PHOENIX—Winning a Super Bowl undoubtedly means there will be roster turnover because of the high demand for the players who were part of that Super Bowl-winning roster. Throughout the offseason, the Seahawks have stuck to their plan though of keeping as many players as they can on the roster. So far, the Seahawks have had just five players depart to sign elsewhere, Coby Bryant signed with the Bears, Boye Mafe signed with the Bengals, Kenneth Walker III signed with the Chiefs, Riq Woolen signed with the Eagles and Dareke Young signed with the Raiders. Of those players named, just two started the Super Bowl, both Bryant and Walker.

The amount of retention for the Seahawks coming off a Super Bowl win is unusual when looking at the roster retention of the previous three Super Bowl winners. After the 2024 Super Bowl win, the Eagle had 21 players that were released, traded, signed elsewhere or retired. In 2023, the Chiefs lost 12 players. And in 2022, the Rams lost 19 players in free agency.

"The goal is to try to retain as many great players as we can," head coach Mike Macdonald said at the NFL's annual league meetings. "We love our roster, and we love our guys, and we're trying to keep that unit together, to have that continuity. So that's what we've been trying to do, and that's part of the long-term plans as well, and how we budget. I'm not really in those conversations on budgeting for multiple years in and out, but I know that's how we've done business, and I feel like we've executed pretty well for the most part. There's going to be like, all the guys that left, to a man, you want those guys back. But just that's the way that the NFL goes. You have success and guys are able to get paid and stuff, and I'm really happy for them."

And for each player that has left during free agency, with the exceptions of Mafe and Young, the Seahawks have "refilled" that position by signing a player.

The Seahawks added cornerback Noah Igbinoghene, safety Rodney Thomas II and running back Emanuel Wilson. Safety D'Anthony Bell also signed with Seattle, after he spent most of the 2025 season between the Seahawks practice squad and 53-man roster.

"Panthers kind of stole him from us there at the end," Macdonald joked. "So that was a bummer, but D'Anotony's been an asset for us. You can probably rattle off some big plays that he's made for us, the punt block. He's a guy that gives us safety flexibility, but also some big nickel flex as a backup to Nick (Emmanwori). So that's going to be something we want to make sure that if Nick can't find his helmet for a series or two, we can still go in and operate our defense."

Igbinoghene, who said he had an opportunity to sign with Seattle last year in free agency, has started 17 games and has 119 tackles, 1.0 sack, two fumble recoveries, 17 passes defensed and an interception.

"He's a guy that we've been interested in for a while," Macdonald said. "And finally gave him some grief for maybe being a year late for when he should have been here. But a guy [who can play] inside outside flex and there's great opportunity right now in our secondary to go carve yourself out a great role."

Along with those additions, the Seahawks are expected to have most of their veteran players back, including defensive linemen like Leonard Williams, Jarran Reed and DeMarcus Lawrence.

"Nothing's changed there," Macdonald said.

And in regard to Lawrence, he said, "To my knowledge he's coming back. He always has the right to change his mind, but as of right now, he's coming back."

The Seahawks will also have return specialist and receiver Rashid Shaheed back after he signed a deal with the Seahawks early in free agency. Even though most of Shaheed's production came as a returner last season, Macdonald hopes that will be different in 2026.

"We're going to have such a better idea of what he can do," Macdonald said. "Him understanding more, than spending all [that] time on the detail of the routes and the timing and getting on the same page and the chemistry. So, I think we were trying to get him the ball as much as possible last year. I could think off the top of my head like three or four plays where we're inches away from explosive plays and some of those more intermediate cuts, we were just like a hair off on timing or location. So that's kind of the detail we're going to be attacking this offseason. Try to make sure we're rolling during the season."

Along with the veteran players, the Seahawks still have younger players they are excited to watch take on larger roles. Last season, the Seahawks saw two rookies in Grey Zabel and Nick Emmanwori play a significant number of snaps. And then there were rookies like Tory Horton, Elijah Arroyo and Rylie Mills who all got some, but limited opportunities.

Macdonald said, "I'm thinking of Jamie Sheriff and Connor O'Toole. All of our young linemen, Elijah Arroyo. All those guys, I think, would take their game to another level. Nehemiah Pritchett is going to have a great opportunity to compete. So, I mean, we have a lot of young guys that are excited about where they can take their game. Now they need to take their game to another level. They know that, but they're going to have an opportunity to do so."

Mills, who made his first-career sack in the Super Bowl played just six games last season, including the playoffs after rehabbing an ACL injury.

"I don't think everybody else saw, the things that we saw from him on a day-to-day basis," Macdonald said. "I think that's why the guys were so excited for him to make the play finally in the Super Bowl. Just find a sweet spot on his role and where he's going to go, but the sky's a limit. We're going to get plenty of reps and plenty of ops for him to develop his game and really, I think it's also like developing chemistry with the rest of the guys on the line. Who he plays well with, what positions, how much, how many pass rush snaps he earns, all those things."

Macdonald also said he believes quarterback Jalen Milroe could have a bigger role in the offense.

"I believe he could have last year," he said. "It's the way things shook out. It was best for the team for him not to be active on game day and have a larger role, but plenty of ability to do so throughout the year, I was really excited about his development. I know he's going to work his tail off."

There are also a few players the Seahawks are hoping to get back from injury, including AJ Finley who both was out all of last season with significant knee injury.

"AJ was a guy that was having a great training camp. It's such a bummer that play happening. It almost like happened like in slow motion, like a nightmare. He was competing right there with Ty (Okada) for the third safety spot. He's a guy since he walked in the door, he's one of those steadfast guys that just nails it every day, he's got a great attitude, and then he's made a lot of plays on the ball in practice. So we're excited about AJ."