What a glorious day Wednesday last week was. It has taken me a week to process the Super Bowl victory parade, and it’s taken ten days to fully digest the Super Bowl, itself.

A week ago today, I took off work, popped onto a packed metro bus, and I headed to Lumen Field as quickly as I could have. Once on the metro, I was met with dozens upon dozens of similarly motivated souls on the same exact mission that I was on.

I was decked in Seahawks swag that was intentionally sorted out. I wore a standard navy blue Sam Darnold home jersey with a newly purchased Super Bowl Championship hat, and I wore my classic royal blue Seahawks jacket that one would have seen Chuck Knox wear on Kingdome sidelines back in the glorious eighties. As a life long diehard Twelve, that jacket means so much to me that I only bust it out on the special occasion. The victory ceremony at Lumen Field followed by the 4th Avenue victory parade was that kinda special.

I loved this team so damn much this past season, I could bear hug every single player, even Riq Woolen with the stupid thing he did against the Rams in the NFC Championship game. I have stated this recently before, but these guys are my favorites of all the Super Bowl iterations of the Seattle Seahawks.

I love the way they played for each other, the lack of attention seeking and noise, the soundness they generally played with, and I love the domination they showed the world in all three phases of the game throughout the season and into the playoffs. Perhaps most of all, I found myself caught up in the redemptive storyline of Sam Darnold and the way so many of the players rallied around him.

The only downer thought in my mind, now after the conclusion of Super Bowl LX and the beautiful beat down of the over matched New England Patriots, is that not all these players are coming back to us. Even though Seattle has the fourth best overall cap space in the league this year, it will be tough to expect that GM John Schneider will be able to retain all or even most of Super Bowl MVP Ken Walker, returner/receiver Rashid Shaheed, cornerback Riq Woolen, cornerback Josh Jobe, safety Coby Bryant, edge rusher Boye Mafe, and other important players. I think it is reasonable to expect maybe three of those guys return to the team in 2026, but Seattle will lose good players out of this group in free agency, and then it will probably be up to the draft and development from within to replace them. Maybe they will find value in a key free agent move, as well, or by trade, but regardless, not all of these fellas will be Hawks next season, and that does bum me out a tad. I wish we could keep them all.

That said, let us not kid ourselves of the state of this football team. The Seattle Seahawks have a good young quarterback, a good young offensive line, they have talented tight ends, a great receiver, they are well schemed on both sides of the football, and they possess the best defense in the league that should be returning most of its key players. This team is rostered the way you want a premier football team to be, and they are coached the way you want them to be coached.

Despite the move of Klint Kubiak to Vegas, they are keeping their offensive scheme intact with a guy from San Francisco who has been coaching in it for years, and most of the main offensive assistants will remain here. While I get that there are unknowns about how well Brian Fleury will transition into a first time coordinator role, I don’t think Mike Macdonald pulled this hire out of thin air. He came in, and won this job over other internal candidates that Macdonald knew pretty well, and I find that intriguing.

Here is a breakdown of why I think Seattle is in a fantastic window to win more Super Bowl titles over the next three to five years, and what I think probably happens this offseason to build off of what was an incredible run in 2025.

The Seahawks QB1 Situation Is Really Good

The Seattle Seahawks are set up very well at quarterback. People are free to carry forth with whatever views that they want to have about Sam Darnold, but I think after this Super Bowl, here are some definitive statements of fact that we cannot deny about him.

You can win a Super Bowl with Sam Darnold. He is good enough to get you a title. If you have great schemes and good talent around him, he is good enough to properly game manage or win a shootout match against Matthew Stafford in the playoffs as we all just witnessed over this past month of football.

Secondly, and perhaps maybe even more importantly, Sam Darnold’s teammates adore him, they believe in him, and they see him as their Guy. Coach Mike Macdonald loves him, believes in him, and also sees him as his Guy. You can feel it with GM John Schneider, as well. This organization loves Sam Darnold.

For all the intangibles a quarterback needs to be successful, the relatability/ likability factor is a massive advantage for a quarterback to succeed long term. In the eighties, the 49ers players loved Joe Montana because he was a Dude. In the nineties, Packer players adored Brett Farve, and through the 2000’s into the 2010’s, New Orleans players loved Drew Brees. In terms of Seahawks history, Dave Krieg and Matthew Hasslebeck enjoyed years of success in part because of their talents, but also because they had the entire locker room of Seahawk players behind them.

The Seattle Seahawks, again, as an entire organization adore Sam Darnold, and now he has the massive pelt on his wall of being a Super Bowl winning quarterback. That’s not a terrible thing to have when you are commanding a huddle of alphas heading into future seasons.

There is sound reason to believe that he will only get better as a quarterback in seasons to come. The fact that Seattle has chosen to keep this offensive scheme intact probably indicates that they feel like they have their QB to build around.

What is Sam Darnold at this stage of his career?

Personally, I think he is a top ten quarterback. When you look at what he has done these past two seasons leading the Minnosota Vikings and the Seattle Seahawks to 14 wins, and the playoffs, and Seattle, specifically, to a Super Bowl win, these back to back years of success need to be properly weighted. The Vikings and Seahawks had these levels of success because of Sam Darnold, and his numbers over the past two seasons back up that he is top ten caliber.

Over the past two years, here is how Darnold ranks among NFL starting quarterbacks. He ranks 1st in win totals, 7th in QB rating, 9th in completion percentage, 5th in TD passes, 3rd in passing yards, and 7th in yards per pass. Bitter 49er fan can say that he was carried by a great defense last season, but his numbers say otherwise.

There are five quarterbacks in this league that you can call truly elite, and Sam is now firmly in the tier just behind them probably along with Justin Herbert, Dak Prescott, Drake Maye, and Jared Goff. Right now, I would take him over Trevor Lawrence, Brock Purdy, Jordan Love, Jayden Daniels, and Jalen Hurts. I know people can quibble back and forth between all of these quarterbacks, but I don’t see any of those fellas decidedly better than what Darnold is right now.

For this system here, which is an outside zone orientated running attack, give me a quarterback who is tall, athletic, strong armed, accurate, and naturally a great play action passer. This is who and what Sam Darnold is. He has a more explosive arm than what Purdy has, he sees the middle of the field better than Hurts, and he’s significantly more athletic than Goff. He now has a better resume of wins in big time games than what Love, Daniels, Prescott, Lawrence, and Herbert have.

On top of this, he enters the 2026 NFL season having killed all the ghosts of his past. At 28 years of age, he is now at a stage in his career where the game should slow down for him more. He’s been around long enough to see what various defenses will try to do against him. He knows when he can win games conservatively game managing, and he also knows how to win shootouts whenever needed, as well.

There will be those within this fanbase who will be eager to see Jalen Milroe develop behind the scenes, but the reality of the QB situation in Seattle is that Sam is in the driver’s seat of this car, and if he continues to only get better, it is more likely that Milroe is dealt to a QB needy team than it is that he will be taking over in a few years. Right now, I put much more stock in Sam continually getting better over Jalen developing to the point of taking over, eventually. If Jalen does, in fact, develop that way, then that is a very good thing for Seattle, indeed, one way, or the other, but for now, I think we can all take comfort in Sam Darnold.

The Seahawks Offensive Line Is Becoming A Strength And Should Get Better

Perhaps one of the best bits of news coming out of this past week is that offensive line coach John Benton is staying a Seahawk, and not following Kubiak to Vegas. He knows these young offensive linemen on this team better than anyone, and his knowledge of the outside zone blocking scheme is maybe tops in the league in terms of offensive line coaches.

He got a great year out of rookie left guard Grey Zabel, and he is instrumental in the development of center Jalen Sundell, and right guard Anthony Bradford. For the first time since Mike Holmgren was the head coach, the Seattle Seahawks had a very functional sound offensive line throughout the season, and this was as big of a reason as any to why they went out and won a Super Bowl this year.

Seattle could go out and look to add a player in free agency or the draft. Anthony Bradford is in his final year of his contract, and perhaps they want to look towards the draft of a player who will take his place on a cheap rookie contract, or maybe they see someone on the market who will be a better long term fit, but with Benton here, I am not too worried about it. For all we know, he sees someone in the depth chart who he is developing to take over.

What I love about this group is that they are young, and they have time to continue growing together. Seattle has their offensive tackles and left guard locked into contracts for years, and they have Sundell emerging as a capable affordable young center for at least two more seasons.

I think this team can be better this coming season because this offensive line can continue improving together.

When is the last time you thought this about a Seahawks offensive line? Many Seahawk fans weren’t even born the last time Seattle had a line like this one. That is how long this has been.

The Defense Is Here To Stay And Can Only Get Better

I realize that the Seahawks are set to potentially lose Riq Woolen, Josh Jobe, Coby Bryant, and Boye Mafe in free agency. I suspect two of these players come back to this team, however, but we shall see. Personally, I think Josh Jobe is a safe bet to return, and I think the team will make Coby Bryant a bigger priority signing that some people think.

I believe Bryant is going to see that his role in Seattle’s defense is a strong one despite the presence of Nick Emmanwori. While both players are listed as safeties, the truth of the matter is that they play very different positions in this defense with Emmanwori in more a hybrid linebacker/nickel cornerback role.

If you are Bryant, do you want to follow the money and cash in by going to a team that might not ever sniff a Super Bowl while you are there, or would you rather be paid well enough to stay in Seattle for a chance at more titles, and a bigger legacy as a player in the league? This is the question he will be faced.

Either way, I think the Seahawks will be fine, defensively, for many years to come, whatever shakes out of this offseason. After the way Drake Thomas and Ty Okada rose out of the depth charts to play big in this scheme at linebacker and safety, it is hard not to think that even if some key talent leaves, Mike Macdonald doesn’t have other players in the depth charts waiting to step up.

This coming season, Seattle will return its deep defensive tackle rotation, it’s starting middle linebackers, three of their top edge rushers, and a secondary that includes Emmanwori, Deon Witherspoon, and Julian Love. Even if they lose Coby Bryant and others in free agency, there is resources available in salary cap space, trades, and the draft to restock the shelves.

At the end of the day, Mike Macdonald’s genus at defensive play calling and pinpointing players who fit his culture and scheme give me oodles upon oodles of confidence with this side of the ball. In Mike, I trust this defense. The expectation for every single Seattle Seahawk fan is that Seattle will be, traditionally, a win with defense first football team. This is why Macdonald was hired, and I see no reason why this defense will drop off at all in 2025.

This Core Group Of Players Is Bright With Talent And Ripe With Character

Here are a list of a few characters on this team that I adore.

I have mad love for Sam Darnold, AJ Barner, Ernest Jones, JSN, Cooper Kupp, Big Cat Williams, Devon Witherspoon, Grey Zabel, Byron Murphy, DeMarcus Lawrence, Jarran Reed, Nick Emmanwori, and Drake Thomas. Some of it is the dynamic nature of how they play, but a lot of it is character.

I have already said what I have said about Darnold. I think he’s top ten caliber, and he has a personality that makes him very relatable, and easy to root for. Here are my thoughts on other guys I could buy jerseys of.

Grey Zabel came in as a rookie and carried himself and played like a ten year vet at left guard. He’s a throwback to yesteryear when offensive guards drank beer, wore cheesy mustaches and kicked ass while being one of the smartest individuals on the team. it is impossible to not love Zabel.

Emmanwori was such a no-nonsense badass X factor as a rookie defender that it is impossible not to be overly hyped about his immense potential in the future. He can play linebacker, cornerback, safety, and probably defensive end, as well. It is impossible not to think about him as a fan favorite for the next decade.

Devon Witherspoon plays cornerback with a linebacker mentality and an infectious child like laugh and grin. He is living proof that you cannot quantify top end cornerback play by looking at stat sheets. At 6-0 185 pounds, Spoon does a ton of heavy lifting on this defense.

Ernest Jones feels like the heartbeat player of this team, and undeniable leader. He is the closest the team has to a Marshawn Lynch character that unifies the team.

Cooper Kupp feels like a sage presence. What he provides this offense goes beyond the stats he produces. He operates like a coach on the football field, and he became massively clutch this postseason, and is a big reason why this team is the Super Bowl champion.

JSN is pure class matched with all world skill, and he’s as cool of a cucumber as it comes. He’s the true superstar of the team, but unlike so many receivers in the league, he does not possess an ounce of diva energy in his soul. He is the face of this franchise moving forward.

D Law, Big Cat, Murphy, J Reed are a badass collection of defensive lineman who can own games every week. I am grouping these guys together to save on space for this post, but also because of the way they collectively play together as the best defensive line in football.

Drake Thomas is a feisty underdog who makes plays on defense on pure instincts and smarts. I had serious doubts about him as a starter when the season began, but all this dude did was makes plays against the run and pass all season long. He has won me over as much as any player on this team this year.

Last but not least, AJ Barner not only plays the tight end position in the full well rounded manner in which God himself intended the position to be played, but he is becoming a strong leader of this team with a swagger that is undoubtedly making him a fan favorite. He is most definitely a favorite of mine.

I could list many other players on this team to be excited about. Tackles Charles Cross and Abe Lucas are foundational pieces. Derek Hall is a bright young pass rusher. Julian Love is as solid of a safety as there is in this league. Michael Dickson and Jason Myers are perhaps the best kicking duo in the league.

This team is loaded with talent. Next season, a healthy Tory Horton could emerge in a big way as a receiver, and Rylie Mills (who had that incredible bull rush sack in the Super Bowl) could take a huge step forward as a defensive tackle. Sam Darnold should get even more settled in at quarterback, and Emmanwori might tale massive leaps and bounds on the defense which is a terrifying thought for NFC West foes.

There is so much reason to believe that the Seahawks are only going to get better in the next few years, potentially earning more titles, and these guys are a massive reason why that belief is a grounded one.

Mike Macdonald Is That Guy

In Mike I will always trust.

If he loves Sam Darnold and the quarterback is extended in the next year or two, I am going to trust that. If he believes that someone buried in the back of the depth chart is ready to step in and play big for Seattle this coming season, I won’t question it like I sorta did early this season with Drake Thomas and center Jalen Sundell.

Mike Macdonald has more than earned our trust. He’s as bright of a mind in football as it comes in the league. He doesn’t get caught up in narratives of players that national media hot take artists put out there, nor does he get caught up in draft status, or big salaries.

He doesn’t like the noise, and he won’t tolerate individual drama. His messaging to his players is a simple one. Trust in the process, believe in each other, do things the right way, and, of course, put the mission of the team over bullshit.

Mike Macdonald is a sort who places high expectations on himself, and if he doesn’t place those same expectations on his coaching staff, and players, he would be hypocritical. On top of being the premier defensive tactical mind in professional football coaching, I think this quality about himself will continue to carry him, and this team far.

Seattle is incredibly lucky that John Schneider made this coaching hire. This roster will change year to year, but I don’t think the overall style of play, the tenacity, the connectedness will change. With Mike Macdonald coaching, I think the Seattle Seahawks are probably going to be routinely a difficult team for the opposition to line up against, and play.

These are my thoughts on Mike.

A Quick Thought On The Brian Fleury Offensive Coordinator Hire and Why I Dig It

The first thing Seattle did this post Super Bowl was to move quickly to replace Klint Kubiak at OC with former 49er tight ends coach and run game coordinator Brian Fleury. This was a surprise for me because I was certain the new hire would come from within the team’s coaching ranks. The more I process this hire, however, the more I get excited about it.

Fleury comes to Seattle basically knowing the same offense that Kubiak ran which is essentially the same offense in San Francisco. He’s a former college quarterback, so he will coordinate from the perspective of knowing that position. In his time in the league, he has coached offensively, and also defensively so he will be able to communicate well with the defensive minded Mike Macdonald. He has worked with Sam Darnold before when both were in San Francisco, and also with offensive line coach John Benton.

Finally, it is worth noting that many quality offensive coordinators in the NFL started off by coaching tight ends in the league. Andy Reid, Ben Johnson, and Arthur Smith were former tight end coaches. As a tight ends coach, because it is such a unique hybrid position, you have to know the details of the run game, the pass game, and offensive line play. It has been noted on multiple occasions in the Bay Area that Fleury is an extremely detail oriented guy, and that fits with Macdonald’s traits as a coach.

From this perspective, it is easy to imagine that Fleury came to Seattle, met with Schneider and Macdonald, and he won over the interview talking about the offensive scheme they want to maintain, with all the facets of it, and also successfully fielding questions from Macdonald’s defensive perspective. Macdonald could have simply promoted from within, but he chose this guy, instead, and I don’t find Macdonald to be a whimsically risky sort. Fleury likely, maybe even astoundingly, won him over in that interview process.

Could there be bumps for him initially as a first time NFL play caller? Absolutely, but it is worth noting the Mike McDaniel went to Miami from the 49ers having never called plays in the league, and he played called down their brilliantly as their head coach right off the bat. Any hire Seattle was going to make at this late stage post Super Bowl was going to come with risk. I like the risk they are taking with Fleury.

My Initial Thoughts About This Offseason and What Comes Next

In terms of free agency, and extensions handed out to players heading towards the end of their deals, here is what the crystal ball is telling me. Of the free agents, I think Rashid Shaheed, Ken Walker, Josh Jobe, and Coby Bryant will be the priority signings for John Schneider. In fact, I am projecting that at least three of these deals get done.

Right now, if I had to choose the players who most likely return, I am saying Sheed, Jobe, and Bryant are probably near locks, and K9 is the big question mark, but he could return, as well. Here is why.

Shaheed has openly stated that he sees Seattle as his long term home in the NFL, and Seahawks beat reporter Gregg Bell stated on Sports Radio KJR that parameters of a contract were discussed between the player and team before Seattle traded for him mid season. While it is certainly true that Shaheed could have a change of heart and want to follow Kubiak to Vegas, I just have a hunch that Seattle will work out a deal with him, and he will be signed.

For one, it is the value he brings as an elite returner, but the other is the value as a potential second receiver in this offense. We don’t know if Tory Horton, while promising, is going to be an injury prone player, and we have to imagine that Cooper Kupp is probably eying retirement sooner rather than later. Personally, I don’t think Shaheed is going to have an outrageous market. He’s not a number one receiver, and some teams may not even view him as a number two. Therefore, he might have more value here than elsewhere, unless the Raiders want to break the bank for him, but will shall see. Right now, I am projecting a deal gets done here before free agency even begins.

Then there is Ken Walker and things get significantly trickier. There is reporting that Seattle intends to retain him, but they will not use the franchise tag on him in the process. I read this as meaning that they want him back, but not at the high number of $14 million a year that the tag would cost, and they are hoping that his market might be colder than what K9 and his agent are hoping it to be.

This is, at best, an educated risk that the team is willing to take with him. He does have an injury history that might make front offices nervous about offering him a big contract, but I can think of a few teams out there who might love to excite their fanbases by making a splash signing of the Super Bowl MVP.

K9 is from Tennessee and I would imagine that the Titan front office might love to make a big splash to excite fans about bringing in the hometown kid. Robert Saleh is the coach there now, and he is very familiar with Walker having just coached against him this year within the divsion. It is not hard seeing a defensive minded coaching wanting to bring him in and make him the focus of his running offense to pair with young QB Cam Ward.

Sticking with defensive coaches, I can see the Houston Texans easily being another team that might look to pay him big, and pair him with CJ Stroud. This would be another team to watch as I sorta have Stroud as a QB similar to Darnold in that he’s best as a play action passer in a run centric offense. Houston might look at the Seattle model, draft further with the offensive line, and then bring this guy in to help get them over the hump.

K9 reportedly lives in Dallas during the offseason, and maybe Jerry Jones does a very crazy Jerry Jones thing by making him one of the richest running backs in the league to play in Brian Schottenhiemer’s run centric offense. I can see this happening, as well.

As much as I now want K9 back, I fear he’s going to have a market that Seattle might choose not to compete with. The Shanahan scheme is one that produces a lot of productive running backs, and I just have a hunch that, at the end of the day, Seattle is going to pivot on from K9 for another back in free agency who will come in with a value they are more comfortable with, and then maybe also look towards the draft.

If K9 returns, it will be because his market was colder than expected, but here are a few interesting names of players who might be available for Seattle, if they need to be shoppers on the open market for his replacement. Travis Etienne, Rico Dowdle, Javonte Williams, and Breece Hall. If Seattle loses out on K9 and ends up with Travis Etienne on a more affordable deal, I won’t be hating on that. We shall see what happens, but right now, I am emotionally preparing for life without our Super Bowl MVP.

Out of the remaining free agents, as stated above, it feels like Cody Bryant is the other one they will work hard to get a long term contract done with. It was reported that they tried to do this during training camp last Summer, but they couldn’t reach a deal. Mike Macdonald loves him in his defense, and I think he wants to have Nick Emmanwori stay in that nickel corner/linebacker hybrid role in their 4-2-5 defense. Having Bryant continually playing deep safety with Julian Love feels too critical to let him slip away in free agency. He might be more of a priority than many expect. We shall see.

I think Riq Woolen is going to get much bigger money elsewhere than what will be offered by Seattle. It would be a splashy move for Kubiak to bring him to Vegas as their new starting corner with shutdown potential. He will have many suitors.

Instead, I think there is a much stronger chance that Seattle will bring back Josh Jobe on a moderate contract. He feels like the other pending free agent that is clearly a Mike Macdonald guy, and I don’t think he’s a player who will command a big contract.

I also think corner could be the one position most strongly looked at in this coming draft. The team is going to pay Witherspoon, eventually, and that contract is going to be massive. It would make sense to have the CB2 in a couple years on an affordable rookie contract. I wouldn’t be surprised if Seattle goes cornerback a couple times in this coming draft just to stock the shelves.

Like Woolen, I think Boye Mafe is going to find bigger dollars elsewhere and probably a better opportunity to be a regular starter as opposed to a rotational player he was reduced to being this last season here. That said, I think Macdonald is going to further attract veteran pass rushers on the free agent market to come out this way.

Quality vets are going to see what DeMarcus Lawrence was able to accomplish in this scheme, and earning a ring. I can see a scenario with Macdonald where Seattle goes year to year adding quality veterans are short term deals.

Finally, I think there are a few veteran players on contracts that could be extended this Summer or into the season, and perhaps likely will be.

First, I think it is likely that the team looks to extend Leonard Williams in the Summer time. A week ago, I had thought that if the Seahawks win the Super Bowl, Big Cat would look to step away, but the way he was talking during the victory parade, it very much sounded like he intends to stick around.

Defensive tackle is a position where guys can play longer in their careers, and for all the time he spent in New York playing on bad teams, there could be a feeling of renewed life in Big Cat now that he got his first ring. He might be looking to now catch up on lost time, and he is aiming for more rings and a chance at the Hall of Fame someday. Big Cat, in my estimation, is the best player on Macdonald’s defense, slightly ahead of Emmanwori and Witherspoon. The team might well see it this way, too, and a simple two year extension might be reached before they kickoff the start of the regular season.

Another player the team might look to extend this Summer might be edge rusher Derick Hall who played his ass off in the Super Bowl and can easily have been the MVP of that game, as well. I get the sense that Macdonald likes Hall quite a bit. He’s really good against the run, and he produces as a pass rusher. He’s also young enough to think that there is more meat on the bone for him to still be an ascending player.

Then there has also been this slight chatter that Seattle may look to rework Sam Darnold’s contract this offseason now that he is a Super Bowl winning quarterback. As much as I can understand why that’s being talked about, I think it is important to state that Seattle has a long standing policy to not enter extension talks with players with multiple years remaining on this contracts. I get it that there will be a strong view that Sam will be a vastly underpaid veteran QB this year, but I don’t really see Schneider bending his principals here. If he were to do that, that would open up too much of a Pandora’s box of other vets looking to rework deals. Therefore, I don’t see a deal getting done with Super Bowl Sam just yet. I think that happens in 2027.

Finally, I think we are going to see this team pickup fifth year options on Jaxon Smith Njigba and Witherspoon this Springtime. They did this with Charles Cross last year, and then reached a contract extension with him last December. I strongly suspect that they will take the same approach with JSN and Spoon. I don’t know if that gets them deals done with these players this year, but it buys the team time to work something out with each by 2027. Personally, I do not see John Schneider doing anything less than making each guy a long term Seattle Seahawk.

Now For Final Thoughts On The Big Elephant In The Room Regarding A Seahawks Sale

My final crystal ball thought for 2026 thought is that we are most definitely going to see the Seattle Seahawks sold. I am not so sure that it will simply be Jeff Bezos stepping in and buying the franchise as it has long been predicted for a number of years now. In fact, I don’t think that will happen at all, anymore.

It has been reported by Mike Florio, and others that the league doesn’t expect Bezos to be in play as a buyer for the Seahawks. He no longer resides in Seattle, and there is rumored language in Paul Allen’s Trust that a local ownership solution must be sought out by the Estate first, and if one cannot be found, an outside buyer must promise to not move the team elsewhere.

There is so much money tied into the greater Seattle area that it is very easy to imagine very wealthy person, or a group of wealthy people will put a successful bid together to make a purchase of this team. There are eight billionaires who reside in the area. Four of them have enough money to purchase the team outright, but it probably only takes small view of them to form an equitable ownership group.

Steve Ballmer has said in the past that he has no interest in buying the Seahawks even though he owns the LA Clippers basketball team, but does he still feel this way? It was interesting that he was spotted in Santa Clara at the Super Bowl in attendance saying “go Seahawks” to a bystander filming him. Maybe his position has changed and he’s comfortable being part of a group of owners instead of sole individually owning them.

Bill Gates is said to be a fan of the Seahawks, and might feel inclined to step in as an owner, or co owner. He is very close to the Allen family, and while his modus is to be more philanthropic than business, perhaps he is at a stage in his life where being an NFL owner is something that he is considering.

Then there is kinda my personal favorite, McKenzie Scott. It would be fun irony, with all the years of Bezos speculation around the Seahawks and an eventual sale, that it is his ex wife, in the end, who steps up, and purchases the team either by herself or as the big name in an ownership group with local ties. It would be double fun if Jody Allen held onto a small ownership stake, as well, and one of the most successful sports franchises in the last 25 years is a football team owned by women in the PNW.

I kinda have a bit of a rooting interest in this one, if I am being perfectly honest. It would be a very Seattle move to buck league trends, and it was Florio, himself, in a podcast last week that said a man or woman with a very large bag of cash would be able to step up and by this team quickly once it is placed on the market.

Florio didn’t have to use genders when talking about potential Seahawk buyers. Does he know something that he was playfully giving a hint towards? We shall see.

Whatever happens, everything about a potential sale is very speculative so I am not going to get too much in the weeds of discussing it beyond this. My only hope is that when Jody does sell, she picks the right person or group and the future ownership will conduct themselves in a manner very akin to how the Allens handled this team. This is my one big ask.

I think she will.

Go Hawks!