better.
A better measure, other than simply playing real games and letting things work themselves out, is to factor in Super Bowl odds because oddsmakers do not want to lose money. They will have taken into account players added and lost by each team and how that most likely could affect the upcoming season. While one can choose to place money on how well a team will do (or not do) this is not about betting but about what Las Vegas thinks a team will do.
Seattle Seahawks schedule is not as "easy" as it might seem at first glance
ESPN's Brady Henderson recently shared a social media post from Deniz Selman who created a strength of schedule based on the games the Seahawks will play plus Super Bowl odds. For instance, the Chicago Bears were lousy in 2023 but after drafting quarterback Caleb Williams, their Super Bowl odds increased quite a bit. The same is true for the Atlanta Falcons who added free agent QB Kirk Cousins this offseason.
This is a cool way of assessing strength of schedule. The Jets, Falcons and Bears look notably better than they were in 2023. The Seahawks play all three. That helps explain why their SOS is tied for seventh-easiest based on opp. win % but tied for 10th-hardest by this measure. https://t.co/OmgAC3B4zD
— Brady Henderson (@BradyHenderson) May 16, 2024
Seattle's schedule gets much tougher when factoring in those moves. In fact, the Seahawks should have the 10th-most difficult schedule in 2024. Not that any NFL schedule is truly easy, but Seattle's now looks much harder.
Again, the great thing is that the above is only a metric. The Seahawks will control their own real fate. Hopefully, Mike Macdonald can get the team more focused and Seattle can get back to the playoffs.
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