Now that the first few days of free agency chaos have ended, it allows us to look at the new NFL landscape. In doing so, certain winners and losers appear, in the macro sense with the NFL as a whole, all the way down to a micro sense looking at individual divisions and teams. Here, let’s go through the Winners and Losers for the Seattle Seahawks.
Seattle Seahawks free agency winners
Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Rashid Shaheed
The first winner after free agency is wide receiver, Jaxon Smith-Njigba. That may be a surprising name to hear considering
that it was Rashid Shaheed that returned to Seattle on a big deal. Of course, Rashid Shaheed himself is a huge winner too after receiving a 3 year contract worth $51 million with $34.7 million in guarantees. However, Smith-Njigba is a big winner because of what Shaheed’s return will do to defenses when playing Seattle.
Because of Shaheed’s crazy speed, defenses will have to play an extra safety over to Shaheed’s side to respect his burner ability, which takes another safety away from Smith-Njigba. The other option is to put that extra safety onto Smith-Njigba’s side, allowing Shaheed potential one-on-one opportunities. This will allow Seattle to continue using heavier personnel packages (two or three tight end sets), which also then helps Seattle in the running game.
Either way, Shaheed’s return to Seattle is huge for Smith-Njigba, Seattle’s other receivers, the entire Seahawks’ offense (oh and the special teams unit too!)
Ty Okada
The second winner is safety, Ty Okada. Last season, Okada was forced to start 11 games due to injuries to Julian Love and Coby Bryant. During that time he impressed throughout, putting up 65 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, two quarterback hits, 1.5 sacks, 6 passes defensed, one fumble recovery, and one interception. Safe to say the former undrafted free agent out of Montana State was all over the place and is now the projected starter for 2026.
Although the loss of Coby Bryant to the Chicago Bears stings, Okada will be more than ready to take his place and show that he is a true starting safety in this league. Seattle will need to add depth to the position as the only players under contract behind Okada and Julian Love is Maxen Hook, who spent most of 2025 on the practice squad. Nick Emmanwori of course is listed as a safety; however, he is your starter at nickel. Seattle could look to add another low-cost free agent or draft another player at the position for depth.
George Holani
Another winner from free agency is running back, George Holani. With Kenneth Walker III leaving to the Kansas City Chiefs and Zach Charbonnet working his way back from a torn ACL, Holani is the clear starting running back entering 2026. Of course, a lot can change between now and the start of the season with the NFL Draft still to come, and a few free agent running backs still available. However, the absence of the top two running backs from 2025 puts Holani in the best position he has been in to see a significant amount of offensive snaps.
Josh Jobe
The last player listed as a winner is cornerback, Josh Jobe. The former undrafted free agent out of Alabama first joined the Seahawks as a practice squad addition in 2024. In 2025, Jobe took the starting job from Riq Woolen and hasn’t looked back since. Next Gen Stats lists Jobe as allowing the 4th lowest completion percentage in the league. The only players who have allowed a lower completion percentage? Jamel Dean, Quinyon Mitchell, and Derek Stingley. That’s some pretty good company to be in.
Jobe is a big winner, not only because of his big pay day (three years, $24 million with $14.25 million guaranteed), but also because he is not the bona fide starter at outside cornerback. Time will tell if Jobe can continue his impressive career ascendance in 2026 and beyond.
Seattle Seahawks free agency losers
Tory Horton
It was tough to find some losers on the Seahawks roster after the start of free agency. However, one name that comes up is wide receiver, Tory Horton. With Shaheed returning to Seattle, Horton is now fighting for offensive snaps with Smith-Njigba, Shaheed, and Kupp all ahead of him on the depth chart. Had Shaheed not returned, Horton would have penciled into the top three. However, that is no longer the case. On the other hand, Horton now is not your starting kick and punt returner with Shaheed coming back. Horton is not expected to return to the field until at least training camp.
All of this said, there are still some positives for Horton too. Horton can still be one of the returners for kickoffs, since most teams deploy two returners for the kickoffs. The Seahawks also traded for Shaheed last year with the intent to use both him and Horton on offense, unfortunately Horton’s shin injury prevented that.
Seahawks chances at repeating as NFC West champions
The Seahawks should generally feel like winner this free agent season (despite what some national pundits may say). Despite losing some key pieces to the Super Bowl 60 championship team, Seattle has been able to keep together 20/22 starters (with one of those new starters being Ty Okada, who started 11 games last season).
However, the Seahawks are not the only NFC West winners of this free agency period. Most notably, the Los Angeles Rams have revamped their secondary by bringing in cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson (both by way of the Kansas City Chiefs). The San Francisco 49ers meanwhile have signed wide receiver Mike Evans away from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and traded for Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa. These moves show the arms race that is happening in the NFC West. The betting markets are showing this as well.
FanDuel currently shows the Rams as favorites for the NFC West at +135, with the Seahawks right behind at +160, the 49ers coming in at third at +290, and the Arizona Cardinals in a distant fourth at +3000. Before the free agency period began, the Seahawks were favorites for the division at +130 with the Los Angeles Rams in second at +150. Essentially the free agent moves made them swap places.
As for favorites for the Super Bowl are the Rams were the favorites in the NFL before free agency began at +700, with the Seahawks in a close second at +750. After free agency, the Rams remained the same, with the Seahawks dropping down to +850. We’ve been here before when it comes to underestimating the Seahawks, of course.
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