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Even after a full season with Mike Macdonald at the helm, it's hard to adjust to not mentioning Pete Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks in the same breath. After all, Carroll coached Seattle from 2010-2023 as he crafted a record of 181-131-1, including 11-11 in 10 playoff appearances in his 14 seasons. After a 9-8 record in 2023, he resigned and moved to an advisory role, though he himself has said he did nothing, opting to let Macdonald craft his own team and do things his own way.
(This article is part of a series that includes similar articles regarding these NFL teams:
AFC East: Buffalo, Miami,
AFC North: Baltimore, Cleveland, Pittsburgh
AFC South: Jacksonville, Tennessee
AFC West: Las Vegas, Los Angeles Chargers
NFC East: Dallas, NY Giants, Philadelphia
NFC North: Green Bay
NFC South: Atlanta
NFC West: Arizona
Macdonald's way led to a 10-7 finish in 2024, but a second straight miss on the playoffs. It was the first time since the 2008 and 2009 seasons that Seattle failed to make the playoffs in consecutive seasons. Despite having similar marks of 10-7 over-all, 4-2 in the division and 6-6 in the conference, the LA Rams were declared the NFC West winners due to a narrow advantage in strength of victory.
Seattle had a up and down season, winning 3 straight to open the campaign before going the opposite way (0-3) over the next three contests. In fact, a victory in week 7 was the only win from September 30 to November 3. After a bye week, the Seahawks finished strong with 6 wins in their last 8 games.
One aspect of the schedule that contributed to Seattle's postseason miss was a 1-3 mark against the NFC North. The Seahawks lost at Detroit, and at home to Green Bay and Minnesota before finally downing Chicago 6-3 in the penultimate game on the schedule.
Seattle also had its worst home record since 2008 (3-9) as the club only managed a 3-6 mark at Lumen Field. Nonetheless, the Seahawks began the first team to lose at least 6 games at home and still produce a winning record.
Seattle's schedule in 2025 includes the members of the NFC South (Atlanta, Carolina, New Orleans and Tampa Bay) and the AFC South (Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville and Tennessee), as well as Pittsburgh.
2024 Records: 10-7 regular season
4-2 NFC West (2nd place by Strength of Victory tiebreaker)
6-6 vs. NFC
3-1 vs. AFC East
4-1 vs AFC
2025 Super Bowl FanDuel odds: +6000, No. 20 of all 32 teams
2025 NFC West Champion odds: +550, No. 4 of 4
General Manager: John Schneider (2010)
Head Coach: Mike Macdonald (2024)
Offensive Coordinator: Klint Kubiak (2025)
Defensive Coordinator: Aden Durde (2024)
The expectations are not high for 2025, with Seattle tied with New England for just the 20th-best odds of winning the Super Bowl (+6000), the worst odds of winning the NFC West (+550) and the 13th-best odds of capturing the NFC. Running counter to all of that doom-and-gloom forecasting, Seattle manages to have its best win total odds (-130) at an over/under of 7.5.
Ryan Grubb was fired after just one season as offensive coordinator that saw the team rank 14th in total offense, 8th passing, but just 28th rushing.
Klint Kubiak was hired as Grubb's replacement. The Kubiak family includes his father, Gary, who coached Denver to the 2015 Super Bowl title to become the first in NFL history to reach a Super Bowl as both a player and a head coach with the same franchise. Kubiak was John Elway's backup quarterback on the Broncos from 1983 to 1991 and saw playing time in both Super Bowl XXI and Super Bowl XXIV. He announced his retirement in January of 2021.
Klay, another son of Gary's, was promoted this season to offensive coordinator at San Francisco after starting his NFL coaching career there in 2020 as a defensive quality control coach. He was named assistant QB coach 2022, and then passing game specialist in 2024
A third son, Klein, joined the Cowboys in 2019 after five seasons with Denver. He was first brought on as a midwest scout before being promoted to national scout in 2022.
Macdonald's defensive coordinator in 2024 was, and still is, Aden Durde. The 45-year-old Brit was a linebacker for the Scottish Claymores in 2003 and 2004, and the Hamburg Sea Devils from 2005-2007. The Claymores and Sea Devils were teams in NFL Europe. Durde's defense a year ago was ranked 14th over-all, 11th at stopping the pass and 16th against the run.
The chief decision-maker as General Manager is John Schneider (not to be confused with the actor who played Bo Duke on the Dukes of Hazzard before becoming a successful country music artist). This John Schneider has been in the NFL since 1993, and the 53-year-old has made his living in Seattle since 2010.
Seattle's NFL Draft in 2025 was given an 'A' by PFF for selecting North Dakota State tackle Grey Zabel in the first round with the 18th pick. After Zable came safety Nick Emmowori of South Carolina (rd. 2, pick 35), tight end Elijah Arroyo of Miami (rd. 2, pick 50), QB Jalen Milroe of Alabama (rd. 3, pick 92), defensive interior lineman Rylie Mills of Notre Dame (rd. 5, pick 142), WR Tory Horton of Colorado State (rd. 5, pick 166), TE Robbie Ouzts of Alabama (rd. 5, pick 175), tackle Bryce Cabeldue of Kansas (rd. 6, pick 192), running back Damien Martinez of Miami (rd. 7, pick 223), tackle Mason Richman of Iowa (rd. 7, pick 234), and WR Ricky White of UNLV (rd. 7, pick 238).
Milroe was a solid third-round grab and a potential NFL starter at QB, though a work-in-progress. Right now, the starting QB is likely Sam Darnold who is now on his fifth team since entering the league in 2018 with the New York Jets as the No. 3 over-all pick. He signed a 3-year $100.5 million contract in March with $55 million guaranteed after helping navigate Minnesota to a 14-3 record a year ago while throwing for 4,319 yards with 35 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He was also sacked a whopping 48 times. That number put him 4th on that list, right behind the 2024 Seattle starting QB, Geno Smith, who was sacked 50 times. Only Houston QB CJ Stroud (52) and Chicago QB Caleb Williams (68) were sacked more. Darnold's 48 sacks tied Cincinnati's Joe Burrow.
Geno Smith threw for one more yard than Darnold in 2024, amassing 4,320 yards with 21 TD's and 15 picks. Smith is now in Las Vegas with former head coach Carroll, the result of a trade that gave Seattle the 92nd pick in this year's draft which ultimately led to the selection of Milroe.
Seattle welcomes back leading rusher Kenneth Walker III who had 573 yards, and second-leading rusher Zach Charbonnet who was just 4 yards behind Walker. Leading receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (1,130 yards, 6 TD's) also returns, but No. 2 DK Metcalf was traded to Pittsburgh, and No. 3 Tyler Lockett was released and later picked up by the Tennessee Titans for $4 million on a 1-year deal.