The Seattle Seahawks look a lot like the version of a team the Dallas Cowboys hope to become: a Super Bowl champion built around a young core and a young head coach, with enough momentum to make another run feel close enough to touch.
But Dallas has a long way to go before it can talk that way with any real confidence. First comes the grind of the 2026 NFL season, and the Cowboys will have to prove their offseason upgrades are real when the games start counting. One of the sharpest early measuring sticks on the schedule comes in Week 13, when Dallas meets Seattle in primetime.
To get a clearer read on what the Cowboys are walking into, The Landry Hat spoke with Lee Vowell of 12th Man Rising, FanSided’s Seahawks site, and the picture he painted was pretty clear: Seattle may have some changes, but the machine is still built to hum.
One of the more awkward storylines around the Seahawks involves former Cowboy Dante Fowler Jr., especially after DeMarcus Lawrence left Dallas with a bitter note and then won a Super Bowl in Seattle. Vowell sees the comparison, but not an exact repeat. Lawrence, as he put it, had a much deeper connection to his old team than Fowler does.
Even so, he said Seattle wants another playoff trip badly. The challenge is the NFC West, which he described as so strong that even a little drop-off can cost a team a postseason spot. Fowler’s fit is worth watching, too, because Mike Macdonald prefers edge players who can do a little bit of everything, while Fowler is more of a straight pass-rusher.
The coaching change on offense matters, but maybe not as much as outsiders might think. Klint Kubiak is gone, and Brian Fleury is in.
Vowell said the expectation for both men is essentially the same: keep the offense efficient and balanced between run and pass. Kubiak’s value was in how he tailored the attack week to week and helped guide Seattle to a title, but Fleury comes from the same coaching tree and already has familiarity with Sam Darnold from their time together with the San Francisco 49ers.
The biggest question is simple: Fleury has never called plays before, so the first few games could take some adjustment.
Seattle’s roster turnover also doesn’t look like a crisis from the Seahawks’ side. Vowell pointed to the departures of Boye Mafe, Riq Woolen, Coby Bryant and Kenneth Walker III, but said each situation had its own context. Seattle was not going to match the $20 million-a-season deal Cincinnati gave Mafe, and the team had the depth to handle his exit after adding Dante Fowler.
At cornerback, Woolen was already losing snaps, Josh Jobe was gaining them, and Devon Witherspoon and Nick Emmanwori can both slide outside at times. At safety, Ty Okada was already lined up as the replacement for Bryant, and the Seahawks added Bud Clark in the second round.
Walker’s exit brings a different kind of uncertainty. Vowell said the back had only been truly productive in two of his four seasons in Seattle, and first-round pick Jadarian Price should be a workable replacement.
The bigger issue is that the Seahawks lean on a two-back approach, and Zach Charbonnet - the back who should have paired with Price - will be out until December after tearing his ACL in the playoffs. That leaves George Holani and free-agent addition Emanuel Wilson as the players expected to help absorb the missing production.
The matchup Dallas fans will care about most is the one on the outside, where CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens could run into a defense that refuses to play the same way snap after snap. Vowell said Macdonald’s scheme is built on confusion and movement, not clean one-on-one matchups.
Witherspoon is a huge part of that, but not just because of coverage. He’s also strong against the run and dangerous as a blitzer, even though Seattle doesn’t blitz often.
That means Pickens and Lamb won’t simply be staring down Witherspoon and Josh Jobe every play. Instead, they’ll be dealing with a secondary that can morph in real time.
Emmanwori can line up in the slot, at outside corner, as an edge rusher, or at safety. Rookie Bud Clark can work at either cornerback or safety.
The whole point is to force hesitation, and Vowell said that half-second of uncertainty is a big part of why Seattle’s defense is so tough.
As for the Seahawks’ biggest offseason move, Vowell didn’t point to a splashy signing or blockbuster trade. Seattle didn’t chase a headline in free agency. The organization already had enough talent on the roster, even after losing some free agents, and is instead positioning itself for 2027, when it will be flush with cash again and projected to have 12 draft picks.
Still, the most important shift may be the one on the sideline, with Fleury taking over the offense after Kubiak’s departure to the Raiders. Vowell called Fleury experienced and smart, but also said his ability to settle in quickly as a first-time play-caller will matter.
If Dallas is looking for a soft spot, Vowell didn’t offer much. He said Seattle doesn’t really have a glaring weakness on paper and can beat teams in all three phases.
The one area he flagged was the interior, specifically center and right guard, where a strong pass rush could cause problems. That, he said, is one of the few paths to beating Sam Darnold and the Seahawks.
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