The Seattle Seahawks’ rookie class walked into the Virginia Mason Athletic Center on Friday, officially kicking off the defending Super Bowl champions’ 2026 training camp. Seattle’s rookies are the first in the league to report, with veterans following on July 24 — a schedule built around the earliest regular-season opener of any team, a Week 1 home date against the New England Patriots on September 9.
It’s the first practice activity for Seattle since mandatory minicamp wrapped in June, and it starts the clock on a season with a different kind of pressure than last year’s. The Seahawks aren’t sneaking up on anybody in 2026. They’re the team everyone else is circling.
Darnold looks to build on his storybook season
Quarterback Sam Darnold enters camp fresh off a Super Bowl LX win over the Patriots in his first season in Seattle — a stunning turn for a player once written off as a bust after stops with the Jets, Panthers and Vikings. He threw for 4,048 yards and 25 touchdowns against 14 interceptions in 2025, according to FOX Sports, and posted a 79.3 overall PFF grade on 559 pass snaps.
Darnold isn’t treating last season as a finished product. Per NFL.com’s Eric Edholm, Darnold has said that cleaning up his footwork and cutting down turnovers are priorities heading into 2026. He committed 20 turnovers last season — 14 interceptions and six lost fumbles — a number he wants to shrink.
Seattle Sports analyst Brock Huard, who watched the final day of mandatory minicamp in June, came away impressed. “Sam Darnold is awesome,” Huard said, adding that Darnold now runs the huddle with the command of a player everyone in the building has bought into.
Darnold will also be adjusting to a new voice calling plays. Offensive coordinator Brian Fleury, promoted from the 49ers’ staff after Klint Kubiak left to become the Raiders’ head coach, runs a system similar in structure to Kubiak’s, per NFL.com’s Grant Gordon, but new terminology and wrinkles still have to be learned on the fly. The receiving corps stays mostly intact around him, led by reigning Offensive Player of the Year Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who piled up an NFL-best 1,793 receiving yards last season. Cooper Kupp, Jake Bobo and a newly re-signed Rashid Shaheed round out the group.
Life after Kenneth Walker III
The bigger unknown at camp is who runs the ball. Kenneth Walker III left in free agency to sign with Kansas City, and presumed complement Zach Charbonnet is still working back from a torn ACL, likely sidelining him to start the season. That puts first-round rookie Jadarian Price in position to grab early reps — a notable jump for a player who touched the ball 15-plus times in a game just once across 41 games at Notre Dame, where he backed up fellow first-rounder Jeremiyah Love.
Seattle didn’t hand its backfield to one runner even when healthy last season, and there’s little indication that changes now. George Holani and free-agent addition Emanuel Wilson give the staff other options as camp reps get sorted out.
| Player | 2025 Production | 2026 Status |
|---|---|---|
| Sam Darnold | 4,048 yards, 25 TD, 14 INT | Entering Year 2 in Seattle |
| Jaxon Smith-Njigba | NFL-high 1,793 receiving yards | Signed contract extension this offseason |
| Kenneth Walker III | Lead back, since departed | Signed with Kansas City in free agency |
| Jadarian Price | N/A (rookie) | First-round pick, competing for early-down work |
Staying quiet as defending champions
For a franchise known for one of the loudest stadiums in football, Seattle’s offseason has been notably low-key. Gordon described it as a post-Lombardi offseason with the volume “turned down to negative-11” — and head coach Mike Macdonald appears to prefer it that way.
Defensive lineman Leonard Williams says that suits a roster that feels overlooked even after a title. “I think that’s something that we have out here in Seattle,” Williams said on NFL Network in June, adding that the Seahawks still don’t feel like the favorites heading into the new season.
The roster took some notable subtractions this offseason. Along with Walker, Seattle lost outside linebacker Boye Mafe, cornerback Tariq Woolen and safety Coby Bryant. General manager John Schneider otherwise kept the core of the championship roster together, but camp will show whether replacements like second-round safety Bud Clark are ready to step into larger roles.
Wide receiver Tory Horton, who flashed as a rookie before a shin injury cut his 2025 season short, is another player to track early in camp. A full return would add another vertical threat and give Shaheed more freedom to work as a returner rather than a full-time receiver.
Seattle will also be under a brighter spotlight than usual this summer. The team is featured on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” this preseason, the first Super Bowl-winning team to get the treatment since the series began in 2001. Seattle will also hold a joint practice with the Tennessee Titans in Nashville on August 21, two days ahead of the two teams’ preseason meeting.
Camp officially opens for the full roster when veterans report July 24, with the first padded practice open to the public on July 25.
