If you are a Seattle Seahawks fan and you thought your favorite team had a good offseason even after the subtractions of quarterback Geno Smith and wide receivers DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, you could be correct. Your opinion is as valuable as anyone else's. Plus, we do not yet know how well the moves are going to work out.
General manager John Schneider must believe that getting younger and less expensive at quarterback with Sam Darnold will help find other players at different positions (due to the money saved by what Darnold signed for—three years and $100.5 million—compared to Geno Smith's likely $45 million a season with the Las Vegas Raiders), and he can be QB1 for the foreseeable future.
Seattle, though, has not truly replaced Metcalf's potential production. The recently signed Cooper Kupp has had some terrific seasons, but he also often gets hurt and is now over 30 years old. He signed for three seasons as well, but just like with Darnold, Seattle has an out after one year if the player does not perform as well as hoped.
ESPN believes the Seahawks have had one of the worst free agency classes of 2025
One important unit that the Seahawks have not yet truly addressed is their most glaring weakness coming into the offseason: the offensive line. Seattle lost left guard Laken Tomlinson in free agency, and the team has only signed long-time backup Josh Jones. If anything, Seattle's O-line looks worse than it has in previous years.
Possibly new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and new offensive line coach John Benton believe they can work with what the Seahawks already have, but that has been the downfall of offensive coaches for Seattle before. The team has not drafted wisely in terms of interior offensive linemen.
This is part of the reason that ESPN's Ben Solak thinks Seattle has signed the second-worst free agency class of 2025 so far. He is not wrong in his ideas, either. Sure, maybe Darnold builds on what he did for most of the 2024 season and is quite good. Potentially, Kupp stays healthy and is productive opposite WR1 Jaxon Smith-Njigba. But those were based on high hopes already.
Solak's biggest beef is the most truthful one. He writes that he didn't love the "...inexcusable neglect along the offensive line. As the free agency dust settles, the worst unit leaguewide is the Seahawks' offensive line...Even if every move general manager John Schneider made this offseason works, the ceiling of this Seattle squad will be capped by its inability to pass protect."
The sad part is that this has been the Seahawks' way for nearly a decade now. Some parts of the line might be decent (left tackle Charles Cross is a good player), but the whole unit needs to be cohesive for the offense to reach maximum productivity. Let's hope the pieces Seattle currently has suddenly get better because there won't likely be any help coming in free agency.