The Seahawks are 3-2, but that record only tells part of the story. They head into a short week with a road trip to Denver on deck, and there’s a real chance they could be sitting at .500 by the time Thursday is over.
Still, with both losses coming by a combined five points, this doesn’t look like a team spiraling. It looks more like one still searching for cleaner football.
That search is about more than the big-picture issues people have already been hammering: the missing run game, the giveaways, and a defense that hasn’t had to rescue the team as often as it did a year ago. The more urgent questions now are tied to specific players, because this is where games are being shaped.
Josh Jobe is the clearest defensive example. He’s 5-foot-11, 190 pounds, and unlike the similarly sized Devon Witherspoon, he is not an elite athlete.
What Jobe is, though, is a grinder who climbed from undrafted free agent to starter on a Super Bowl champion. He showed in Week 1 against the Patriots that he can make big plays.
But lately, the problems have been obvious, especially against Mike Evans on Sunday.
Evans is a future Hall of Famer, and the mismatch showed. Seattle’s zone structure does a strong job against fast, twitchy receivers, but bigger wideouts have given this group trouble.
Puka Nacua has been a nightmare for the league in general, and he has been even worse for Seattle. In three games against the Seahawks last year, the Rams star averaged one-and-a-half catches and almost 60 yards more than he did against the rest of the league.
Seattle may have also caught a break in Week 1 against New England when AJ Brown left the game.
That broader issue belongs to the whole defense, but Jobe is the player most directly in the spotlight, especially with the Seahawks essentially choosing him over the bigger Riq Woolen in free agency this season. Woolen is doing pretty well in Philadelphia. Jobe has to hold up better, and the staff has to help him do it.
On offense, Sam Darnold keeps landing at the center of the conversation, and not just because of turnovers. The new offensive coordinator, Brian Fleury, still looks like a work in progress as a play-caller, and that matters here. Darnold’s interceptions are part of the picture, but the bigger issue is what isn’t showing up often enough: touchdowns.
That doesn’t mean every turnover story is the same. The Week 3 loss to Washington was different, since Darnold threw plenty of touchdowns and Seattle still lost.
And no one is pretending interceptions are fine. But there’s a reason the Seahawks won seven of the nine games last year in which Darnold threw at least one pick: he usually balanced those mistakes with points.
The San Francisco game was the cleanest example. If JSN doesn’t drop a pass on the final drive, and if Darnold gets the team into the end zone, Seattle wins.
So yes, the turnovers matter. But the passing game needs a better touchdown return, period.
AJ Barner fits that same conversation. He has not scored as a pass catcher in 2026, even though he did power in on the goal line in Week 4.
Last season, he had six touchdown catches and another in the Super Bowl. This year, the numbers have dipped across the board: fewer targets, fewer catches, fewer yards, and no receiving scores.
There’s also a measurable slide in his success rate, the stat that tracks production by down and distance. Barner posted a 63.2 success rate in each of his first two seasons.
This year, that number is down to 50.0. A new offensive coordinator can explain some of that, and the Seahawks may need time to sort it out.
But the issue gets bigger if it keeps going.
Seattle still doesn’t have a reliable second receiving option behind JSN. Rashid Shaheed has not proven he can be that kind of player.
Cooper Kupp is no longer what he once was. Tory Horton and Elijah Arroyo have not made an impact.
The backs haven’t been nearly as effective as pass catchers as Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet were. Barner is the one getting singled out because he filled that role best last year, but the problem is bigger than him.
Maybe it’s Montorie Foster time.
Then there’s the right guard spot, which may be the simplest issue of the bunch. With Anthony Bradford out, Christian Haynes and Beau Stephens have settled into a 60-40 split, and that split makes no sense from the outside.
Haynes looks better. The offense moves better when he’s out there.
So why is Stephens still getting 25-30 snaps a game?
Offensive line cohesion has been drilled into football for years, and for good reason. The best units stay together and operate as one.
Seattle’s line has struggled to open lanes and protect the quarterback, which makes the rotating setup even harder to justify. Unless Haynes is doing something that leaves his coaches doubting him on every down, this one sits with Brian Fleury and John Benton.
Let Christian Haynes play an entire game.
In Other News...
Jaxon Smith-Njigba Just Became Seattle's Biggest Thursday Night X-Factor
Jaxon Smith-Njigbas week of practice offered a small dose of concern when the Seahawks receiver was limited by an ankle issue, but he heads into the matchup with Denver without an injury designation. That matters for a Seattle offense that has leaned on him heavily this season, with Smith-Njigba emerging as one of the teams most important playmakers through the first five games.
The timing only adds to the intrigue on Thursday night. Denver will be missing key defensive pieces in Pat Surtain II and Talanoa Hufanga, which opens a path for Seattle to keep feeding its top target if he looks like himself. For the Seahawks, the question is less about whether Smith-Njigba is available and more about how much damage he can do against a Broncos secondary that is suddenly shorthanded. [Read more 🡒]
Seahawks Suddenly Need A Spark From An Unsettling Backfield Situation
The Seahawks kept churning the bottom of the roster this week, signing running back Velus Jones Jr. off the practice squad and letting wide receiver Irv Charles go before bringing him back. It was the latest in a string of recent activations and releases involving the same players, a reminder of how fluid Seattles roster has become as it tries to navigate the back end of the season.
Jones has mostly made his mark on special teams this year, but the move also hints at a bigger role on offense if the team continues to be thin at running back. For a Seattle group looking for a spark, the backfield is suddenly one of the more unsettled spots on the roster, and the next few days could determine how much opportunity Jones gets to prove he can do more than cover kicks. [Read more 🡒]
Jaxon Smith-Njigba Brings Seahawks One Big Question Into Broncos Game
Jaxon Smith-Njigba gave the Seahawks a timely lift Wednesday by turning in a full practice session after being limited earlier in the week with an ankle injury. On a short week, that kind of update matters, especially with Seattle heading into Thursday Night Football against the Broncos and trying to keep its passing game on track.
Still, the abbreviated schedule leaves one real question hanging over the matchup. Full participation is a positive sign, but it does not automatically mean Smith-Njigba is fully over the ankle issue, so the Seahawks will be watching closely right up until kickoff to see how he responds. [Read more 🡒]