Jalen Milroe’s Development Among Key Storylines as Seahawks Begin Phase 2 of Offseason
Keeping most of their roster intact this offseason after capturing a Super Bowl LX win, the Seattle Seahawks will open OTAs later this month with the same exact quarterback group they had when they left the field through a flood of confetti at Levis Stadium in February.
The clear headliner of the signal caller collective after guiding Seattle to a second Lombardi Trophy, Sam Darnold added more hardware to his collection this spring, marrying his fiancé Katie Hoofnagle in California. The two-time Pro Bowler has two years remaining on the three-year contract he signed in March 2024 and following an impressive 2025 campaign where he threw for 4,048 yards and 25 touchdowns, he’s vaulted into franchise quarterback status and will be looking to take another step forward amongst the NFL’s elite at the position.
Behind him, Drew Lock has proven himself as a capable gunslinger in limited opportunities during two stints with the Seahawks and brings 28 career regular season starts to the table. Few teams have a better backup option on their roster in terms of talent and experience, ensuring he will hold onto that spot as the team’s primary insurance policy in 2026.
Considering Darnold’s status as the undisputed starter and Lock’s firm grip on the backup job, second-year quarterback Jalen Milroe isn’t in an ideal situation to see the field anytime soon, at least beyond the possibility of Seattle revisiting using him occasionally in Wildcat packages to capitalize on his immense athleticism and running ability. But even with such circumstances, his growth on the practice field will be heavily scrutinized for a number of reasons in coming weeks as he sees plenty of reps in his second NFL offseason program.
Jacks Full of Threes: Raley Clubs Seven RBIs, M’s Bash White Sox 12-8
Things go a lot more easily for a baseball team when they hit three home runs to score three or more men each. Good offense over nine innings can more than smooth out a bad inning on the other side, though the Mariners’ 12-8 win on Friday night against the White Sox took a while to get to the coasting stage.
In a sense, it wasn’t nearly as close as the score said; most of the high-end relievers were able to rest as Chicago scored three runs in the final two innings to turn a giant lead into a respectable one.
But in another sense (it was a one-run game until the seventh), the game was closer than its final score. M’s starter Emerson Hancock slipped quite a bit in the third inning and gave up five runs on the night, but recovered enough to go six innings and preserve the bullpen. Seattle’s first chance with the bases loaded didn’t produce anything else, but they broke the gates later on.
The big hero of the night was the still-mashing Luke Raley, who upped his season line to .258/.314/.567 with eight homers and 23 RBIs.
Luke Raley began the barrage with the first grand slam of his career.
The Mariners gave White Sox starter Sean Burke a couple of easy innings on Friday, falling in seven pitches in the first and 11 in the fourth. But crucially, they also put tons of traffic on the bags in the second and third, and though the second was underwhelming, things came together in the following frame.
Instant Takeaways: Inexperienced Storm Lose Early Mojo in Season-
A hot start for the new-look Seattle Storm and first-time head coach Sonia Raman rapidly fell back to Earth in a 91-80 loss against the Golden State Valkyries in the 2026 regular season opener on Friday, May 8, at Climate Pledge Arena.
Dominique Malonga unsurprisingly led the way for the Storm to begin her second season, totaling 21 points (8-of-15 FG), eight rebounds and two blocks in 29 minutes. The Valkyries were led by an impressive 20 points from forward Janelle Salaun.
Seattle stormed out of the gates early with efficient shooting, but that quickly fell off, the turnovers piled up and its lead evaporated. The potential was apparent in the new lineup, which included six players who didn’t play for the team last season, but it also proved they have a long way to go.
Storm’s Flau’jae Johnson Trade Keeps Looking Better
The Seattle Storm went into the 2026 WNBA Draft with picks No. 3 and No. 14 in the first round. It was expected to be a second-straight transformative class for the Storm, who took Dominique Malonga No. 2 overall last year.
But by the draft’s end, Storm general manager Talisa Rhea had pulled off a masterclass. She got forward Awa Fam Thiam at No. 3, who has arguably the highest ceiling of any player drafted, and point guard Taina Mair in the first round.
When the Storm went to make their first pick of the second round, No. 16, they already had a deal lined up with the Golden State Valkyries to acquire guard Flau’jae Johnson — the eighth overall pick in the first round.
Five Depth Players Gonzaga Could Target in Transfer Portal
Now that most of the main components of the Gonzaga Bulldogs’ 2026-27 roster have been made official, it’s time to look at various options to fill out the rest of next year’s team.
Depth was a key reason the Zags were able to go 31-4 last season, after dealing with more adversity than any other team in the Mark Few era. Although the rotation dwindled to seven by GU’s final game of the season, it was as long as nine or 10 players for a considerable chunk of the calendar. Even with guys who will take up much of the usage rate under wraps like Mario Saint-Supéry, Braden Huff, Davis Fogle, and Massamba Diop, the Bulldogs can still look to bolster their squad in the areas of three-point shooting, defense, and experience off the bench.
So, who are some names to watch for in the transfer portal that could fill these voids for Gonzaga?
Banged Up Mariners’ Bullpen Needs to Weather Mid-May Storm
During a 162-game marathon of an MLB season, there is bound to be some attrition and injuries. It’s a natural part of the game. Every team goes through it. It’s not very often that a specific position group on one team gets hit seemingly all at once with the injury bug.
The Seattle Mariners are currently down three different relievers that they were counting on to get big outs late in games. Flamethrower Matt Brash and lefty Gabe Speier seemingly got hurt on the same day. That means they quite literally are without the two top bullpen arms manager Dan Wilson uses to get through the seventh and eighth innings before the closer Andres Muñoz closes it down in the ninth.
Intriguing Suitor Emerges as Seahawks Seek Bids for Franchise Sale
In the aftermath of winning Super Bowl LX, the Estate of Paul G. Allen announced the Seattle Seahawks would be put up for sale on February 18, ensuring a new regime would take the reins for the first time since Allen purchased the franchise in 1997 for $194 million.
Considering the timing of the decision, less than two weeks after Chair Jody Allen hoisted the Lombardi Trophy, many expected the Seahawks to receive rich offers aplenty to acquire the franchise. But up until this week, interest hasn’t been quite as plentiful as anticipated, with ESPN’s Seth Wickersham reporting on Friday that the market has been softer than expected thus far, at least compared to the two most recent teams that were sold in Denver and Washington.
Still, the Seahawks are expected to fetch a record sale price north of $9 billion, and even with only two legitimate suitors - the reported interest of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg immediately was debunked - that have become known publicly, one of those options quickly jumps out as a fascinating one to watch as the franchise heads towards new ownership.
Sounders, Reign Look to Make Statements Ahead of World Cup Break
The Seattle Sounders (6-1-2, 4th in MLS Western Conference) and Seattle Reign (3-2-2, 7th in NWSL) have gotten off to strong starts, but are both coming off draws in which they could have come away with more on the offensive end.
The Reign’s Mia Fishel also spoke with The Spectrum on Wednesday about reigniting the team’s offense, which is coming off three straight scoreless showings as the striker recovers from an injury-riddled stretch.
Ranking Seahawks’ Possible Opponents for Season Opener
Opening week for the Super Bowl champions is always something to circle on the calendar. The NFL typically gives them the first game of the regular season as a standalone time slot to raise the Super Bowl banner and have one last celebration before their title defense begins. The NFL schedule is set to be announced in the middle of next week, by May 14.
For the Seahawks, it will be a little quirky. They will play on Wednesday, September 9, not the usual Thursday slot. That is due to the Rams and 49ers facing off in a special opening week matchup. The NFL scheduled its first-ever regular-season game in Australia for Thursday, September 10 between two of Seattle’s biggest rivals.
Not only does that decision move Seattle to Wednesday night, but it also eliminates two possible opponents for their Week 1 matchup, which is yet to be announced.
Big-Time Bryan Woo Bounce-Back Outing Gives Mariners Series Win vs. Atlanta
It might have seemed that the Atlanta Braves were the worst possible team for a struggling Bryan Woo to face. Woo, whose arsenal depends almost entirely on two zippy fastballs thrown over the plate, was set to face an aggressive squad that feasted on fastballs. That ability to jump on the heater has been the lynchpin of Atlanta’s stellar opening salvo of the 2026 campaign, and Woo had to stare them down as the M’s tried to be the very first team to hand the Braves a series defeat.
On the other side of the ball, the Mariners needed to produce more with the stick, having logged quite a few uncompetitive innings on offense in both previous games in the series, with a pair of well-timed homers providing just enough runs on Monday but not on Tuesday. The hitting took a bit of an improvement overall on Wednesday, and though the sequencing didn’t do them many favors, the runs they scraped across were enough for a 3-1 victory.
There were banner days for several involved. For Julio Rodríguez, who came about 20 feet from denting the newly-unveiled Randy Johnson plaque with a mammoth homer; for Cole Young, who put together a three-hit outing; and for Josh Naylor, who showed up with the glove, the bat, and the well-renowned mind to find stolen bases.
But it all started with the guy on the mound, who gave his team an excellent chance to win the game.
Storm Nearing Final Roster After Waiving 2 Players
One day after re-signing rookie No. 14 overall pick Taina Mair to a developmental contract, the Seattle Storm waived guards Jaelyn Brown and Rennia Davis, the team announced. They are now one player away from finalizing their 12-player roster.
Davis and Brown were battling tough odds to try to make the Storm’s roster, but Davis looked like she might have a legitimate chance to be a surprise retention after a pair of strong preseason performances. Instead, it’s down to Mackenzie Holmes and rookie No. 39 pick Grace VanSlooten for the final spot.
Analysis: How Did Seahawks Fare Replacing Boye Mafe, Departed Free Agent Talent?
Teams that win the Super Bowl typically have to pay the toll that comes with such success when free agency opens at the start of a new NFL league year, and while the Seattle Seahawks only lost five players off of the Lombardi Trophy-winning squad, they weren’t an exception to that rule as several key starters departed for greener pastures this offseason.
With the start of OTAs just around the corner and the 2026 NFL Draft in the books, the Seahawks have made a concerted effort to plug those newly-created holes through their own free agency signings as well as adding an eight-player draft class. More moves may be yet to come, but at this stage of the offseason, the projected replacements for the likes of Ken Walker III and Riq Woolen among others likely are already under contract for 2026.
How did Seattle fare finding short and/or long-term replacements for their free agent losses? Here’s a look at all five departures, their projected successors, and an early verdict on whether the team upgraded or downgraded at the position.
Kraken Receive No. 7 Pick in 2026 NHL Draft Lottery: What Now?
The NHL lottery for draft picks 1 through 16 took place on Tuesday night, ahead of the draft on June 26 and 27. The Seattle Kraken entered the lottery sixth in line, with a 7.5% chance at getting the No. 1 overall pick with an average projected draft position of 5.9.
For yet another season, Seattle got the short end of the lottery. The Toronto Maple Leafs nabbed the top pick, followed by the Sharks getting second overall. Seattle did not hear their name called until No. 7. They will pick seventh, which is one spot higher than their slot last year when they selected Jake O'Brien.
Picking seventh means for another season, they are picking lower than their initial position in the final standings. However, this will actually be Seattle’s highest draft pick since taking Shane Wright fourth overall in 2022.
Mariners Bats Give Kirby Vintage King Félix Treatment, M’s Drop Winnable Contest to Braves
The names and faces change but the general concept remains the same. Gone are the days when a pitcher like Steve Carlton could win 27 games for a team that only won 59 games total; in modern baseball, such pitchers get saddled with no-decisions, a concept pioneered by a 13-12 Félix Hernández in 2010 who won the Cy Young Award on the back of his league-leading 2.27 ERA.
That was still 21.3% of that awful Mariners team’s wins. They weren’t quite as bad as Carlton’s old side. They may have given 702 plate appearances to Chone Figgins and 278 more to Milton Bradley, but there are few teams who were ever as bad as the ‘72 Not-Really-Phightin’ Phils.
Arisen during the career of that selfsame Hernández was the term “Félix Quality Start”, based on the definition of quality start (six innings or more, three earned runs or less) but narrowed in scope to seven innings or more and two earned runs or less. Hernández got plenty of those in his career.
Another Mariner got such a start on Tuesday night, and like a lot of those “King Félix” outings of old, his team lost 3-2. Whether it is an aberration or a harbinger, it is still too soon to tell. But the hour of judgment is drawing nearer than those in T-Mobile Park might like to admit.
George Kirby put together a “Félix Quality Start” against one of the best teams in baseball.
With a direly stretched bullpen, the Mariners needed their starter to go deep into the game. And with an offense once again struggling to put anything together, he needed to keep the Braves to a low score.
Gonzaga Baseball Treads Water, Splits Four Games at Home
The response from Gonzaga baseball (29-17, 16-5 WCC) after its 14-game winning streak was snapped was always going to be something to watch, and the early returns are somewhat of a mixed bag.
Facing the second-worst team in the conference in Santa Clara for a three-game set on their home turf and then matching up with Washington State for the third time this season, the Zags split the four games as they saw performance drop-offs from two areas that have otherwise boosted them over the last month. Now with just two series left in the regular season, including a big one on the road against San Francisco this weekend, GU will need to get back to playing the brand of baseball that led to their impressive run.
What are the current concerning trends in the Bulldogs’ play?
Bumpy Stretch For Rotation Blocking Mariners’ Breakthrough
One of the clear strengths of the Seattle Mariners at the beginning of the 2026 season was their starting rotation. Last season, they ranked fourth in Major League Baseball in innings pitched as a starting rotation and 11th in FIP (which is ERA but factoring out fielding luck).
Bryan Woo and Luis Castillo eclipsed 180 innings pitched. Two of their starters had an ERA better than 3.50. Three of them exceeded 160 strikeouts. Four of their starters made at least 23 starts last season. Eight different players needed to make at least two starts. For context, the World Series champion Dodgers had 14 different players make multiple starts. The American League champion Blue Jays needed 11 such starters.
They had one of the strongest, most reliable rotations in baseball last year. With the same cast of characters coming into 2026, the consensus was the Mariners would be able to lean on their starting pitchers to another postseason run. However, over the last few weeks, the starting pitching has not been the strength, but the weakness of this Mariners club.
Seahawks Fill Last Major Need, Ink Dante Fowler Jr. to One-Year Deal
Despite doubling their draft picks from four to eight during the 2026 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks surprisingly didn’t use a single one of those selections on an EDGE defender, which many pundits viewed as one of their most significant needs coming out of free agency. Now, they’ve rectified that concern with an anticipated post-draft free agent signing that should be a win for team and player.
After visiting with the team last month weeks before the draft, the Seahawks have reportedly agreed to terms with veteran pass rusher Dante Fowler Jr. on a one-year deal. Per multiple sources, the deal could earn the former top-five pick up to $5 million in 2026 and since the signing occurred after the first Monday following the draft, it will not impact the compensatory pick formula.
Starring at Florida, Fowler emerged as one of the top prospects in the 2015 NFL Draft, and the Jaguars selected him third overall with hopes of him emerging as a superstar quarterback hunter, only for him to miss his entire rookie season with a torn ACL suffered in rookie minicamp. After two and a half inconsistent seasons following the injury, Jacksonville traded him to the Los Angeles Rams at the deadline for a pair of draft picks, and he enjoyed a long-awaited breakout season in 2019 with a career-high 11.5 sacks, turning that production into a three-year, $45 million deal with Atlanta.
Two Electric Homers Give Mariners Comeback Win against White-Hot Braves
Home runs are thrown, not hit. That is an adage that holds up among the best and most consistent hitters in the game, who take what is given to them and do the most they can with it, whether that means lining one the other way or launching it in the air. When a hitter tries to force a home run on a pitch that won’t allow it, there are a whole lot of outcomes like strikeouts and rolled-over grounders that end up much worse for the hitter.
Paradoxically, this also means that home runs are determined by the hitter. Pitchers who allow fly balls will allow home runs, but it’s up to the hitter to put that swing on it when it comes.
A lot of hitters tried to hit homers on Monday night in Seattle as the Braves took on the Mariners, the visitors white-hot and the home crew struggling. While nobody could get it done with the bases loaded, six hits left the yard: four for Atlanta and two for Seattle, but the M’s got theirs with men on base and won 5-4.
Logan Gilbert got through six innings by the skin of his teeth, with three solo shots coming in the last frame.
Gilbert’s efficiency issues over the past two seasons are well documented. After throwing a combined 3.8 pitches per plate appearance from 2022 through 2024, Gilbert threw 5.2 per plate appearance from May 2025 through the end of 2025. Batters’ adjusted to his style of pitching, laying off the splitter thanks to the predictability of its usage, but they still had issues squaring up the pitches, jacking up his pitch counts thanks to tons of foul balls and good takes.
Huskies Land Commitment From Coveted 2027 Offensive Line Target Reis Russell
The Washington Huskies football team received its first offensive lineman commitment from the Class of 2027 on Monday.
Reis Russell, a three-star interior line prospect from Valor Christian (Littleton, Colo.) chose UW over Georgia, Miami and USC. With recent additions of Russell and Glacier Peak (Snohomish, Wash.) tight end Zach Albright, Washington head coach Jedd Fisch’s 2027 class stands at No. 10 in the 247Sports composite rankings.
Stock Watch: Examining Seahawks Post-Draft Winners, Losers
Now more than a week removed from the 2026 NFL Draft, the Seattle Seahawks have gotten a first look at their newest draft class via rookie minicamp, and the offseason program will soon kick into full overdrive with Phase 2 opening next week.
At this point, Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald and general manager John Schneider haven’t gotten to see first-round pick Jadarian Price and the rest of the 2026 class on the field with returning veterans from their Super Bowl LX-winning squad. But that will soon change as on-field workouts ramp up to the next step and Organized Team Activities (OTAs) eventually open on May 26, providing the rookies with a chance to start gunning for starting jobs and roster spots.
With rookies soon to be thrown into the fire battling against seasoned veterans, which returning players and coaches stood out as the biggest winners coming out of the NFL Draft for the Seahawks? And who needs to keep a focused eye on their rearview mirror with objects being closer than they appear?
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