ESPN projections put Seahawks in disappointing place going into 2025 NFL season

We still believe the Seattle Seahawks can prove all their critics wrong and finish as high as 11-6 this coming season. That said, it's becoming more and more difficult as the offseason goes on to defend the big changes this team has made since last time they took the field.

Bad and stale opinions about Sam Darnold and his radically-improved game are one thing to argue with - hard numbers are another. Here's another discouraging set of them, courtesy of ESPN's annual Football Power Rankings index, which has Seattle ranked just 21st in the league going into the 2025 NFL season.

First look at NFL FPI ratings for the 2025 season! pic.twitter.com/k6s2fg40X7
— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) May 27, 2025

As for the grand prize, the Seahawks have a less than 3% chance of winning the Super Bowl this year. Making the postseason is also a tough order, as ESPN has the San Francisco 49ers bouncing back from an injury-plagued 2024 season to recapture the NFC West title.

That would mean Seattle would have to earn a Wild Card spot, but the FPI indicates their chances of making the postseason are less than 35% - even lower than the Chicago Bears. Meanwhile, the 49ers are at 62% and the Rams are right behind them at 61% for making the playoffs.

At least they're not going to be a bottom feeder. According to ESPN's predictions, the Seahawks are not among the 10 teams with the best chance to earn a top-10 overall pick in next year's NFL draft.

To prove the numbers wrong the Seahawks will need their offensive line to perform far better than anyone has a reasonable chance to expect. If not, offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak is going to have to cook up a true genius-brain scheme to get around what are likely to be major pass protection issues. While Sam Darnold improved in this department last year, he's going to have to take another huge leap forward in avoiding pressure and making plays off-script.

One thing that could make all of this easier is if the Seahawks defense has a break-through year similar to the one the Baltimore Ravens enjoyed when Mike Macdonald was in his second year as their defensive coordinator. Fielding an elite defense for the first time since 2015 would go a long way towards erasing whatever might go wrong with Seattle's new-look offense.

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