The Seahawks wrapped up their preseason with a tie in Kansas City, then the team made a series of roster moves to establish an initial 53-man roster, followed by the signing of 17 players to the practice squad a day later. With so much happening this time of year, and with the regular-season opener coming up next week, it's a great time to dive into the mailbag and answer some questions from you, the fans.

As always, thanks to everyone who asked questions this week, and apologies if I wasn't able to get to yours this time around. And remember, the mailbag is always open for submissions at Seahawks.com/mailbag.

From Twitter/X:

@MrEd315 asks, "What surprised you most about the Seahawks' cutdown and practice squad signing?"

A: There weren't a lot of surprises in Seattle's roster cuts if you view through the lens of them trying to make moves to get the best 70-man roster, including the practice squad, as possible. Releasing Trevon Diggs would have qualified as a pretty big surprise if it wasn't obvious that the Seahawks planned to bring him back on the practice squad, which they did a day later. On a similar note, it would have been surprising for the Seahawks to keep only three safeties if they weren't going to bring any back on their practice squad, but as expected, they did just that, signing Rodney Thomas II and AJ Finley.

@the_0ther_ asks, "Why did we cut Jared Ivey and where is D'Anthony Bell?"

A: Ivey was surely one of the tougher decisions the Seahawks had to make on cut day, and sure enough, he ended up being claimed on waivers a day later, meaning Seattle couldn't bring him back on the practice squad. I would imagine the Seahawks hoped to keep both Ivey and Connor O'Toole, who were on the 53-man roster last season despite seeing minimal playing time, largely because the Seahawks feared losing them on waivers. While preseason games aren't everything, O'Toole did flash more in those games, which no doubt helped his chances.

As for Bell, I was a little surprised to not see him on the list of players signed to the practice squad on Monday, and perhaps he's weighing a few other offers before making a decision on his next step, but if Bell remains a free agent, based on the way coaches and teammates talk about him, I would not be surprised if he finds his way back to Seattle at some point. As general manager and president of football operations John Schneider points out, the Seahawks don't think of their team as just a 53-man roster or even the 53 plus the 17-player practice squad, or Ready Squad as they call it, but rather the extended group of players, many of whom were with the team in camp, that the Seahawks tell to stay ready if and when they are needed.

@jaxonsnjigba asks, "With the amount of safeties waived, does this mean a Nick Emmanwori Week 1 return is imminent?"

A: Not necessarily. Obviously the hope is that Emmanwori can play in Week 1, but even if he isn't ready, the Seahawks have options on the practice squad, and could elevate AJ Finley or Rodney Thomas II, or both of them, to add depth.

From BlueSky:

@segdeha.com asks, "I know you're more of a Pearl Jam guy, but is there a song you're hoping Soundgarden plays during halftime of the opener?"

A: You're right that I'm a Pearl Jam guy, but I also have plenty of love for Soundgarden. Like a lot of people, I first came to know Soundgarden from their album Badmotorfinger—I'm slightly too young to have gotten into their earlier stuff like Ultramega OK and Louder Than Love when those albums came out—so I would love to hear something off of Badmotorfinger like "Rusty Cage" or "Outshined."  There are obviously a ton of other Soundgarden classics I'd love to hear, including from their most commercially successful album, Superunknown like "Black Hole Sun" and "Fell on Black Days." If I had to pick one off that album though, I'd go with "Spoonman" not just because it rocks, but because it has a great backstory, with the song being inspired by Artis the Spoonman, a street performer that Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell had seen perform in Seattle. Even better—and we're going down a 90s Seattle music scene rabbit hole now so feel free to move on if this isn't your thing—is the back story to how a song called Spoonman came to be.

In the 1992 Cameron Crowe classic, "Singles," one of the main characters, Cliff Poncier, played by Matt Dillon, is handing out demo tapes after his band, Citizen Dick, breaks up. Wanting to have a realistic demo tape for that scene, Crowe asked Jeff Ament, the bassist for an up and coming band called Mookie Blaylock (you may have heard of the band by its second name that stuck, Pearl Jam) to design a mock demo tape. Wanting to be thorough, Ament didn't just do the art, he came up with five fictional song names, "Seasons," "Nowhere But you," "Spoon Man," "Flutter Girl," and "Missing."

Cornell, who had a small role in the film, saw Ament's fake demo tape, drew inspiration from those titles, and decided to write songs based on them. "Seasons," an acoustic Cornell solo effort, ended up on the "Singles" soundtrack and is of the best songs on an all-time great soundtrack. "Spoonman," meanwhile, became one of Soundgarden's biggest hits when it was released on Superunknown a few years later.

So yes, one of Soundgarden's best songs, as Cornell's beautiful, acoustic classic were both inspired by a movie prop.

@ililly31.bsky.social asks, "What kind of timeline are we looking at for Trevon Diggs? How much time is typically needed to get someone like him up to game speed? Do the coaches think he'll be a third outside corner?"

A: The ramp up period for a player who joins a team late can be affected by a lot of different factors, including that player's health and conditioning, his experience in the league, as well as his familiarity with the defensive scheme. Diggs hasn't had a lot of practice with the Seahawks yet since joining the team earlier this month, but the fact that he played in the preseason finale, if only for a few series, means he's getting up to speed from a physical standpoint. And Diggs has plenty of experience in multiple defenses, so he should be able to get up to speed pretty quickly, at least enough to have a role in the defense even if he doesn't have the entire defense down. When Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald was asked if Diggs was a viable option to play in Week 1, Macdonald answered in the affirmative, so even if he isn't ready to play an every-down role right away, it would not be surprising at all to see him elevated from the practice squad to play in next week's opener. Then again, as we saw on the finale of Hard Knocks, Macdonald had a conversation with Diggs about getting up to speed and based off that, it did not sound like a slam dunk that he will play Week 1.

From Instagram:

@Smpaulsen9 asks, "Why is Trevon (Diggs) on the practice squad, man?"

A: To follow up on the previous question, Diggs is most likely on the practice squad for a couple of reasons, one of which is to give him time to ramp up without occupying a roster spot if it turns out he and the Seahawks decide he isn't ready to play in Week 1. Also, if a team and veteran player agree to that player starting on the practice squad, it allows teams to keep a young player on the roster without risking losing him on waivers, while that veteran player can sign to the practice squad without risk of being claimed by another team since vested veterans aren't subject to waivers. Of course, that player can always sign elsewhere if a better opportunity comes along given that he is a free agent before he can sign to the practice squad, but in the case of a player like Diggs, who knows he is playing catchup having signed late, there is a benefit to sticking things out in the place where he has been for the past couple of weeks, especially if there is an understanding that he will have a chance to move up to the 53-man roster when he's ready.

As Schneider has explained, that takes trust between the team, the player and that player's agent, and it doesn't always work out—the Seahawks may have hoped to bring Cody White back before he elected to join former offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak in Las Vegas—but when teams and veteran players can make it work, it allows them to have a much deeper 70-man roster.

@uaismaa asks, "Will we do better than 14-3 this season?"

A: Better than 14-3 is a pretty darn tough ask, don't you think? I am fully confident that the Seahawks will be a really, really good team again in 2026 given the continuity they have from last year's Super Bowl-winning squad, but no matter how good a team is, it's tough to predict 14-plus wins going into a season. There is just too much parity in the NFL to assume that many wins for a team, no matter how talented, and that's especially true in an NFC West that features three teams, the Seahawks, Rams and 49ers, that won at least 12 games a year ago.

@l.enge41 asks, "Why haven't you guys released the white throwbacks?"

A: Because we like to keep up the suspense, obviously? In all seriousness, I have no idea if white throwbacks are in the plans for future seasons, though I am on record for loving the throwback look, so I'd be all for that if and when it ever does take place. The problem the Seahawks, and every other team, face when it comes to deciding these things is that the NFL limits the total number of uniforms a team can have, so it's not as simple as adding a white throwback. To do that, the Seahawks would have to get rid of something, like how they had to retire the wolf grey jersey when they added their throwbacks—though the rivalry uniforms gave Seattle a new version of a grey jersey.

@da_esberz asks, "Curious when coaches are wearing headsets, do they all talk to each other?"

A: They're not all talking to each other, but Macdonald can, at various points in the game, talk to everyone on a headset. He switches between channels, however, so there aren't instances when offensive and defensive coaches are all in his ear at once. Macdonald at any point in a game is juggling communication with offensive and defensive assistants, as well as linebacker Ernest Jones IV, the "green dot" for Seattle's defense, meaning he gets the call in a headset in his helmet and relays it to the defense. Macdonald also has assistants in the coaches' booth who advise him on things like clock management situations and challenge flags. So yeah, there's a lot going on in those headsets, but there are systems in place to keep it from getting too chaotic.

@payynoonie asks, "Why no Cody White or D-Bell? Both are dawgs?"

A: As I mentioned earlier, I was a little surprised Bell wasn't on the initial practice squad, but I could definitely see him coming back at some point if he remains a free agent. He's a really well-respected and versatile player. White, meanwhile, ended up in Las Vegas with the Raiders, which is unfortunate for the Seahawks, but might give White a better chance to earn playing time as a receiver.

@jaisdarealest asks when Byron Murphy II will get a contract extension?"

A: Under the league's current collective bargaining agreement, rookies and teams can't negotiate extensions until after their third season—there are exceptions, such as an undrafted player or a draft pick who has been cut and re-signed by a team on a shorter-deal, but most picks, especially top picks, are still under their initial four-year rookie contract after three seasons. That means Murphy and the Seahawks can't even begin talking about an extension until after the 2026 season ends. That being said, given how well he has played so far in his career, I would imagine those talks will happen next offseason, just as they did with 2023 first-rounders Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Devon Witherspoon, who signed extensions in March and August, respectively. Murphy is developing into what Macdonald and Schneider might call a "foundational player" for the Seahawks, so his contract will be a topic for next offseason, but for now, that's not even an option, so let's just enjoy Murphy for the great young player he is and worry about that later.

@j.acob014 asks, "Are we going to sign another safety if Nick Emmanwori can't play?"

A: As mentioned in an earlier answer, the Seahawks have more safety depth than what you see on the 53-man roster. If there was concern that Emmanwori was going to be out a significant amount of time, the Seahawks could have left him on the PUP list rather than remove him from it earlier in camp, or could put him on injured reserve with a designated to return designation, so the fact that they did neither of those things is a pretty strong indicator that Emmanwori will be available soon, even if he weren't able to play in the opener. And in the short term, Seattle's depth at safety is solid, with Julian Love, Ty Okada and Emmanwori on the 53-man roster, and with AJ Finley and Rodney Thomas II on the practice squad.

@drew_ski_2005 asks, "How are you going to stop Myles Garrett and Aaron Darnold?"

A: Ask again in about 16 weeks. I'm not trying to be flippant, but the Seahawks simply can't waste a lot of time or energy thinking about an opponent that they will see for the first time on Christmas. Garrett is one of the best, if not the best, defensive players in the NFL, and Darnold was very much in that same discussion prior to his initial retirement, so yes, we're talking about two great players joining the Rams in 2026; that's not something the Seahawks will ignore when it comes time to prepare for that game. But focusing on that now will only take away from what the Seahawks need to get done in Week 1 and beyond.

@im.chriiss asks, "Who is the best at shadowboxing?"

A: It depends entirely on which player you ask. It's kind of like asking an NFL player who the best hooper is in the locker room—most will answer themselves. Hey, these guys don't get to where they are without being very confident in their abilities. When our own Ari Horton did a story late last season on the shadowboxing phenomenon, there was no clear consensus on who is the best, but players tended to agree that the top group consisted of defensive tackle Byron Murphy II, linebacker Derick Hall, cornerback Devon Witherspoon, outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu, and current Kansas City running back Kenneth Walker III.

@_rrzie asks, "How does Leonard Williams feel to be staying with us?"

A: He feels very good about it, and not just because it means a lot more money for him and his family. Williams talked after signing his extension about what it means to have found a home with the Seahawks after a career that started off without much team success during his time with the Jets and Giants. Williams was traded to Seattle midway through the 2023 season, then re-signed at the start of free agency the following spring, not long after the Seahawks made a coaching change, and a big reason he decided to stick around then was what he was hearing from general manager and president of football operations John Schneider, and the team's new head coach, Mike Macdonald.

"It means so much to me," Williams said after he signed the deal last week. "When I first signed here with John (Schneider) and Coach Mike (Macdonald)'s first year, we had a vision for the team, and I feel like we still have a lot more to accomplish. I'm glad I'm able to be a part of what we're going to do moving forward. I'm glad that I have respect and appreciation from the whole organization for them to want me to continue my career here."

@t.f.a.15 asks, "Who is going to be a breakout player this year?"

A: On offense, I'll go with Elijah Arroyo. The second-year tight end had a great camp, constantly making plays in the passing game, and his size and speed will make him a matchup nightmare. On defense, I'd go with second-year defensive tackle Rylie Mills. Seattle's defense is so loaded it's going to be hard for a lot of players who weren't already featured on the defense last year to have a breakout this year, but Mills, who missed most of his rookie season due to a torn ACL suffered late in his final college season, looks very much like a player poised to break into the defensive line rotation and have a big role. Rookie safety Bud Clark might have also been my pick for this answer but, unfortunately, he will miss the season due to an ankle injury suffered in the preseason.

@jacob_moore_17 asks, "When will Zach Charbonnet be back?"

A:  The Seahawks still aren't putting a timeline on Charbonnet, though Macdonald has raved about how good the running back looks running and doing other work with athletic trainers. While Charbonnet has been making good progress, he is opening the regular season on the physically unable to perform list, meaning he will miss at least four games.