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The Seattle Seahawks will hold rookie minicamp at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center this weekend, offering the first opportunity to see their 11-man 2025 NFL Draft class and their rookie free-agent signees. Those rookies will fill out Seattle’s 90-man roster, which will eventually be trimmed to 53 active-roster players and a 16-man practice squad ahead of the regular-season opener. For now, we will look at the roster as currently constructed and sort out the projected starters and backups at each position, with the exception of the specialists.
Asterisks denote rookies* Advertisement Quarterbacks Starter: Sam Darnold Backups: Jalen Milroe*, Drew Lock The Seahawks traded Sam Howell and pick No. 172 to the Minnesota Vikings for pick No. 142, which became defensive tackle Rylie Mills.
Seattle acquired Howell last offseason because Lock left for the New York Giants in free agency. With Lock back on a two-year, $5 million contract , Seattle no longer had much use for Howell. Using a third-round pick on Milroe made Howell even more expendable.
Coach Mike Macdonald said Darnold will play well over 90 percent of the snaps, and Milroe will be able to earn reps with the starting offense. Macdonald also said Milroe isn’t Taysom Hill, who was more of a tight end in New Orleans. Milroe is a quarterback, Macdonald said, and that suggests his situational action will be reminiscent of the package the 49ers created for Trey Lance in 2021 when Jimmy Garoppolo was the starter.
San Francisco’s plan was to take advantage of Lance’s arm strength and athleticism while grooming him to eventually become QB1, and I imagine Seattle’s Milroe plan will be the same. It’ll be interesting to see what that means for Lock, who could be the team’s emergency QB3 during the regular season or work with the team to find an opportunity where he’s a more traditional backup. Running backs Starters: Ken Walker III, Brady Russell (FB) Backups: Zach Charbonnet, Kenny McIntosh, Damien Martinez*, George Holani, Robbie Ouzts* (FB) Keeping one traditional fullback, let alone two, will make for some interesting decisions when it’s time to put the 53-man roster together.
The preseason will be important for all players in this position group. The potential logjam might create a scenario similar to last summer at cornerback when the team felt it had surplus talent and swapped Michael Jackson for a player at a more urgent position of need. Advertisement As for the fullback competition, Macdonald said, “To bet against Brady Russell would be a gigantic mistake.
” Missouri State’s Jacardia Wright, RB79 with a free-agent grade in Dane Brugler of The Athletic’s draft guide “The Beast,” is signing with Seattle as a rookie free agent, the school posted on its X and Instagram accounts. Wide receiver Starters: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cooper Kupp Backups: Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Jake Bobo, Tory Horton*, Ricky White III*, Steven Sims, Dareke Young, Cody White, River Cracraft, John Rhys Plumlee There are only two starters listed because, between rostering multiple fullbacks, drafting a tight end in the top 50 and repeatedly emphasizing the desire for a physical rushing attack, it’s evident Seattle will major in heavy personnel. “You’re going two backs back there a good bit,” Macdonald said.
This offensive approach will likely alter the number of receivers Seattle carries in the regular season. Special teams, positional flexibility and blocking will be important for the reserves in this unit. Every spot behind Smith-Njigba and Kupp might be up for grabs (cutting CB D.
J. James last year indicates that late-round draft picks aren’t guaranteed to make the team). Arkansas’ Tyrone Broden, WR55 with a free-agent grade in “The Beast,” posted on X that he is signing with Seattle as an undrafted free agent.
Tight ends Starters: Noah Fant, AJ Barner Backups: Elijah Arroyo*, Eric Saubert Fant turns 28 during the regular season and has a $13.4 million cap hit in the final year of his contract, but a team with championship aspirations and plenty of cap room doesn’t have much motivation to make a move there, even after drafting Arroyo in the second round. Arroyo has the potential to be a very good pass-catching tight end in this offense, and if the plan is to deploy heavy personnel, depth at the position is critical.
If anything, the odd man out could be Saubert, who turns 31 on Thursday. Nick Kallerup (Minnesota) and Marshall Lang (Northwestern) are expected to sign as rookie free agents, their respective schools posted on X. Kallerup was TE33 and Lang TE69 with free-agent grades in”The Beast.
” Offensive line Starters: LT Charles Cross, LG Grey Zabel*, C Olu Oluwatimi, RG Christian Haynes, RT Abe Lucas Backups: OT Josh Jones, OT Michael Jerrell, OT Mason Richman*, G Sataoa Laumea, G Anthony Bradford, G Bryce Cabeldue*, G Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu, C Jalen Sundell Advertisement Zabel was drafted to be a starter, and he’ll initially play left guard. But guards must be able to play both sides in a pinch, so where he starts out isn’t as important as his performance and finding the best two players at the guard spots. I listed Haynes as the starter at right guard, but I expect that to be fluid throughout the summer, with Bradford, Laumea (last year’s starter over the final six games) and Cabeldue competing for reps.
The battle between Oluwatimi and Sundell might last throughout the preseason as well. Seattle, in theory, could have justified an early left tackle pick in the draft with Cross entering the final year of his rookie contract, but the team reportedly exercised his fifth-year option on Monday. Cross becomes the first Seahawks draft pick to have his fifth-year option exercised since the option was introduced for first-round picks in 2011.
He will be on the books for $17.5 million in 2026. The Seahawks are signing Florida Atlantic center Federico Maranges (according to his agency) and Louisiana guard AJ Gillie (according to the school’s X account) as rookie free agents.
Maranges was the No. 30 center and Gillie the No. 80 guard with free-agent grades in “The Beast.
” UCF tackle Amari Kight, OT38 with a free-agent grade, also posted on X that he is signing with Seattle. 🚨 NEW #SeahawksMan2Man pod 🚨 “Draft diamonds” Live now: 2025 Draft class breakdown on Grey Zabel, Nick Emmanwori, Elijah Arroyo, all things Jalen Milroe + more! YouTube https://t.co/gnFzRvgIyz Spotify https://t.
co/9FPFYdO8yw Apple https://t.co/K6YPGBmyER pic.twitter.
com/AI30m4Dadz — Dugar, Michael-Shawn (@MikeDugar) April 27, 2025 Defensive line Starters: Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy II Backups: Jarran Reed, Johnathan Hankins, Mike Morris, Rylie Mills*, Quinton Bohanna, Brandon Pili The listed starter beside Williams is insignificant because the defensive line often rotates throughout the game, but it is unlikely Seattle drafted Murphy with the 16th pick in 2024 without expecting him to play the bulk of the snaps by Year 2. Williams, Murphy and Reed can all play nose tackle in certain fronts, but it made sense for the team to bring back a more traditional nose tackle in Hankins, which it did on Tuesday. Hankins had been a free agent after playing in 17 games (starting eight) for Seattle last year.
Morris and Mills, still recovering from a torn ACL, will slot into that “big end” role played last year by Roy Robertson-Harris and others. The Seahawks are signing undrafted defensive linemen Wy’Kevious Thomas of South Alabama, TJ Jackson of West Virginia and J.R.
Singleton of Iowa State, according to their school’s X accounts. “The Beast” ranked them 45th, 96th and 182nd, respectively, among defensive tackles. Advertisement Outside linebackers Starters: Uchenna Nwosu, DeMarcus Lawrence Backups: Boye Mafe, Derick Hall, Jamie Sheriff, Tyreke Smith Much like defensive tackle, the listed starters don’t matter much; at least four edge rushers will play in every game on early downs.
More notable is the third-down lineup, reserved for the most productive pass rushers. Nwosu and Lawrence are coming off injury-shortened seasons, but when healthy, they’re Seattle’s two best edge rushers. Seattle will sign former Ole Miss edge rusher Jared Ivey, who had 10 1/2 tackles for loss and seven sacks last year, according to his school on X.
He was the No. 25 edge defender with a fifth-round grade in “The Beast.” The team is also adding Illinois’ Seth Coleman, Utah’s Connor O’Toole and Illinois State’s Jalan Gaines, according to their schools.
Coleman was the No. 42 edge rusher, O’Toole was No. 64 and Gaines was No.
78, all with free-agent grades. Inside linebackers Starters: Ernest Jones IV, Tyrice Knight Backups: Josh Ross, Drake Thomas, Patrick O’Connell Jones and Knight finished the season strong last year and should be just as good, if not better, in 2025. Ross has played for Macdonald at Michigan (2021) and in Baltimore (2022-23) and Seattle.
His familiarity with the head coach and his scheme might come in handy considering how inexperienced the rest of the reserves are by comparison. UNLV linebacker Jackson Woodard posted on X that he is signing with Seattle as a rookie free agent. Woodward was LB21 with a Round 6-7 grade in “The Beast.
” Cornerbacks Starters: Devon Witherspoon, Riq Woolen, Josh Jobe Backups: Nehemiah Pritchett, Shemar Jean-Charles, JT Woods, Damarion Williams, Tyler Hall Witherspoon is the only starter under contract beyond 2025, which is why it made sense for the Seahawks to consider drafting a cornerback as early as the first round (Woolen is extension-eligible). The other reason? All the unproven commodities listed after Pritchett, a 2024 fifth-round pick who was thrust into the starting lineup in Week 7 due to injury, then shelved for the rest of the season when everyone healed up. Advertisement Saturday after the draft, general manager John Schneider said there is still more to be done at cornerback.
One name to keep in mind is Shaquill Griffin, who visited Seattle ahead of the draft. A third-round pick of the Seahawks in 2017 and a four-year starter, Griffin had a bounce-back season in Minnesota last year. He’d add much-needed experience to Seattle’s cornerback unit.
LSU’s Zy Alexander and Ole Miss’ Isaiah Hamilton are expected to sign as rookie free agents, according to their schools on X. Alexander was CB19 with a fifth-round grade, and Hamilton was CB117 with a free-agent grade in “The Beast.” Also signing with Seattle is Villanova’s Isas Waxter II, CB36 with a free-agent grade, according to his X account.
Safeties Starters: Julian Love, Coby Bryant Backups: Nick Emmanwori*, D’Anthony Bell, Jerrick Reed II, Ty Okada, AJ Finley Emmanwori, Seattle’s highest-drafted safety since Earl Thomas, will train at safety and be in consideration for nearly every other back-seven position, according to Macdonald and Schneider. He’ll have the opportunity to compete for meaningful snaps as a rookie in a third safety role, essentially replacing Rayshawn Jenkins and K’Von Wallace from last season. The other reserves listed will compete for that spot, too, but Seattle didn’t trade up to select Emmanwori with the 35th pick to park him on the bench.
(Photo of Nick Emmanwori: Kevin Jairaj / Imagn Images).
