The 2025 season was a glorious one for the Seattle Seahawks, of course, as the team won the Super Bowl. Even with their greatness, the team still had real fights with the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles, and any slippage by Seattle could make 2026 much more difficult.
Unfortunately, Seattle hasn't done much this offseason. The team re-signed Rashid Shaheed, and that was fantastic, but losing free agents Coby Bryant, Riq Woolen, Kenneth Walker, and Boye Mafe is bound to hurt. More to the point, those moves without corresponding quality moves would indicate Seattle will be worse next season.
The 49ers and Rams didn't wait around to try to reclaim the NFC West from Seattle, though. The two teams appear to be much better than they were this past year. San Francisco might be improved simply by getting key players back from being injured, such as Nick Bosa and Fred Warner.
Seattle Seahawks aren't answering what the Rams and 49ers are doing this offseason
In free agency, the 49ers added to their relatively weak wide receiver group by signing high-producing Mike Evans and Christian Kirk, a longtime underperforming player who could be a good fit with San Francisco. The 49ers are also bringing back inside linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who has been excellent previously next to Warner.
The Rams made a concerted effort to improve their secondary this offseason and have seemingly accomplished that extremely well. LA traded for former Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie. Then, the Rams signed McDuffie's teammate, Jaylen Watson.
Los Angeles needed a player who could try to slow down Seahawks All-Pro Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and they added two. Will McDuffie and Watson slow JSN? Maybe not, but at least the two new corners give LA a better chance than last season's cornerback group.
The Seattle Seahawks are unlikely to be counting on the 2026 draft to help them make countermoves to what the Rams and 49ers have done, as general manager John Schneider only has four selections overall. He could add more by trading back out of the first round, but that doesn't necessarily mean the team is going to add a lot of high-end talent.
No team, especially one that just won a title and still has a young roster, is likely to take a waver on the next season, but Seattle might be coming close to that. In 2027, the team would currently have 11 draft picks, including the projected comp picks Seattle would get for losing Walker and others in free agency. The Seahawks have a lot of money left in free agency, but have a lot next year, too.
Two things that likely don't come into play are the Arizona Cardinals, a terrible organization that hasn't made many good moves this offseason, and the sale of the Seahawks. Keeping the payroll low by not overpaying for many free agents won't have anything to do with how quickly the team is sold.
Maybe John Schneider still pulls off an impactful trade or two, but Seattle has limited draft capital to do that. If nothing changes, the Seahawks could be looking at third place next season.