Entering the 2026 season, the national media has been very high on the Seattle Seahawks. This is not surprising as the team just won the Super Bowl, and in a dominant way. Across the NFL landscape, the consensus top two teams appeared to be the Seahawks and their division rival, Los Angeles Rams. However, will the national media keep the Seahawks in a top position with their win over the New England Patriots? Or will the loss of Sam Darnold to a glute injury show them slip in the rankings? Let’s
take a look at five national media sites power rankings (NFL.com, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report (B/R), Pro Football Talk (PFT), and ESPN) to see where they rank Seattle.
Starting with the bad news … if you can call it bad. ESPN ranks the Seahawks at number two in the NFL, keeping the same ranking they had entering the season. In this ranking ESPN notes that rookie running back Jadarian Price had a solid debut, while also giving a shoutout to safety, Rodney Thomas II who played for an injured Ty Okada. The only team ranked above Seattle was the Buffalo Bills.
Entering the season, both CBS Sports and PFT had the Seahawks ranked as the number one team in the league. Their win over the Patriots did not change this. In their ranking, CBS Sports shows optimism that Seattle can keep winning with backup quarterback, Drew Lock at the helm. On the opposite end of the spectrum, despite keeping the Seahawks ranked at number one, PFT does question how long the team can keep winning with Drew Lock at the helm.
Neither NFL.com nor B/R had the Seahawks ranked number one entering the 2026 season. However, after the week one victory over the Patriots, both have moved Seattle into the top spot. The biggest jump was with NFL.com, who originally had the Seahawks ranked number three entering the season. In this week’s ranking, NFL.com moved them up to number one on the list, and highlighted the team’s big second half comeback, led by three fourth-quarter takeaways, and a signature Jaxon Smith-Njigba touchdown.
B/R on the other hand moved the Seahawks up from second to first. In this ranking, B/R notes that this team’s victory with Drew Lock at quarterback shows just how dominant of a team they are. An added note that B/R made was that the “Seahawks should’ve been No.1 to start out power rankings.” The team that Seattle took the top spot away from? The Los Angeles Rams – who have now fallen to sixth in BR’s rankings.
I know this is a Seahawks power rankings roundup. However, it is sweet to see the Rams fall from national grace. It isn’t just BR who dropped the Rams down a lot in their rankings. ESPN also had the Rams falling from first entering the season to being ranked fourth. NFL.com dropped the Rams from first to seventh. CBS Sports dropped the Rams from second to fifth. And lastly, PFT had the Rams drop all the way from second to 11th.
Overall, the Seahawks have to be feeling good after pulling off that come from behind victory with a backup quarterback, first time play-caller, and with it all being week one of the season (and banner night of all nights). The national media feels good about the team as well. Entering the season the average power ranking between the five polled sites was 1.8. This week the average power ranking between the five sites is 1.2. Although it is small, this still shows an upward trend.
Despite going into next week with backup, Drew Lock, the Seahawks are still likely going to be favorites against the Arizona Cardinals. However, this is the NFL, and if Seattle is caught slipping, they may very well see a similar fall in rankings as the Rams did this past week.
