Seahawks’ preseason opponents: Chargers, Vikings, Chiefs, Raiders

The exact dates and times for the Seahawks’ 2017 preseason schedule will be announced later, but the opponents and locations are set: Seattle will open against the Chargers in Los Angeles then host Minnesota and Kansas City before finishing on the road against Oakland.

The NFL on Monday announced the preseason schedules for all 32 teams while only revealing the dates and kickoff times for the nationally televised games. The Seahawks have one of those. Their home game against Kansas City is set for Friday, Aug. 25 at 5 p.m. on CBS.

Only the date windows for the other three games are known at this point:

• at Chargers (Aug. 10-14)
• vs. Vikings (Aug. 17-21)
• vs. Chiefs (Friday, Aug. 25, 5 p.m.)
• at Raiders (Aug. 31-Sept. 1)

This will be the 12th straight year that Seattle closes out the preseason against Oakland. There’s potential for a fairly significant subplot to this one depending on what happens with Marshawn Lynch. The former Seahawks running back has reportedly told the Raiders he’s planning to come out of retirement and has had discussions with them about playing for his hometown team.

Plenty would still have to happen for that to become a reality. If it does, it would add some intrigue to what is usually the least intriguing of the four preseason games – even if Lynch is on the sidelines wearing street clothes and not playing against his former team. Starters typically don’t play much if all in the fourth preseason game. Lynch hardly played in any preseason games during the later years of his tenure with Seattle. But if he does end up signing with Oakland, perhaps he’ll need more preseason work than he has in the past in order to knock off the rust of a year away from football.

Again, though, Lynch coming back to play for the Raiders is still just a possibility and still a long way from becoming a reality.

The Seahawks’ preseason opener will mark the Chargers’ first game in the Los Angeles area after relocating from San Diego, and it’ll be their first game at the StubHub Center, a 30,000-seat soccer venue in Carson, Calf. that will be the team’s temporary home while it awaits completion of its new stadium. The tiny venue (by NFL standards) and the Chargers’ LA debut could make for an interesting atmosphere.

An interesting angle to the Kansas City game on Aug. 25 is that it could be the first one that Tony Romo calls for CBS. The former Cowboys quarterback retired last week and joined the network as its lead NFL analyst, and this is the first preseason game that CBS is scheduled to air.

The Seahawks home and away opponents for the 2017 regular season have been set. The order, dates and times will be announced sometime in the next few weeks, along with complete preseason schedule.

710 ESPN Seattle will carry all preseason and regular-season Seahawks games.