After having a decent season and going 10-7 (missed playoffs), Seahawks head coach Mike MacDonald felt like things should look a little different, especially on offense. The Seahawks will have a completely new wide receiver group outside of Jaxon Smith-Njigba and will be led by Sam Darnold at quarterback who helped the Vikings to a 14-3 regular season record in 2024. The NFC West looks wide open as pretty much every team in the division is looking to bounce back or improve upon their finishes last season.
2024 Seattle Seahawks Stats (rank)
Points per game: 22.1 (18th)
Total yards per game: 332.2 (14th)
Plays per game: 60.6 (24th)
Dropbacks per game: 42.6 (8th)
Dropback EPA per play: 0.04 (20th)
Rush attempts per game: 22.5 (29th)
Rush EPA per play: -0.13 (25th)
Will new OC Klint Kubiak take a revamped Seahawks offense to the next level?
Mike Macdonald came in as a rookie head coach and delivered the franchise’s first double-digit win season since 2020 (10-7). The Seahawks carried good momentum down the stretch going 6-2 in their final two games. Everything wasn’t great though as they failed to make the playoffs and both the offense (14th ranked) and defense (14th ranked) were just “middle of the road” units. Major changes were made on the offensive side of the ball as Macdonald looked to get younger at quarterback by trading away Geno Smith and signing Sam Darnold coming off a career-best season. They also will enter the 2025 without their second and third most productive receivers from last season in D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. They’ve been replaced by Cooper Kupp and Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
Another big move was bringing in new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak who spent 2024 with the Saints in the same position. While Kubiak led the Saints’ offense to only a 21st ranking (as far as yards per game), they lacked any type of competent personnel due to injuries at every single position. A better barometer to measure would be in 2023 when he was the passing game coordinator for the 49ers, where he worked with Darnold (as the backup). Kubiak’s main focus will be utilizing the offense’s strengths personnel wise and getting his best players the ball (Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Kenneth Walker).
Passing Game
QB: Sam Darnold, Drew Lock, Jalen Milroe
WR: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Jake Bobo
WR: Cooper Kupp, Tory Horton
WR: Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Ricky White
TE: Elijah Arroyo, A.J Barner, Eric Saubert
In 2024 Sam Darnold took full advantage of his chance to start as a member of the Vikings and never looked back. He had more wins as a starter last season than his previous four combined. Coming off a season in which he finished as QB8 in fantasy points per game, Darnold is out to prove it wasn’t a fluke. Here are some things to note. Weeks 1-4 he started off hot, throwing 11 touchdowns and only three interceptions (QB5). Weeks 5-10 he tailed off a bit with a 6:7 TD to INT ratio (QB25). During Weeks 11-14 he bounced back throwing 11 touchdowns and no interceptions (QB5). To end the season (Weeks 15-18) he was QB19. Overall it was a great season for Darnold, but fantasy managers should note the inconsistencies in fantasy production as well as no longer having Justin Jefferson to throw to. Darnold should at least be serviceable as the QB2 in your 1QB leagues. If for whatever reason the Seahawks’ season takes a downturn, don’t be surprised if Jalen Milroe gets a shot to start some games this season, especially if they are already using him in packages.
While moving away from Jefferson and Kevin O’Connell will be tough, the transition shouldn’t be too hard for Darnold. As I mentioned earlier, Kubiak will give him as much as he can handle. Furthermore, he’s not throwing to slouches at wideout. Jaxon Smith-Njigba is now established after a season that saw him go 100-1130-6 which was good for WR15 in fantasy. He’ll be schemed for even more so now to get the ball in Kubiak’s offense like Deebo Samuel was in 2023 (WR13) minus the rushing. Cooper Kupp will add to this receiving group where his main challenge will be staying healthy. He’s proven that when he’s on the field he can still produce and that he’s comfortable playing the WR2 role. Again, the main issue will be that he’s not reached 850 receiving yards in a season since 2021 due to countless injuries. MVS will lack targets, but he won’t lack running go routes as that’s likely how he’ll find any fantasy footing. Tory Horton and Ricky White are two rookie receivers to keep an eye out for if injuries occur, both have solid talent as mid to late round (real NFL Draft) picks.
The tight end group will be even more interesting as Noah Fant was released earlier this offseason, but the fantasy football crowd wanted rookie Elijah Arroyo in there immediately, regardless. What stands in Arroyo’s way now is A.J. Barner. It’ll be a gift and a curse because on one hand they’re two different types of players which means you can utilize both at the same time. On the flip side, you can utilize both at the same time, and I mean, how many fantasy-relevant pass catchers do we expect the Seahawks to have? Arroyo will have to slowly work his way in, but does have the skillset to be a critical fantasy asset at some point. Because Arroyo is the better receiver, if he plays 55-60% of the snaps he could get you a 45-500-5 type of stat line.
Running Game
RB: Kenneth Walker, Zach Charbonnet, Kenny McIntosh, Damien Martinez
OL (L-R): Charles Cross, Grey Zabel, Olu Oluwatimi, Christian Haynes, Abraham Lucas
When it comes to Kenneth Walker there’s always a lot of “woulda, shoulda, coulda” as he’s yet to go through a season where he hasn’t missed time due injury. In fact, this very offseason he’s been dealing with an ankle injury to which Coach Macdonald said “he’ll be fine.” While he possesses the ability to take it to the house, his YPC has dropped every single season since entering the NFL in 2022 (4.6, 4.1, 3.7). The Seahawks would love to make Walker a bellcow back, but the injuries have prevented that from happening. Plus, Zach Charbonnet always comes in and offers a performance just as good. In his first four starts last season, Charbonnet tallied 317 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns on 5.1 YPC. Any fantasy manager rolling the dice on Walker should temper expectations on him finally becoming one of the better backs in fantasy.
The offensive line is young and seems to have been slowing adding building blocks each year. Charles Cross (24) and Lucas Abraham (26) will man the tackle spots as the longest tenured Seahawks along the line. Their newest piece of the puzzle is Grey Zabel out of North Dakota State, who is expected to start right out of the gate after being selected in the first round of the NFL draft. How this unit comes together will likely be determine how the offense does as a whole.
2025 Seattle Seahawks Win Total: (O/U 8.5)
The Seahawks have won at least nine games in each of the last three seasons with Geno Smith as the starting quarterback. At least on the offensive side of the ball it’ll be a whole new offense which means things could be a little better or a little worse. Based on some of the personnel changes, but mainly my expected jumps of other teams in the NFC West which upgraded, I see the Seahawks going under 8.5 wins and finishing last in that division. I just don’t think roster for roster they measure up well with their division opponents and it starts at quarterback, as good as Sam Darnold was last season.
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