The Seattle Seahawks are coming out of the bye week at 5-2, sitting firmly in the NFC playoff picture but with plenty left to prove. It’s been a first half defined by resilience, defensive growth, and flashes of what this new-look offense could be — but also questions about identity and consistency.
To break it all down, I sat down with Gregg Bell, Seahawks beat reporter for the Tacoma News Tribune, for an in-depth conversation on The Hawks Eye. Few people have a better feel for the mood inside the building
than Gregg, and he offered a clear, detailed picture of where this team truly stands at midseason.
We opened by talking about the overall tone in the locker room — how players and coaches are approaching this strong start under Mike Macdonald’s steady leadership in Year 2 (4:07). Gregg shared his impressions of how this team’s personality has shifted from the Pete Carroll era to Macdonald’s structure-driven style and how veterans like Leonard Williams are shaping the group’s mindset.
From there, we dug into one of the biggest questions of 2025: why the run game continues to stall (12:27). Gregg broke down what he’s seeing from the offensive line, Klint Kubiak’s zone approach, and how the lack of rhythm has impacted play-action and overall balance.
“They’re only running outside zone the last few weeks at like 17% clip because they’ve been unable to get the horizontal movement in the push,” Bell said. “ They’ve had to resort to some inside zone and even some trap pulls, some gap scheme to try to get something going in the run game besides just outside zone. So that’s why when they’re not playing as designed, it’s supposed to be outside zone 60-70% of the time. The coaches will tell you that [they] just have to keep going with it. and and you’ll you I’m sure fans, people listening to this are frustrated by them running the ball when they’re not gaining yards. But Kubiak and Macdonald are convinced that they have to do that. One to get the running game eventually to take hold in within games and week over week, but two to run the play action passes and slow down pass rushes against it.
“Macdonald was really scarred last year by what Ryan Grubb was doing by just going back and dropping back the throw and chucking the ball all over the place.”
We then pivoted to the NFL trade deadline (23:41), discussing whether John Schneider should make a move or ride it out with this roster. Gregg gave his perspective on realistic areas of need — from interior O-line depth to another front-seven piece — and how the front office is weighing short-term vs. long-term upgrades. He also dropped an interesting nugget about one offensive lineman Seahawks fans are familiar with, and why he believes the team won’t go anywhere near pursuing him before the deadline.
“Here’s a little inside ball on Wyatt Teller,” Bell said. “The locker room and the coaching staff, Mike Macdonald in particular, do not like him. They are upset still about Uchenna Nwosu’s knee injury in the game against Cleveland at the end of the 2024 preseason. They thought that was a cheap shot that Teller should have been disciplined. It was a legal play in the truest sense of the rules. But veterans know that in a preseason game that players are just rounding out trying to get ready for the regular season. You don’t do that.
“The chop block that he was already getting engaged high and Teller came in low. I would be shocked if Wyatt Teller came into that locker room. If he did, there might be the first locker room fight of the Mike Macdonald era because [Nwosu] and his defensive mates would not appreciate that.”
Gregg does expect the Seahawks to be active at the trade deadline, but any thought of trading cornerback Riq Woolen comes with a caveat.
“I would expect that they will try to shop Riq Woolen, but I would expect that Woolen’s not going to garner the return that the Seahawks could get if they just hold on to him, and let him become an unrestricted free agent,” Bell said. “Remember Woolen made the Pro Bowl as a rookie and since then he’s been an almost an every down starter. I mean a 90+ percent snap guy since then.
“He’s very likely to command a third round pick as a compensatory pick if he leaves in unrestricted free agency. A Pro Bowl player who has started for four years. That’s usually the threshold of a third-fourth round pick. If they can’t fetch that in the trade market, why would you trade him?
“So, everyone said, ‘Well, trade Woolen.’ Well, for what? If a team’s going to give them a late round pick, just hold on to him for the depth issue if nothing else because of all the injuries they’ve had in the secondary and then let him sign in unrestricted free agency somewhere else and get a [2027] third or fourth round pick for him in the spring. I think that’s what that that situation is going to end up being.”
The defense, meanwhile, has become this team’s backbone. Gregg detailed how the communication and trust on that side of the ball has developed, and why players believe Macdonald’s system is starting to click at all three levels.
We wrapped things up with a fun 2-Minute Drill (54:45), where Gregg gave his quick takes on breakout players, team MVPs, and how he sees the rest of the season unfolding.
You can watch the full interview now on YouTube and Spotify — just search The Hawks Eye Podcast. Don’t forget to subscribe and follow for more exclusive Seahawks insight every week.
