The defending Super Bowl champions have had a quiet offseason. The Seattle Seahawks lost Kenneth Walker III and Coby Bryant in free agency, and with only four draft picks and a cautious approach to spending, their roster is mostly complete.
That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. This team had the top-scoring defense and the third-best scoring offense in the league, and with most of their core pieces still under contract, they should be just fine.
That's why not even adding Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson was enough for the Los Angeles Rams to take down the Seahawks. In NFL Spin Zone's latest power rankings, Lou Scataglia still has the Seahawks at No. 1, with the Denver Broncos right behind them, and then the Rams.
The Seattle Seahawks are still the team to beat in the NFL
"The Super Bowl champions are the best team in the NFL, and while they don't necessarily have the best quarterback in the world, the current group was plenty good enough last year and should be plenty good enough in 2026," Scataglia wrote.
Of course, that doesn't mean that general manager John Schneider can just rest on his laurels. Defending champions can't afford to get complacent or overly confident, especially in such a tough division.
The Arizona Cardinals shouldn't pose much of a threat in the NFC West. The San Francisco 49ers made good moves and should be better to a degree, but Mike Macdonald seems to have Kyle Shanahan's number. The Rams, on the other hand, are a different story.
The Seahawks went 2-1 against them last season and should hold bragging rights after a dominant outing in the NFC Championship Game. That said, their three matchups went down to the wire, with games decided by 2, 1, and 4 points, respectively. That's not the type of team you want to sleep on, especially with them seemingly going all-in to play in the Super Bowl at home at SoFi Stadium.
It'll all go down to whether the Seahawks can round up the roster with their four draft picks and add a couple of veterans on cheap deals. This team clearly doesn't have a ton of needs, but divisional games are always a toss-up, and the Rams look like the only legitimate threat in the conference.
They clearly feel the same way about Seattle, and their efforts to bolster the secondary are a clear response to Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Rashid Shaheed.
The only thing harder than winning a Super Bowl is winning the next one. This is a copycat league, and with everybody either trying to replicate the Seahawks' formula or building a team to counter their strengths, Mike Macdonald will be under more pressure than ever.
The Seahawks are the team to beat until proven otherwise, but looking down on their opposition has doomed so many great teams in the past.