Seahawks still stuck in the middle of post NFL draft power rankings

With the exception of the New York Jets - whose fans have learned the hard way to know better - every fanbase around the NFL has reason for feeling positive coming out of the draft. After all, every team has the same record at this point in the year and in almost every case they've landed at least a couple of players that they should feel excited about.

However, that doesn't necessarily mean that any of these teams are better now than they were when last season ended. Take the Seattle Seahawks, for example. During the draft they landed a bunch of great athletes, at least one bigoffensive line upgrade, a freaky new weapon for the back end of Mike Macdonald's defense and the quarterback with the highest ceiling in the class of 2025.

And yet, to hear the latest power rankings from The Athletic tell it, this team is mostly in the same boat as it was at the end of 2024. According to Josh Kendall's batch of post-draft power rankings, Seattle is 17th on his list.

"Athletes everywhere. That was Seattle’s theme. After taking the draft’s most versatile lineman first, the Seahawks drafted safety Nick Emmanwori, tight end Elijah Arroyo and quarterback Jalen Milroe. With Sam Darnold as the new starting quarterback, Milroe is an intriguing piece for a team that hired Taysom Hill’s former offensive coordinator in the offseason."

In other words, these Seahawks are pretty much considered in the same place compared to the competition that they were when the regular season ended and Geno Smith, DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett were still the core of this team's identity.

What that identity is now with Sam Darnold, Cooper Kupp, Grey Zabel and company coming in remains to be seen. However, it would come as a pretty big disappointment if it turns out that Seattle is still only a barely-better-than-average team when the games begin - the same place they've been in for about nine years now.

While Kendll didn't make the point in his rankings, there is one strong piece of evidence pointing in this direction. That being the unfortunate fact that the Seahawks didn't do enough to improve what was by far the worst interior offensive line in the league going into the draft. Zabel can play left guard, center and right guard and excel at all three - but as far as we know he can only play one at a time, which means Seattle's front likely still has two pretty big holes inside.

If that's the case when the regular season rolls around it'll be very bad news for Sam Darnold, who made strides in this department last year but is simply not as good as Geno Smith is at avoiding pressure and making plays.

The hope has to be that someone like Mason Richman (Seattle's sixth-round pick) turns out to be a diamond in the rough and could develop into a solid starter quickly. The odds are against him as a Day 3 pick, though - to say nothing of the Seahawks' sad history drafting iOL prospects.

If Richman hits or if somebody like Anthony Bradford wakes up a superstar sometime between now and Week 1, things could go a lot better in the trenches and for the Seahawks, in general. However, if this offensive line is still ranked at or near the bottom of the league at season's end it will be time to seriously think about winding down the John Schneider era.

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