The Seattle Seahawks won’t have any compensatory selections in the upcoming 2026 NFL Draft due to a free agent frenzy in 2025 that included Sam Darnold, Cooper Kupp, and DeMarcus Lawrence. How’d that turn out?
Yeah, that’s never going to get old!
I’m pretty sure John Schneider and Mike Macdonald are perfectly fine with how
things turned out, bringing a second Super Bowl title to Seattle. Those free agency moves were critical to catapulting the Seahawks to the top of the heap.
And yet, every offseason is different, requiring different strategies for how to approach them. This year, the Seahawks have some high-profile free agents, all with that new Super Bowl smell. Kenneth Walker III, fresh off winning the Super Bowl MVP honor, has likely priced himself out of Seattle’s range. Someone is going to throw a boatload of money at Riq Woolen. Early reports say that Rashid Shaheed will likely command more money than Seattle is willing to pay. Boye Mafe, whom the Seahawks dangled at the trade deadline last season, will have a new home. Coby Bryant may also find himself in another uniform next season. Then, you’ve got players like Josh Jobe, Josh Jones, Chazz Surratt, and Dareke Young who may also leave in free agency.
Those are a LOT of players. Some of them will be retained, but not everyone can or will be brought back into the fold. In case you’ve forgotten how comp picks work, the most simple explanation is that the amount of unrestricted free agents that sign contracts elsewhere are balanced against the amount of outside free agents that a team signs, with comp picks given if you lose more free agents than you sign. Contract size also plays into that, but I won’t go too far into the weeds.
The point is that the Seahawks will likely lose a handful of free agents and don’t have a ton of holes on the roster. They won’t be desperate to hit the free agent market to fill needs. Instead, they could prioritize bringing back a few key players, and extending some of their young core. Trades are also an option to bolster the roster and wouldn’t come at the expense of a potential comp pick. Maxx Crosby’s name was being linked to the Seahawks again prior to the Baltimore Ravens trading two first-round picks to acquire him from the Las Vegas Raiders. Am I expecting a trade of that magnitude? Not really, but I also wouldn’t put it past Trader John to dip his toes into those waters.
We’ll know soon enough how aggressive the Seahawks will be in free agency. My gut tells me they’ll sit out of the early salvos where the contract numbers will be astronomical and watch Walker, Woolen, Shaheed, and Mafe leave for greener pastures. I think Josh Jobe will be back, and I won’t rule out Coby Bryant sticking around as well. Seattle will likely add a few mid-tier free agents to help fill out the roster, but remember that Schneider always wants to keep some “dry powder” to make moves after training camp and up through the trade deadline. It’s worked in the past, so why not continue that trend?
Get ready for some 2027 comp picks, because I think they’re coming.
