Remember when the Seattle Seahawks decided to change EVERYTHING last offseason, after a 10-7 record in the previous campaign? Okay, maybe that’s a little dramatic, but it turned out to be a masterclass in roster transformation, and each move was made with conviction.
March of 2025 saw the Seahawks moving away from players like Geno Smith (QB1), DK Metcalf (WR1), Tyler Lockett (WR3 and franchise legend) and finding players like Sam Darnold, Rashid Shaheed, Cooper Kupp, and DeMarcus Lawrence.
The Hawks
of the PNW went from missing the playoffs the previous campaign, to Super Bowl champions in one year.
Seattle’s head coach, Mike Macdonald, deserves a lot of credit for the vision, leadership and connectedness that were on full display on the lead-up to a league championship. The man who has been probably most instrumental in creating a hospitable and thriving environment for football is general manager, John Schneider. He spoke at length (in an interview now up on the Seahawks’ YouTube page) about last year’s wild offseason.
In the first episode of a new video series entitled: “Making a Champion,” Schneider sat down to chat with John Boyle and Jen Mueller about forming the roster that won Seattle a second Lombardi Trophy. This episode centers around his part in “The Creation of a Championship Team.”
Fascinating to look back now, as many of the 2025 changes being on offense made it an uneasy transition for many fans and pundits. There were more than a few interesting tidbits to take away.
When asked about what allowed the Seahawks to make such a big pivot between player personnel at multiple positions, Schneider had this to say: “Well, honestly, it really started, you know, the very Monday after the season that year. I just remember getting with Mike [Macdonald]… you know, making the change with the offensive coordinator, having the exit interviews with several players… it just became clear with meeting with our staff.”
He continues talking about the order of offseason tasks and says that “we were going to have a new offensive staff; there’s going to be a lot of changes.” These weren’t just tinkers, either.
He explained how “being able to pivot as quickly as we did is a huge credit to, not only obviously, Mike and the new offensive staff, but you know, all the guys involved. Nolan [Teasley], Matt Berry, Trent [Kirchner] and Willie [Schneider] and that whole group.” It really was a group effort to construct a whole new offense, as a team.
This team effort that John Schneider speaks of is something we’ve heard echoed for some time now. There have been multiple comments by Coach Macdonald that Sam Darnold and Cooper Kupp also had their input in some of how the offense operated. This was truly an impressive team effort to quickly pivot and create a different offense from scratch.
This is yet another example of the team of ball-knowers that Schneider has assembled in Seattle. A team is what helped to win the championship, and that’s clearly not limited to the men on the field.
Since hindsight can be 20/20, let’s not forget that many of these moves were met with real skepticism. The Seattle Seahawks’ 2025 regular season win total was set at an Over/Under of 8.5 wins during the preseason for crying out loud! Seattle was supposed to take a step back instead of way forward.
Later in the interview, we learn from John that not only was Klint Kubiak (who previously coached Darnold with the 49ers) a voice who believed in the quarterback move, but also Minnesota Vikings HC, Kevin O’Connell in was “instrumental” in helping the Seahawks feel good about moving to San Darnold as the new QB. That might be yet another point of contention and reason why Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was replaced by Nolan Teasley as the GM in the Twin Cities.
Since hindsight can be so easily 20/20, let’s remember that Geno Smith to Sam Darnold was viewed as a downgrade by many, many fans and even local experts.
Just watch the below video from about 2:30 – 4:30 to see both experts express their doubts and dismay over the thought of pivoting to Sam Darnold. They aren’t the only ones! There wasn’t a great swell of hype among 12’s to aid in initially feeling great about Darnold as the new answer to who could take the Seahawks to the “promised land.”
Shocking offseason moves fit together as a championship-caliber mosaic that will bask in Seattle lore from here until eternity. That is not by accident.
Here’s two-time Super Bowl-winning general manager John Schneider on what he thinks made this a championship team: “The connectedness and the players really buying in to the teachers that we have on this coaching staff. And you’ve heard me talk about it for years, but all the foundational people that are here… all these foundational people that are here, that have been here, to just keep moving this organization forward.”
John Schneider deserves all of the accolades and flowers that will continue to flow his way. Maybe more should be made of the aspects of his leadership that encompass delegation, vision and belief in the team of people that he’s assembled. It’s truly a football culture.
Looking forward to peaking further behind the veil of “Making a Champion.”
