5 Takeaways From Seahawks’ 2025 Schedule Reveal
Bringing excitement for the upcoming 2025 season to a fever pitch, the NFL unleashed official schedules for the Seattle Seahawks and all 32 teams on Wednesday.
Heading into year No. 2 under coach Mike Macdonald, the Seahawks don’t have high expectations among national pundits despite narrowly missing the postseason with a 10-7 record in 2024, with most prognosticators predicting they will win less than nine games and fail to equal their record from a year ago. But in the building, there’s a great deal of optimism with most of their defense returning from a squad that finished in the top five in scoring over the final eight games and the offense overhauled to build a more physical, balanced unit compared to a year ago.
After taking a close look at Seattle’s 17-game schedule, what jumps out? Here are five takeaways from a schedule reveal that generally looks to be a favorable one for the franchise:
Winning early may be key with two tough stretches awaiting after the bye.
Compared to the past few seasons, the Seahawks lucked out in the sense that they don’t have any three or four game stretches on the upcoming schedule that resembles a gauntlet. In 2023, they had four straight games against eventual playoff teams, including two games against the 49ers in a four-week span in between prime time clashes with the Cowboys and Eagles. Last season, they played the Lions, 49ers, Bills, and Rams in a six-game span, losing all four of those contests before the bye, which ultimately cost them in the NFC West race in the end.Time will tell whether or not there’s a stretch that ends up being that daunted in 2025, but by initial glance, there’s two three-game clusters that could make or break Seattle’s season after the bye week. Starting with the aforementioned prime time date with the Commanders, the Seahawks will follow up with tough divisional games against the Cardinals and Rams, setting up a trio of consecutive dates against playoff-caliber teams. The end of the schedule could also be problematic, as a rematch with the Rams at Lumen Field in Week 16 precedes what could be a surprisingly challenging road date with the Panthers and a second battle with the 49ers in Santa Clara, creating plenty of areas to trip up in the final two months.Considering both of those potentially troublesome stretches comes in the final nine weeks, it will be imperative for Seattle to take advantage of a relatively soft first seven weeks. Aside from playing a San Francisco squad that will be breaking in several new starters right out of the gate on their home turf, this includes winnable games against rebuilding New Orleans and Tampa Bay at home as well as Jacksonville on the road. Finishing with five wins or more would dramatically increase the team’s chances of breaking their two-year playoff drought, but stumbling out of the gate could set up a disappointing season given the increased difficulty of games in November and December.
Don’t let the ranking fool you: Seattle still has a daunting travel itinerary choked full of east coast road trips.
Since the Seahawks sit nestled far away from any other teams in the Pacific Northwest, they usually rank among the top couple teams in miles traveled each season by default, including coming in first in that category last season. This year, the Chargers and Rams surpassed them thanks to trips across the pond to Europe, but they still finished third due to the large number of road games they will play in the Eastern time zone.Among their nine road games, starting with the Steelers in Week 2, at least four of those games will be dreaded 10 AM Pacific time kickoffs, as they also have to fly to Jacksonville, Atlanta, and Nashville for Sunday games in the early slot. That number could jump to five with a Week 17 date in Charlotte to face the Panthers, which would nearly double the total number of early east coast starts for Seattle compared to 2023.If there’s a silver lining, however, Macdonald continued to build off his predecessor Pete Carroll’s success winning early games. The Seahawks went a perfect 3-0 last year in 10 AM Pacific time starts, including a 34-17 beatdown of the Falcons in Atlanta, so they likely won’t be deterred by those circumstances even with as many of five such games this season.
The Seahawks received a near-perfect scenario for their bye week sandwiched between high stake contests.
Critics can nitpick and argue against the Seahawks drawing two Thursday games for a second consecutive season, especially with neither of them being the season opener, meaning Macdonald’s squad will have to play twice on just three days of rest. That rationale isn’t completely off base, as that is a clear negative on the team’s the 2025 schedule.But on the opposite end of the spectrum, Seattle couldn’t have asked for a better bye week setup. Landing in the middle of the season in Week 8, Macdonald’s team won’t have to play anyone on short rest after a Monday night duel against C.J. Stroud and the Texans on October 20, instead enjoying a week off to heal up before making a long trip cross country for a critical Sunday Night Football matchup against Jayden Daniels and the upstart Commanders in Landover. Those two games stand out among the toughest on the entire schedule and having a buffer between them with their bye stands out as a huge plus, somewhat negating the downside of having two Thursday games.As an added bonus, the Seahawks didn’t land a Thanksgiving or Christmas game. In fact, they don’t have any games scheduled within two days of either holiday, providing players and coaches with the opportunity to enjoy extra time with their families.
“Revenge” games aplenty on the docket, both for and against Seattle over the course of the season.
From year to year, there’s always a lot of roster turnover, so it’s far from unusual for the Seahawks to face off against players who previously donned blue and green. It’s also not uncommon for them to sign veteran free agents and soon after play against their former team.But compared to most seasons, the 2025 campaign will have a high number of storyline-worthy revenge games, starting with the Seahawks hitting the road in Week 2 to play against DK Metcalf, who they traded to the Steelers for a second-round pick in March. In Week 9, they will meet again with future Hall of Fame linebacker Bobby Wagner, who continues to perform at an elite level for the Commanders. Three weeks later, they will visit another iconic former receiver in Tyler Lockett, who was cut this spring as a cap casualty and signed with the Titans in April.On the other hand, the second half of the schedule features several intriguing matchups where Seattle hopes to be on the right side of the revenge coin. Making a homecoming to the state of Washington, receiver Cooper Kupp will get two chances to prove the Rams made a mistake cutting him battling against his former team in the final seven games. Quarterback Sam Darnold also has a similar opportunity against the Vikings in Week 13 after they opted not to re-sign him in favor of turning the offense over to J.J. McCarthy.
Even after missing the playoffs a second straight season, the Seahawks still have prime time appeal.
Typically, while franchises from massive markets such as the Cowboys, Giants, and Bears stay in the limelight even when down, the NFL places an emphasis on postseason appearances and playoff wins from the previous season when it comes to doling out who will see the most action in prime time. Though they didn’t check off the big market box, the Seahawks consistently ranked among the teams with the most games under the lights over the past decade and change because of their consistency making the postseason coupled with back to back Super Bowl appearances in 2013 and 2014.But Seattle seemed to have lost its shine a bit following the Russell Wilson trade in 2022, drawing just two prime time games in 2022 and three in 2023 initially. Fortunately for the 12s, however, those two seasons proved to be an aberration rather than a new trend. Despite failing to reach the postseason for a second straight year, the franchise remains viable for nationally televised games, evidenced by the fact the team landed four prime time contests, including two of their six divisional games coming on Thursday Night Football.This marks the 11th time that the Seahawks have had at least four prime time games on the initial schedule over the past 13 seasons, including each of the past two seasons.It’s safe to say not winning a playoff game since 2019 hasn’t stopped them from being a sellable commodity in front of a national audience.
