Analysis: Breaking Down Seahawks’ Initial 53-Man Roster

Closing in on the start of the 2025 season, the Seattle Seahawks trimmed their roster from 90 players down to 53 before Tuesday’s 1 PM deadline with a series of moves, including a trade and a pair of injured reserve designations.

The initial roster should always be taken with a grain of salt, as all 32 NFL teams will continue to churn the back of their roster with waiver claims, trades, and free agent signings in coming days to assemble the best 53 for the regular season. Several of the players waived on Tuesday will be eligible to join Seattle’s practice squad on Wednesday if they clear waivers as well, meaning there’s still plenty of activity left to take place before a Week 1 home matchup with San Francisco.

With that in mind, here’s a position-by-position breakdown of the Seahawks initial 53-man roster and a look at what may come next as the franchise prepares for the start of the new season:

Quarterback (3)

Starter: Sam Darnold

Backups: Drew Lock, Jalen Milroe

Taking the reins running Klint Kubiak’s offense, Darnold will open the 2025 season as the undisputed starter, looking to show his breakout campaign in Minnesota wasn’t a fluke. Behind him, Lock has continued to look sharp in his second stint with the franchise, providing a proven veteran with big game experience in the event Darnold gets nicked up. A developmental quarterback in every sense, Milroe’s elite athletic tools will allow the coaching staff to build a package of plays for him in the game plan each week while focusing on his growth on the practice field with eyes on 2026 or 2027.

Running Back (5)

Starter: Ken Walker III

Backups: Zach Charbonnet, George Holani, Robbie Ouzts, Brady Russell

As a sign of how different Kubiak’s offense will be from the ones his predecessors ran, the Seahawks kept not just one, but two fullbacks in Ouzts and Russell, with each having the ability to play H-back and tight end in a pinch while also being core special teamers. As for the actual running backs, Walker’s health will be a storyline from Week 1 on due to the limited workload he has had in training camp with a foot issue, but the team must not be too concerned because they opted to keep only two backups behind him in Charbonnet and Holani. In an ideal scenario, both Damien Martinez and Jacardia Wright will clear waivers and at least one of them will return on the practice squad for backfield insurance.

Receiver (6)

Starters: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cooper Kupp

Backups: Tory Horton, Jake Bobo, Dareke Young, Cody White

Injured Reserve: Steven Sims Jr.

As expected, with the emergence of Horton and strong camps from Bobo, Young, and White, Marquez Valdes-Scantling became expendable without special teams capabilities and Seattle ate his $3 million in guarantees as a terminated veteran. Smith-Njigba and Kupp will open the season as the clear top two targets for Darnold, while Horton should step in immediately as the third option assuming that he has recovered from an ankle injury in time for Week 1. Whether he’s fully healthy or not, the trio of Bobo, Young, and White all bring their own unique skill sets to Kubiak’s offense and should be able to pitch in as pass catchers and blockers on the outside in the run game when called upon.

Tight End (4)

Starters: AJ Barner, Elijah Arroyo

Backups: Eric Saubert, Nick Kallerup

This could technically be viewed as five players given the fact Russell mostly played tight end in the preseason. The duo of Barner and Arroyo should present Darnold with two capable receivers with soft hands, with the former being a more traditional chain-moving Y-tight end and the latter offering 4.5 speed and field stretching ability. Saubert’s experience in Kubiak’s offense as well as his blocking prowess warranted a roster spot, while Kallerup easily stands out as the biggest surprise on the initial 53. The undrafted rookie out of Minnesota impressed with his stout inline blocking and even caught a couple passes in the preseason, doing enough to survive initial cuts. Now, the question will be how long he stays on the roster with more moves soon to come.

Offensive Line (9)

Starters: Charles Cross, Grey Zabel, Jalen Sundell, Anthony Bradford, Abraham Lucas

Backups: Josh Jones, Olu Oluwatimi, Mason Richman, Bryce Cabeldue

Injured Reserve: Christian Haynes

With Sundell appearing to beat out Oluwatimi for the pivot position and Cross close to returning from finger surgery, the Seahawks should have their starting line cemented for the season opener. As for depth, Haynes’ latest pectoral injury was severe enough that the team had to deactivate him, which created a spot for Cabeldue, an upstart rookie who elevated his play in preseason games after a sluggish start to his first training camp. At the tackle spots, Jones beat out Mike Jerrell for the swing tackle role, leading to the latter being traded to Atlanta for a conditional seventh-round pick, while Richman will offer the positional flexibility to play inside at both guard and center as well as right tackle. This could still be a unit where Seattle tries to add another veteran to the mix in the interior before September 7.

Defensive Tackle (5)

Starters: Leonard Williams, Jarran Reed

Backups: Byron Murphy II, Mike Morris, Jared Ivey

In regards to versatile defensive ends/tackles who can play up and down the line, the Seahawks have a smorgasbord of them, starting with Williams, Reed, and Murphy as their three-headed monster in the middle. Ivey won a spot with an impressive preseason and Morris’ concussion must not be too big of a concern. While Kallerup takes the cake for the biggest surprise to make the team, as far as omissions go, nothing may be more shocking than Seattle cutting both Quinton Bohanna and Brandon Pili at the nose tackle position, especially with Johnathan Hankins starting on the Non-Football Injury list and set to miss four games minimum. But clearly the team believes they can sneak one or both players onto their practice squad and they will be active hunting the waiver wire for big-bodied defensive tackles as well.

EDGE/Outside Linebacker (5)

Starters: Demarcus Lawrence, Uchenna Nwosu

Backups: Derick Hall, Boye Mafe, Connor O’Toole

Coming back from offseason knee surgery, the Seahawks must be pleased with Nwosu’s progress, as they chose to keep an athletic, yet untested rookie in O’Toole over Tyreke Smith, who would have been a more natural replacement in the short-term with a bigger frame and better effectiveness setting the edge against the run. This likely boiled down to which player the organization felt would be easier to sneak onto the practice squad, as they will certainly want to bring back Smith in that capacity and O’Toole’s traits may have made it tough to avoid him being claimed. Nonetheless, O’Toole won’t be forced into early action with Nwosu, Lawrence, Hall, and Mafe ahead of him, and this could still be a position where Seattle looks for veteran reinforcements after the initial cutdown.

Inside Linebacker (3)

Starters: Ernest Jones IV, Tyrice Knight

Backups: Drake Thomas

The decision to cut Patrick O’Connell, who had a stellar preseason and spent some time with the first-team defense while Jones and Knight missed extended stretches of training camp, may surprise some. But the third-year defender slipped through waivers each of the past two Augusts and the Seahawks must have plenty of confidence he will do so again this time around before re-signing with the practice squad. As things stand, especially with Knight just now starting to work back into practice after dealing with an undisclosed medical issue, this stands out as another position group that needs more depth and Schneider will be combing the waiver wire or calling about potential trades in the next few days to address the issue.

Cornerback (5)

Starters: Devon Witherspoon, Riq Woolen

Backups: Josh Jobe, Shaquill Griffin, Nehemiah Pritchett

Away from quarterback, no position may have gone more chalk in the 53-man cutdown process than cornerback. Witherspoon and Woolen entered the season as the undisputed starters, while Jobe built off a strong 2024 with a quality camp and preseason to retain the third spot behind them. Even with a long absence in camp due to personal reasons, Griffin’s past track record as a quality starter and several strong practices to close out the month helped him stick on the roster and Pritchett took a big step forward to kick off his sophomore season, leaving Damarion Williams as the odd man out in the secondary.

Safety (5)

Starters: Julian Love, Coby Bryant, Nick Emmanwori

Backups: D’Anthony Bell, Ty Okada

Arguably the deepest position group on the entire roster, it shouldn’t come as a surprise the Seahawks decided to stock up and keep as many players from this unit as possible. The trifecta of Love, Bryant, and the dynamic Emmanwori will form the new base defense for Macdonald, with the latter’s size (6-3, 220) allowing him to play like an extra linebacker in the box. Bell also has enough size to be able to do that as well and Seattle will mix him or Okada in from time to time in four-safety dime/bandit looks, giving the coaching staff an incredible amount of schematic flexibility. Expect several of these players to be key special team contributors as well.

Specialists (3)

Starters: Jason Myers, Michael Dickson, Chris Stoll

The fact Seattle decided to move on from Zach Triner indicates Stoll has made great progress in his return from a back injury and has a great chance to be ready for Week 1. Of course, Triner could be brought back on the practice squad as insurance, and Russell has shown he can snap when called upon. But the Seahawks seem confident they’ll have their full battery on special teams ready to roll against the 49ers.