The Seattle Seahawks currently have 49 players under 26 years of age on their roster. Two of them – cornerback Devon Witherspoon and wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba – were recognized by CBS Sports as being among the league’s best young players.
They were ranked tenth and fifth, respectively. One other team, the Detroit Lions, had two players in the top ten. Half the league – 16 teams – did not have a single entry on the list.
Obviously, this is a good sign for a team that just won the Super Bowl. Witherspoon is the highest-ranked cornerback, and JSN comes in second at receiver behind the Rams’ Puka Nacua. General manager John Schneider has pushed a lot of the right buttons in recent years to build his championship roster.
Seattle Seahawks' young talent reveals just how masterfully John Schneider has created his roster
But the real strength of Seattle’s team, and the real genius of John Schneider, is not revealed in the presence of Spoon and JSN. I mean, Atlanta has both Drake London and Bijan Robinson (ranked at the very top), and they haven’t had a winning record since 2017. No – to see just how good Seattle’s roster is, you have to look a little deeper.
After reading the CBS list, I got to thinking about what a list of the Seahawks' best young players would look like. CBS used the start of the 2026 regular season as their cutoff. Any player 25 or younger on that day qualified. So that’s what I used too. Here’s what I came up with.
9. Zach Charbonnet, running back
If you place stock in Pro Football Focus (subscription required) grades, Charbonnet is among the best running backs in the NFL. And he has improved by sizeable margins in each of his three seasons.
Last year, he finished in the top ten, slotted between the Rams’ Kyren Williams and the Jets’ Breece Hall. Not bad for a part-timer. He does not have Kenneth Walker III’s explosiveness (K9 finished first in the PFF rankings last year), but he has developed into an excellent all-purpose power back.
8. Derick Hall, edge
Derick Hall should take on a bigger role this season after the departure of Boye Mafe. He remains an excellent pass rusher, but his improved play against the run should earn him more snaps, while veteran Dante Fowler assumes Hall’s previous pass rush specialist role.
7. AJ Barner, tight end
When he was drafted, the thought was that Barner could be an excellent blocking tight end with some modest upside as a pass catcher. The blocking has been as advertised, while he has exceeded all expectations as a receiver. He finished 2025 second on the club in receptions and touchdown catches, and third in receiving yards.
6. Grey Zabel, guard
Zabel was asked to lock down the shaky interior of the offensive line, and that is exactly what he did as a rookie. Plug-and-play from day one, and he should only get better over time.
5. Nick Emmanwori, safety
14 defensive players were chosen in the first round of the 2025 draft. Then, with the first and third picks in round two, Cleveland got linebacker Carson Schwesinger and the Seahawks got the do-everything star Emmanwori.
They proceeded to finish first and second in the Defensive Rookie of the Year balloting. Emmanwori's extraordinary athleticism allows Mike Macdonald and Aden Durde to do virtually whatever they want on defense.
4. Charles Cross, offensive tackle
Cross is a stud left tackle – a position every team needs. After signing him to an extension, this is something the Seahawks should not have to worry about until the next decade.
3. Byron Murphy II, defensive tackle
Murphy didn’t hit the ground running the way Grey Zabel did. It took him a few minutes to warm up to life in the NFL. Once he did, he vaulted toward the top of the league. There are few better, or more promising, interior defensive linemen. He is perfectly poised to inherit the mantle from Leonard Williams one day.
2. Devon Witherspoon, cornerback
Is he the best cornerback in the league? Maybe. He plays multiple positions. He can cover inside or out, rush the passer, and play the run. As a total package, there is none better.
1. Jaxon Smith-Njigba, wide receiver
In Spoon and JSN, Seattle has elite playmakers at corner and wide receiver. That’s a potent combination. JSN did not come out of nowhere in 2025. He had been trending toward stardom right along. But few predicted just how big a season he might have, or how central he would be to a Super Bowl-winning offense.
So that’s nine players, each of whom plays a crucial role for a champion, and none of whom turns 26 before the 2026 season begins. That’s rather extraordinary. I did a quick sampling of other teams. It wasn’t a complete survey, but I did not find anyone even close to the Seahawks in terms of quantity and quality of young players.
And this doesn’t even include the next tier – young Seahawks who have already shown a lot of promise but have not been able to prove it on the field yet, due to injury or roster competition. Players like Tory Horton, Elijah Arroyo, and Rylie Mills.
Players of that caliber might be sixth or seventh on most teams’ lists of young contributors. In Seattle, they can’t even crack the top ten. (Anthony Bradford would take the tenth spot for Seattle.) That is just one of many reasons why the Seahawks will contend for titles for years to come.
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