From where we're sitting the Seattle Seahawks are just three players away from becoming a serious playoff contender in the NFC. Specifically, they need new capable starters at left guard, center and right guard. However, not everyone agrees that Seattle's roster is that close to competing at a heavyweight level.
According to a new piece ranking all 32 rosters around the league going into the 2025 NFL draft at The Athletic, the Seahawks rank just 22nd in this department - and most of their units are considered to be below average, with the exceptions of running back and the edge.
"Seattle just needs to draft the best player available. That's a a nice way of saying it has holes everywhere... The Seahawks highest ranked group is their running back room, which is followed by their edge rushers - both of those units rank inside the top 10. However, outside those two, no other position group ranks in the top half of the league, and their interior offensive line ranks as the worst in the league... they need talent to fill a lot of holes."
We just don't see it this way. Working from the back end of the defense they have a strong starting combo at safey, a respectable top three cornerbacks, a decent tandem at linebacker and one of the league's best defensive front-sevens, at least when it comes to pressuring the quarterback.
On offense there's no denying the iOL is the worst in the NFL and the tight end group is probably as bad as any outside of Carolina. However, the wide receiver room is much better than most analysts are making it out to be and it seems like most people didn't even bother to watch Sam Darnold perform last season outside of his last two games, which give a very flawed picture of the quarterback he's become rather than the one he used to be.
Perhaps Mike Macdonald's defensive prowess is propping up a below-average personnel unit on defense, but we honestly don't see them as anything worse than a top-10 unit.
Offensively there's admittedly a lot of work to do, but if they can at least stop the bleeding along those three interior positions the ceiling is going to be a lot higher than what we saw the last three seasons with Geno Smith starting. Overall right now this group should be ranked no lower than 14th or 15th in the league.
