Seahawks-Patriots preview: Pats insider details key offseason changes

The Seattle Seahawks’ 2026 regular season begins with a familiar opponent, but I don’t think Seattle can approach Wednesday night as if it is simply picking up where Super Bowl 60 ended. For the first regular-season edition of “Eye on the Prey” as part of The Hawks Eye podcast, I was joined by Taylor Kyles of Patriots Daily to take a deeper look at what has changed in New England and what Seattle should expect when the Patriots arrive at Lumen Field for Week 1.

Roster changes, plus another year for Drake Maye

The biggest difference is the amount of talent New England has added around Drake Maye. The Patriots made an aggressive move for A.J. Brown, added Romeo Doubs from the Green Bay Packers to the receiving corps and strengthened the offensive line with former New York Jets guard Alijah Vera-Tucker, allowing the Patriots to move Jared Wilson from left guard to center. Defensively, veterans such as safety Kevin Byard and former Seahawks pass rusher Dre’Mont Jones give Mike Vrabel additional flexibility. This was already a 14-win team last season, so the offseason was less about rebuilding and more about addressing the areas that kept New England from finishing the job against Seattle in February.

“I think one of the biggest things was the offensive line,” Kyles said. “And look, that wasn’t a secret going in. Will Campbell had a sprained MCL and was playing next to Jared Wilson, so you had two rookies on one side of the line of scrimmage. Garrett Bradbury had been pretty solid for what the expectations were, but you kind of knew that he wasn’t exactly a strength for that unit. He was really just kind of holding the spot for a season. Morgan Moses, I mean, the guy’s 36 years old. As you can imagine, I think when you look back at the tape, honestly, looking back recently, it really stood out. It was like, Morgan’s a good player, but for a guy that age, all those games it really did add up. And I think it kind of showed in his plays. So, the offensive line clearly needed reinforcements. It needed its younger players to take a step forward.”

Taylor and I spent a good portion of the conversation discussing how those additions could change the chess match between Maye and Mike Macdonald. Seattle’s defense created problems last season through disguise, simulated pressure and post-snap rotation. A.J. Brown now gives Maye a receiver who can win even when the coverage is technically sound, which could force Seattle to make some difficult decisions about how aggressively it wants to pressure while also protecting against explosive plays.

“[The red zone offense] looks like it’s going to be more potent. And obviously that starts with AJ Brown because all you need is the twofer in the red zone. If you’re a threat on a slant and you’re a threat on a fade, very hard to defend that. But you’ve also seen Romeo Doubs have a lot of success in the red zone, which isn’t a surprise. He’s been kind of a red zone merchant his entire career.”

Another year in Josh McDaniel’s offense could also provide valuable experience for the MVP runner-up.

“A major emphasis for the Patriots offense this offseason is incorporating tempo, having Drake get to the line of scrimmage and different types of tempo. It’s not always ‘let’s go as fast as we can and just call a play.’ Sometimes it’s ‘let’s get to the line of scrimmage, dummy call, see what they’re in, and then try to get ourselves in good position.’ So, the biggest things for me really and obviously like receiver, we can kind of hit on that, but really it was the trenches and it was Drake Maye between the ears, just a lack of experience that really got exposed as he got into the game and you felt like, all right, they’re not running the ball. Everyone knows what’s going on. Is Drake going to take what they give him? Is he gonna kind of panic a little bit? And you saw the inexperience.”

A cornerback matchup the Seahawks could exploit

On the other side, this will be our first opportunity to see Brian Fleury’s offense in a meaningful regular-season game. New England still has plenty of high-end defensive talent, particularly in the secondary with Christian Gonzalez, and its interior defensive front has the ability to disrupt an offense without requiring constant pressure packages. How Fleury uses motion, play-action and formations to create favorable matchups will be one of the most fascinating parts of Week 1. Taylor did note one possible wide receiver vs. cornerback matchup that would worry him from a Patriots perspective.

“I didn’t like Rashid Shaheed versus Carlton Davis before the Super Bowl,” Kyles said. “I was pretty clear about that. I did not think that was a good matchup for the Patriots. Maybe it didn’t manifest that way, but like you mentioned, he’s even better, and Carlton Davis missed most of training camp. In some of the joint practices, quite frankly, he was getting kind of cooked off the line in a way that slightly concerned me. Mow Marcus Jones, if they match up, I like it. I think if Rashid Shaheed’s going to go up and make an impressive catch, awesome. But I think Marcus would be on his hip. He’s one of the most explosive players at that position. If Marcus Jones were three inches taller, he’d be a Pro Bowler. Like, he’s a phenomenal player. It’s just he’s small and there’s only so much you can do at that size, and even then he still makes plays.

“I don’t like it because unless Carlton Davis gets his hands on Rashid Shaheed, he just can’t run with him. That’s the reality. He’s an older corner. Again, he’s a pro and I think technically there’s a lot of things he can do to kind of even that matchup a little bit. But if Sam Darnold decides that he wants to really test that matchup, I have a hard time thinking that he’s not going to get some results he likes.”

We also went through New England’s offseason, training camp and preseason, the Patriots’ remaining roster questions, the matchups that could ultimately decide the game, and our keys to victory.

This may be a Super Bowl rematch, but both teams have evolved since February. That is what makes Wednesday night so interesting!

Watch the full conversation with Taylor Kyles below as we break down Seahawks vs. Patriots from every angle.