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The Seattle Seahawks fans are still basking in their Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots. But less than a month out from their championship win, it’s back to business as usual for the coaches and executives in the front office.
This week, the NFL scouting combine kicked off, and after being on top of the world a few weeks ago, the Seahawks suddenly found themselves playing catch-up. The first order of business was finding a replacement for Klint Kubiak as offensive coordinator after he departed for the Las Vegas Raiders’ head coaching job. That role was ultimately fulfilled by Brian Fleury, the former tight ends coach and run game coordinator for the 49ers.
Now, with the scouting combine, free agency, and the draft looming, it is simply business as usual after reaching football’s highest mountain.
Keeping the Process the Same
The Seahawks knew that they would be on an accelerated offseason timeline after reaching the Super Bowl, but they came prepared with a plan. Ari Horton of Seahawks.com, in her February 23 article, wrote about how the Seahawks brass tried to keep the offseason process as normal as possible. The Seahawks’ vice president of player acquisition, Matt Berry, discussed how the team went about that process this year.
“We did our backboard meetings at the combine (in previous years), so we did it in Santa Clara, which was a lot of fun,” Berry said. “So we feel prepared, and now we know the questions we need to get answered, and we’re ready to go answer them in Indiana, and in March, and then come back in April, and button it up, try to figure out who the next Seahawks are.”
The Seahawks had to adjust their schedule around set offseason events like the combine, but, as director of college scouting, Aaron Hinline discussed, it’s helped the team become more efficient in the process.
“The show goes on. The combine dates don’t change, nothing like that,” Hinline said. “We’ve had to adjust a little bit here from a meeting perspective, but everything else has been on course for the most part. So we’re on track. Some things were sped up, we’ve become more efficient in our process, which has been good.”
The Seahawks have set up their moves for the 2026 draft with their approach in the 2025 draft.
Weaker Draft Class
Seahawks general manager John Schneider is one of the best in the game, and he does that by always thinking one step ahead and having an eye to the future.
Schneider did just that last year by going all in on picks in the 2025 draft, where the Seahawks had 11 draft picks. The team has just four draft picks in the upcoming 2026 draft.
Cameron Van Til of Seattle Sports, in his February 26 article, wrote about Schneider explaining his process at the combine.
“You have to evaluate every class,” Schneider told reporters at the NFL combine on Tuesday. “And so we evaluated this class as, OK, well, 2025 is going to be stronger than 2026. … It’s not the individual players, it’s kind of the collective, like the whole group. So that’s why you saw us make some of the decisions we made.”
Schneider’s evaluation of the 2025 class was correct, as players such as Grey Zabel and Nick Emmanwori were starters who significantly contributed to the Seahawks’ Super Bowl championship.
Chad Gelfand Chad Gelfand is a journalist covering the NFL with focus on the Baltimore Ravens, Seattle Seahawks, and Carolina Panthers for Heavy.com. Gelfand has over six years of writing experience.
Gelfand previously covered the Philadelphia Eagles for Last Word On Sports. He also has experience writing in the worlds of entertainment and wrestling.
Gelfand was an Entertainment writer for the List.com, and a contributor for Fansided’s wrestling website Daily DDT and The Wrestling Estate. Gelfand has also appeared multiple times as a guest on POST Wrestling’s “Bushby and Thompson’s Wrestling Adventure” podcast. More about Chad Gelfand
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