The Seattle Seahawks enter the 2026 season sitting near the top of ESPN’s roster rankings, and the reason is pretty clear: this team still looks loaded where it matters most. ESPN put Seattle at No. 3, behind only the Rams and Eagles, and pointed straight to the defensive front and overall depth as the driving force.
Few teams can stack up with Seattle in the trenches, especially on the interior defensive line. Leonard Williams is still the anchor after piling up 18 sacks over the past two seasons.
Byron Murphy II made a real leap in 2025 and finished with seven sacks, putting himself among the league’s top interior pass rushers. Jarran Reed adds another experienced piece to a rotation that gives Seattle plenty of options up front.
That front helped the Seahawks hold opponents to just 17.2 points per game last season, the best mark in the league. Seattle also ranked third in run stop win rate, a sign that this defense can dictate games at the line of scrimmage. ESPN’s ranking leaned heavily on that kind of production.
The biggest uncertainty on the roster sits in the backfield. Kenneth Walker III is gone to the Kansas City Chiefs after his Super Bowl MVP season, and Zach Charbonnet is still coming back from a torn ACL. First-round rookie Jadarian Price could end up with a major role, though he arrives in the NFL with limited experience as a receiver.
ESPN also flagged Rashid Shaheed as a player who could swing Seattle’s offense. His numbers dipped after he joined the Seahawks during the 2025 season, but a full offseason with the team could help him settle in as a dependable second option behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
On defense, backup edge rusher Derick Hall is another name to keep in mind. He was a key part of the rotation last season and finished with two sacks and a forced fumble during the Super Bowl. Seattle backed that up with a three-year, $42 million extension, a clear sign of how much the team believes in him moving forward.
In Other News...
Why Rams Fans Should Be Watching Ty Simpson's Contract Delay
Ty Simpsons contract situation is one of the few offseason storylines worth monitoring around the Rams, mostly because rookie holdouts have become so uncommon since the NFLs rookie wage scale arrived in 2011. Simpson, the Rams first-round quarterback taken 13th overall, is still unsigned in early July, and while that does not automatically signal a major dispute, it does mean there is at least some work left to do before the team gets to the business of camp.
The holdup appears to be about the fine print more than the headline money, with details such as guarantee payout scheduling, offset language and voiding rules often shaping these rookie negotiations. Los Angeles is set to report to training camp on July 25, and the Rams would clearly prefer Simpson to be signed and on the field when camp opens rather than spending those first days sorting out a contract that should have been settled well before then. [Read more 🡒]
Trey McBride Just Raised Expectations For Two Cardinals Rookies
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That standard is part of why McBrides comments matter beyond Arizona. When a respected veteran starts talking up rookies, it tends to sharpen the conversation around who is ready to matter right away, and in the NFC West that discussion inevitably circles back to the players already forcing opponents to plan for them. [Read more 🡒]
The Rams Have One Contender Weakness Fans Can't Ignore
The Rams can line up as a legitimate contender in 2026, but the conversation around their ceiling still starts with health. Matthew Stafford is coming off a back issue that kept him off the practice field last season and turned him into a major question mark before the year even began, while Davante Adams brings the kind of proven production that can raise an offenses floor and its ambitions.
The problem is that both players are carrying the kind of age and durability concerns that contenders usually try to avoid, and the margin behind them is thin. Los Angeles does not have much receiver depth behind Adams and Puka Nacua, so if either veteran misses time, the Rams would be asking a lot of the rest of the roster to keep a Super Bowl-caliber offense on track. [Read more 🡒]