Winning a Super Bowl comes with a price for the Seahawks: once the champagne dries up, other teams start circling the players who helped make it happen. This summer, Seattle watched four key starters leave for new homes, and each one is already making noise in training camp.
Boye Mafe landed with the Cincinnati Bengals on a three-year, $60 million deal after starting only four games for Seattle last season. Even with that limited role, Cincinnati clearly saw starter upside.
Mafe is showing why. He has been active in camp, and one play in particular summed up his game: he stayed disciplined against a fake jet sweep, shot into the backfield, and forced Joe Burrow to dump the ball into the ground right away.
“That’s what he does,” said T.J. Slaton.
“He gets pressure. He’s going to be in the backfield and… pic.twitter.com/DTcEMDfOwI” The kind of burst he flashed there was familiar to Seahawks fans, though he played just 50 percent of the snaps last season.
That number should climb in 2026 if his camp momentum carries over.
Riq Woolen is also settling in fast, and the fit with the Philadelphia Eagles has been easy to understand. He signed a one-year, $15 million contract and gets the chance to compete in one of the league’s strongest cornerback groups.
Woolen spent his first four seasons in Seattle and lived through the transition from the Pete Carroll era to Macdonald. In Philadelphia, he says the atmosphere feels familiar.
“Honestly, just the culture here is just an amazing culture. They preach to us we got to work hard,” Woolen said via NBC Sports Philadelphia's Reuben Frank.
“It’s a hard-working team. Everybody in this organization works hard.
So just being able to be coached by them, I feel like it’s going to help me as a player and it’s going to push me to be a great person.
“I came from an organization that has a similar knack for hard work and a knack for greatness,” Woolen continued. “This city here, y’all have a long line of athletes who’ve made history here, and same thing for Seattle.
It all comes from working hard and working as a team. Philly was one of those teams that works hard in a championship caliber.”
Coby Bryant briefly had Seahawks and Bears fans bracing for the worst earlier this week when he went down with a left leg injury in practice. The scare turned out to be less severe than many feared.
Tests showed he can return in 8-10 weeks, which keeps him in line to be available when Chicago comes to Seattle on Nov. 2 for Monday Night Football. Bryant has already had that date marked down since the schedule was released in May.
Then there’s Kenneth Walker III, who is off to a strong start with the Kansas City Chiefs after signing a contract that pays him $15 million annually. He’s still getting used to his new surroundings, and practice has already included a physical moment with defensive back Aloha Gilman on Saturday after Walker delivered a tackle that looked unnecessary with the sideline close by.
Even with that adjustment period, Walker appears to be in clear position to lead the backfield. Brashard Smith and rookie Emmett Johnson are behind him on the depth chart, and he looks ready to get rolling when the season starts.
In Other News...
Lions Suddenly Have A Backup QB Decision Fans Should Watch
The Seahawks have a little roster math to sort through at quarterback, and it could end up mattering beyond Seattle. With Sam Darnold in place and both Drew Lock and Jalen Milroe on the depth chart, the team has more intriguing options than it does open snaps, which is exactly why other clubs are watching. Detroit is one of the teams that makes sense to monitor after Teddy Bridgewaters retirement left the Lions in need of a backup plan.
Lock brings starting experience and is entering the final year of his contract, while Milroe offers a younger, more team-controlled option with a different kind of trade value. That gives Seattle some flexibility if it decides to listen, especially with draft considerations likely shaping any deal. For now, the question is less about whether the Seahawks have interest in moving a quarterback and more about which one another team would be willing to pay for. [Read more 🡒]
Vinod Khosla Just Gave Seahawks Fans A Telling Early Signal
The chatter around Lumen Field has already started, even before any formal change in ownership gets settled, and it came from an unexpectedly simple exchange on X. A Seahawks fan asked Vinod Khosla about the possibility of installing grass at the stadium, and the response suggested the call would not be made casually from the outside. Khoslas account made clear that while he does not own the team or the stadium yet, he is willing to support changes that help the Seahawks and intends to lean on the people who know the football side best.
For fans, it was a small moment but an revealing one, because the surface issue is about the playing field while the larger question is how much influence a new power broker would actually bring. Khoslas answer pointed toward deference rather than grand pronouncements, with the team expected to have the final say on matters like this. If nothing else, it offered an early glimpse of how he may approach Seahawks-related decisions: open to change, but not eager to overrule the football operation. [Read more 🡒]
Cooper Kupp Is Already Easing One Big Seahawks Concern
Cooper Kupp arrived in Seattle with the kind of reputation that carries plenty of expectations, and early in training camp he has started to answer a concern the Seahawks had when they kept him around for the long haul. In the second year of his three-year contract, Kupp is expected to be part of the team again in 2026, and so far he has looked like more than just a name attached to a sizeable cap hit. His presence has brought veteran leadership and a level of football understanding that shows up in how he handles camp work and helps stabilize the offense.
Just as important for Seattle, Kupp is still showing he can do the football part too. He has turned in notable plays during camp while reminding everyone why the Seahawks were comfortable making the commitment in the first place. For a team trying to balance future planning with present production, having a receiver who can mentor, process, and still make plays gives them a useful answer to one of the bigger questions hanging over the roster. [Read more 🡒]