The Seahawks reduced their roster to 53 players on Tuesday, then signed 17 players, all of whom were part of that roster reduction, to their practice squad a day later. More changes are sure to come before the start of the regular season, but with that first big wave of moves behind him, Seahawks general manager and president of football operations John Schneider met with the media to talk about what is always an eventful week for player personnel departments.

"First of all, we want to thank everybody in football ops and support staff for a great training camp, and preseason," Schneider said to open his press conference. "(Director of team operations) Jeremy Young, (director of equipment) EK (Erik Kennedy), the trainers and everybody supporting our trip to Green Bay, a big undertaking. There's a lot of work and logistics that goes into that, to pick up the whole operation and bring it to a beautiful city for a week. We're excited to get going here and we like what we've done.

"We want to thank the guys and the scouts. The last 48 hours, everybody's been jamming upstairs, working their connections, studying, and getting to know a lay of the land as best we can. We'll be doing that a lot tonight, too, as we see everybody else's initial practice squads and trying to set up our initial practice squad and then maneuvering off that adjusting some of the 53. Really excited about our 70 and we'll keep working that 90 group too, and then all the guys that have been let go, bringing in guys for workouts, having a nice ready list together for the season. Bringing guys in for workouts, getting physicals and see where we are and see where we can go to so we can keep the competition going throughout the season and make our team as strong as we possibly can for this opening game against San Francisco, as well as the end of February."

Here are five takeaways from Schneider's time with the media:

1. The rookie class is off to a strong start.

The Seahawks kept eight of their 11 2025 draft picks on the initial 53 man roster—a ninth, defensive lineman Rylie Mills, is on the non-football injury list due to a torn ACL suffered late last season—and the two who were waived on Tuesday, running back Damien Martinez and receiver Ricky White III, were both back with the team a day later as members of the practice squad. The Seahawks also kept three undrafted free agents, meaning 13 of the 70 players on their active roster and practice squad are rookies.

"We're all excited about the players, and we're all excited about the development of the players as well, watching the education, the clarity of the teaching that's going on on the field, and the intensity," Schneider said. "That's what stands out, and to watch these guys improve week by week, some of them day to to day, quite honestly, and watching them have some setbacks and then respond too, we're excited about it."

As for those three undrafted rookies, outside linebackers Connor O'Toole and Jared Ivey and tight end Nick Kallerup, all three earned it with their play in training camp and preseason, but all three were also players the Seahawks feared might not have made it through waivers in part due to their strong preseasons. In other words, with teams now able to elevate practice squad players on gameday, teams aren't always keeping their absolute top 53 players on the roster on cut day, but rather they are sometimes weighing decisions based on how they can build the best 70-player roster. For example, if the Seahawks thought Ivey was more likely to get claimed than, say Patrick O'Connell, they might waive O'Connell, who signed to the practice squad Wednesday, even though he figures to have an important role as a backup linebacker.

"They did a great job, they earned it," Schneider said. "It also comes back to—talent, yes, work ethic, did they earn it, yes—but it's also, who's going to be able to get through waivers and how you navigate this initial wave when everybody's setting their rosters? All three of those guys flashed huge in preseason games. They all did things that really stood out on film, and we had a vibe that we may not get guys through. So again, it's kind of how we're building this thing. They did a great job; it's also how you're building your team initially."

2. Schneider's thoughts on new cornerback Derion Kendrick.

As Schneider noted in his press conference, the 53-man roster set on Tuesday is never a finished product, and sure enough, the Seahawks made a change the next day, claiming former Rams cornerback Derion Kendrick of waivers.

Asked about the former Rams starter, who missed last season with a torn ACL, Schneider said, "

"We've competed against him, obviously Coop (Kupp) and Ernest (Jones IV) know him," Schneider said. "He's a competitor, really nice mover, really good ball skills. He came back from his ACL strong. We thought he had a very nice preseason."

3. Shaquill Griffin will be sticking around.

To make room on the roster for Kendrick, the Seahawks waived veteran cornerback Shaquill Griffin, a player who spent his first four seasons with the Seahawks after being selected in the third round of the 2017 draft, then returned to the franchise this offseason. As a vested veteran, Griffin is not subject to waivers, and Schneider indicated strongly that Griffin will be back with the team soon, whether that be on the active roster or practice squad.

"He'll stick around, for sure," Schneider said. "We love Shaq."

4. Schneider likes the growth he has seen from the offensive line.

At one point in Wednesday's press conference, Schneider was asked what he feels better about this season relative to last year when it comes to his team.

"Oh man, I think it has to be the offensive line," Schneider answered. "But it has to be more the unit and the cohesiveness of the group than guys individually."

Earlier, when talking about the line, Schneider noted, "There's buy in there, there's a legitimate scheme. They're running off the ball, they're gaining confidence—they're confident in what they do."

The Seahawks will look different at a spot or two up front, with rookie Grey Zabel taking over at left guard, and with Jalen Sundell looking like the likely starter at center. But bigger than the personnel change, Schneider noted, is the combination of scheme change under new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, and the coaching of offensive line coach John Benton, run game coordinator Rick Dennison and run game specialist/assistant offensive line coach Justin Outten.

"It comes back to the developers, the teachers," Schneider said. "There's an attitude they can have in the scheme where they can come off the ball and feel confident in themselves. They're spending a lot of time together, you're seeing a lot of growth within the group, there's camaraderie that's starting to come together too. That's the whole team, not just the offensive line, but that group's kind of group you like to see spending a lot of time together, because they have to work as one."

5. Schneider's thoughts on how the competition at receiver played out.

After adding Cooper Kupp in free agency to pair with 2024 Pro-Bowler Jaxon Smith-Njigba, the Seahawks signed Marquez Valdes-Scantling to give the Seahawks a field-stretching speed option. But on Tuesday, Valdes-Scantling was released, less because of anything he did to cost himself a job, and more because of how other players in that position group stepped up. A huge factor was the rapid growth of rookie Tory Horton, another speed threat who can take the top off a defense, and prior to injuring his ankle in Seattle's second preseason game, Horton was regularly getting reps with the starting offense. The other three spots after Smith-Njigba, Kupp and Horton went to three physical receivers who can block in the run game and who are all special teams standouts, Dareke Young, Jake Bobo and Cody White, which unfortunately left Valdes-Scantling as the odd man out.

"The receiving corps is really strong," Schneider said. "We really like it, especially the physicality of it. There's a really nice combination of receivers. There's a really cool uniqueness to all of them, and there's a cool physicality with Bobo and Dareke and Cody. That's really important, in this scheme you have to be able to block, so we like the group. MVS, he came in and did a nice job and competed, those guys were just ahead of him. That's the way it goes, unfortunately you have to get down to it at a certain time. It was a very good signing for us at the time. We added Tory in the draft, a guy that can kind of take the top off (a defense), and that's MVS's specialty, so very similar in that regard."