> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Three Breakout Candidates for Seahawks in 2026 - URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/three-breakout-candidates-seattle-seahawks-2026/ - Published: 2026-05-12T20:23:20.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-08T06:14:47.000Z - Author: Nick Lee - Tags: Analysis, Elijah Arroyo, Rylie Mills, Derick Hall, Seahawks \[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="2837"\] ![ Seattle Seahawks linebacker Derick Hall (58) celebrates against the New England Patriots in the first half in Super Bowl LX at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1d/f2/1df2f77b-83dd-4bc0-a6d2-6d1bb5df89a3/content/images/2026/10/usatsi_28190168-format-original.jpg) Seattle Seahawks linebacker Derick Hall (58) celebrates against the New England Patriots in the first half in Super Bowl LX at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images \[/caption\] Coming off a Super Bowl LX win, the Seattle Seahawks’ path back to championship contention will not hinge on splashy free agent additions or blockbuster trades. Instead, bolstering Seattle’s chances for a repeat could come from within. As the franchise enters an exciting 2026 season set to defend their title, several young players are positioned to take major steps forward and potentially transform the roster in the process, helping offset some of the key losses suffered in free agency back in March. Specifically, these three Seahawks could be on the verge of breakout campaigns that reshape the roster and help in Seattle’s quest for a repeat Super Bowl title: ### Elijah Arroyo So far, Arroyo is known as the “other” second round pick by the Seahawks in 2025\. That was after Seattle traded back up to 35th overall to nab Nick Emmanwori. With their other second rounder, they selected Arroyo out of Miami. He was taken over tight end Harold Fannin, who went to the Browns early in the third round and then tallied 731 receiving yards and six touchdowns. Arroyo managed just 15 catches for 179 yards and one touchdown. Some of it was no fault of his own, as he missed four games due to a knee injury. He showed flashes of elite athleticism during the season. His athleticism, route running, and versatility make him a potential matchup nightmare. He ended up playing 19 snaps in the Super Bowl but did not register a catch. 2026 can be a big season for Arroyo. First, he can work the entire offseason healthy and continue building a rapport with Sam Darnold and new offensive coordinator Brian Fleury. He was out-shined by fellow tight end AJ Barner, who had nearly 600 yards and seven touchdowns last year, counting the playoffs. If Arroyo can stay healthy, 2026 is the year he can show off why Seattle felt he was worth the 50th overall pick in the draft. Adding the best version of him to the stockpile of weapons Darnold has at his disposal would send shivers down the entire NFC. ### Rylie Mills That sack in the Super Bowl was the Bloomin’ Onion appetizer for the possible filet mignon Mills could be along the defensive line. He manhandled Jared Wilson on his way to bringing down Drake Maye for one of the six sacks Seattle imposed on Maye and the Patriots. Mills had spent nearly the entire 2025 season rehabbing from a torn ACL he suffered while playing at Notre Dame during the 2024 College Football Playoff. Mills finally worked his way back and got into the rotation late in the regular season, starting in Week 15\. His first career sack came in Super Bowl LX. Now, he gets a full offseason to get better as a defensive end - the Seahawks announced a slight position change, having him be more towards defensive end than along the interior. Instead of focusing on rehabbing an injury, he’s sharpening his craft with the same Seahawks coaching staff from last year. If the world didn’t know Mills last year, even after the Super Bowl, they probably will this coming season. Seattle might have gotten a steal in the fifth round of the 2025 draft. The league might be left saying “how did we let Seattle get *that* guy?” ### Derick Hall Hall is different from Arroyo and Mills in the sense that he isn’t entering the second year as a pro. In fact, this is a far more critical season for Hall: his contract year. 2026 will be the fourth and final season for Hall under his rookie deal after he was a second round pick in the 2023 draft. It has been an up-and-down career for Hall thus far. He wasn’t much of a factor his rookie year, but he broke out for eight sacks in 2024\. Last season, he didn’t get to that same sack total, amassing just two. However, like Mills, Hall’s dynamic performance against the Patriots during Super Bowl LX might have been a tasty appetizer. Only Byron Murphy II had more quarterback pressures than Hall’s four in their domination of the Patriots. Hall, like Murphy, notched two sacks in the game and could have had more. He dominated his assignments most of that game, finally turning pressures into sack production that had evaded him for much of the regular season despite having a rock solid Pass Rush Win Rate. Is that a sign of things to come in his “contract year?” Guys are usually extra motivated ahead of tasting free agency. The Seahawks could be the benefactors of that from Hall.