As the Seattle Seahawks enter a pivotal stretch of the 2025 season, there may be no better time to bring in one of the most respected voices covering this team every single day—Corbin Smith
, beat reporter and analyst for Locked On Seahawks and Emerald City Spectrum. For this week’s episode of The Hawks Eye, Corbin joined me to break down where Seattle truly stands, what’s fixable, and what absolutely must change as the team pushes toward a postseason berth.What made this conversation particularly
valuable was Corbin’s daily access and deep understanding of the internal dynamics at play. We opened the show by tackling the question that has been hanging over the team for weeks: Are the Seahawks genuine NFC contenders, or are their flaws beginning to overwhelm their strengths? Corbin provided a measured but honest assessment of how the coaching staff and players view their trajectory—and why the national narrative doesn’t always match the in-building reality.
A central theme of the episode was Seattle’s protection breakdown against the Minnesota Vikings, one of the most alarming offensive performances of the year. Corbin and I dissected what Brian Flores exploited, why the interior offensive line struggled so significantly, and what the film revealed about Anthony Bradford’s performance (12:28 mark). More importantly, we explored whether these concerns are correctable as Seattle prepares for a physical Falcons defense.
“Anthony Bradford is the most inconsistent offensive lineman the Seattle Seahawks have,” Smith said. “He has been for the last three years. There are good plays on film with him, there have been for his entire career. The problem with him is he’s just not been consistent. I think what really hurts the narrative with Anthony Bradford—I’ve fallen for this at times, too—the mistakes that he makes are so glaring.”
Outside of the brutal whiff on a Zach Charbonnet red zone play in the second quarter, Smith did defend Bradford’s showing against the Vikings, which came under significant scrutiny at the time, and cited some interesting stats over the past month.
“The last five games, Anthony Bradford has given up three pressures and zero sacks,” Smith noted. “His pass protection has been really good for over a month. He’s playing really good football in pass protection.
“I’d never thought I’d be coming to the defense of Anthony Bradford necessarily because I’ve been very critical at times, too, but watching that Vikings game in the All-22, especially the four sacks in the first half, Anthony Bradford had nothing to do with any of those happening. I’ve seen some people argue that the guy that he went to go block sacked Sam Darnold on the first sack. That’s not what caused the sack, though.
“The play was over when Abraham Lucas got torched off the edge and beat instantly upfield and then Darnold had to try to run outside, and the guy that Bradford was blocking—Darnold basically ran into him. That’s not Anthony Bradford’s fault. It’s not his fault that when they had their pass protection call come in that [Minnesota’s] No. 51 decided not to blitz. That is how they had their protection call installed for the week.
“That one is on Abe Lucas. He got beat, he got whipped. Darnold was just trying to make a play. The guy that Bradford wisely went over to try to block who wasn’t even his own assignment—he went and tried to make something happen. You can’t blame him for the QB going out of the pocket. That’s not a sack that’s on him.
“There were bad plays; that pulling block that was missed was a really bad one. But I thought he played a lot better than what the narrative nationally suggested.”
One outlet that did praise Bradford for his pass blocking was Pro Football Focus.
Defensively, Corbin broke down how Mike Macdonald has elevated Seattle’s identity, even with significant injuries at every level. His insight into the structure, communication, and adaptability of this unit highlighted why the defense continues to travel well and why players such as Julian Love, Nick Emmanwori, and Tyrice Knight have thrived under this system.
We also explored Seattle’s ongoing offensive identity search, including JSN’s rise, Sam Darnold’s recent trends, and how the eventual integration of Rashid Shaheed could reshape the passing game.
To close the episode, Corbin and I previewed Seahawks–Falcons and discussed how this matchup could become much closer than fans expect.
If you want a clear, detailed, and honest look at where the Seahawks stand heading into December, this is an episode worth your time.
You can watch the full discussion on The Hawks Eye on YouTube or listen on Spotify. And be sure to support Corbin’s work at Locked On Seahawks and Emerald City Spectrum.
