Seahawks head out on summer break. Here are 5 things to know

The Seahawks head into the summer in a unique position - and not just because they the defending Super Bowl champions.

They also are a defending Super Bowl champ that, at the moment, is not even considered the favorite to win its division.

That honor goes to the Los Angeles Rams, who, thanks to some aggressive offseason moves such as trading for reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett and standout cornerback Trent McDuffie, currently are the favorite not only to win the NFC West but also to win the Super Bowl in their home stadium next February.

Seattle defensive lineman Leonard Williams said Thursday that's something that will be on the collective minds of the Seahawks as they head into the summer before returning for training camp July 24.

"I think I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a little extra motivation from hearing that type of stuff, Williams said. "There's extra chips on our shoulder. We just came off of a Super Bowl winning season (and) people are still giving other people favorites over us. But at the same time, like I said, it's always about us, it's about our process. I think that is still adding fuel to the fire for guys. At the same time, we're going to stick to our process regardless of what other people outside may think."

Here are five other things to watch as the Seahawks break for the summer:

New ownership possibilities

News broke earlier this week of a third potential bidder for the Seahawks - billionaire Todd Boehly, who is chairman and owner of Chelsea Football Club and has stakes in the Los Angeles Lakers and Dodgers. He was reported as "weighing a bid" for the team.

He joins two other groups who have been reported as weighing bids - Wyc Grousbeck and Aditya Mittal, both part of the Boston Celtics ownership group; and Vinod Khosla, who has a small stake in the San Francisco 49ers.

As of yet there are no reports of actual bids having been made. There's also a thought there could be other potential bidders, and maybe someone or a group waiting to see where the price might be settling before getting involved.

Things could progress quickly once bids are made, especially those involving bidders well-known to the league.

The general expectation seems to remain that the earliest anything official might happen is August. The league would be happy to have something done by the start of the season.

A new contract for Devon Witherspoon?

The general expectation remains that Devon Witherspoon will get a new contract before the start of the 2026 regular season.

As was receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Witherspoon was a first-round draft choice in 2023 and the Seahawks exercised an option on his contract in March for 2027 for $21.1 million.

While that means he is under contract for two more years, picking up the option was seen as a precursor to getting an extension done, as the team did with Smith-Njigba.

That Smith-Njigba's contract got done so quickly - he agreed to the deal on March 23 - might have set an expectation that Witherspoon's would soon follow.

The Seahawks have often gotten extensions done shortly before camp starting, or early into it, and that likely remains the hoped-for target date with Witherspoon.

New England's Christian Gonzalez, another 2023 first-round draft choice who had his option picked up, also is angling for an extension and is represented by the same agency as Witherspoon - the WIN Sports Group. Gonzalez did not attend voluntary offseason drills and while he showed up for the team's mandatory camp this week he was reported to have sat out 11-on-11 drills.

Witherspoon attended all voluntary drills and took part fully in on-field drills in mandatory minicamp. That at least seems to indicate there is no acrimony building.

Preparing for attention

The Seahawks will be under the spotlight like never before when camp begins.

Not only is there the pressure of trying to make NFL history, but they will begin practices under the ever-hovering eye of the Hard Knocks cameras. NFL Films crews attended practice this week doing some early shooting, giving the team a small taste of what's to come.

Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald and his players appear to be taking the development in stride. Macdonald told his team it's part of what success brings.

Left guard Grey Zabel echoed that sentiment this week saying he thinks being on Hard Knocks is "going to be fun."

"I think people are going to start to see our personalities come to light and realize how special this organization is and what we do here," Zabel said. "And I think it's going to be a super cool opportunity for people to kind of get noticed nationally about how awesome and high character they are. So we're excited for it.

Could there be any other personnel moves?

The Seahawks' offseason goal was to retain as much of the Super Bowl-winning roster as possible and all but five players off the final 53-man roster of last season return.

Proof that the team is always looking came just last week when the Seahawks signed veteran right tackle Bobby Hart as offensive line depth/competition and brought in free agent safety Ifeatu Melifonwu for a visit.

The latter appears to have been mostly an exploratory visit with nothing imminent.

There doesn't appear to be anything on the horizon other than the potential of something happening with Witherspoon. But you can expect the Seahawks to keep looking.

Players continuing to get healthy

In the last minicamp practice Thursday, eight players sat out for reported or apparent health-related reasons - cornerback Tyrone Broden, offensive lineman Josh Jones, defensive lineman Deven Eastern, linebacker Marvin Jones Jr., tight end AJ Barner, running backs Kenny McIntosh and Zach Charbonnet and receiver Tory Horton. Tight ends Elijah Arroyo and Eric Saubert, who had been out earlier, were back on the field Thursday in at least a limited capacity and everybody else was on the field in at least some capacity.

It was unclear of the severity of a few of the injuries.

Barner said last week he should be ready for training camp, while Macdonald said there is a hope that Horton might be as well. It remains less clear with McIntosh and Charbonnet. McIntosh will be almost 12 months removed from his injury by the time camp starts, so he might be ready. Charbonnet appears more realistically on a timeline for a return in October or possibly November after having ACL surgery in February.

Any or all could begin camp on the Physically Unable to Perform list, even if just for a day or so.

Players can come off the PUP list at any time during the preseason, but they can't go back on it once they are off it, so teams often take the cautious route early on to preserve roster flexibility down the road.

Note

The Seahawks suffered another significant loss to their scouting department as multiple reports Friday stated that Trent Kirchner - Seattle's current vice president of player personnel - is headed to the Minnesota Vikings as assistant general manager.

Kirchner will join new Vikings general manager Nolan Teasley, who was Seattle's assistant general manager under general manager and president of football operations John Schneider before being hired in Minnesota last month.

Kirchner has been with the Seahawks in a variety of roles since 2010 and has held his current position since 2020.

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This story was originally published June 12, 2026 at 5:03 PM.