Camp Preview: Sizing up Seahawks’ offensive position battles

The Seattle Seahawks’ quest to become the third repeat Super Bowl champion this century begins in earnest on Saturday, when the team kicks off 2026 training camp at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center along the shore of Lake Washington.

Breaking down the Seahawks’ defensive position battles

Contrary to what some in the national media have suggested, the Seahawks enter camp with a rare level of continuity. Including both the regular season and postseason, Seattle retained nearly 87% of its total offensive and defensive snaps from last year’s team, which is the third-highest rate for a reigning Super Bowl champion since 2010.

As a result, there aren’t many starting spots up for grabs. But on the flip side, there figure to be a lot of fierce roster-spot battles – and a lot of difficult decisions to trim the roster down to 53 players by the Aug. 30 deadline.

With camp about to get underway, here’s a position-by-position look at the Seahawks’ offense and how those battles for starting roles and roster spots could shape up.

Quarterback

• Locks: Sam Darnold
• Likely: Drew Lock, Jalen Milroe

After back-to-back Pro Bowl campaigns and a Super Bowl title, Sam Darnold enters 2026 on the firmest footing of his career. And though he’s adjusting to his ninth offensive coordinator in nine seasons, Darnold said “it hasn’t been too much of a transition,” given that new OC Brian Fleury runs a similar Shanahan-style system as predecessor Klint Kubiak.

Seattle seems likely to roster three quarterbacks again, with Drew Lock serving as one of the league’s most experienced backups and Jalen Milroe hanging around as a long-term developmental project.

This is a pivotal training camp and preseason for Milroe to show where he’s at in his development. It’ll also be interesting to see if the dual-threat QB can carve out a role as a change-of-pace weapon in specialty packages. Seattle briefly experimented with that last season, but shelved the idea after Milroe lost a costly fumble in Week 5.

Running back

• Potential PUP list: Zach Charbonnet
• Locks: Jadarian Price
• Likely: Emanuel Wilson, George Holani
• Other top contenders: Kenny McIntosh, Jacardia Wright

With Kenneth Walker III gone and Zach Charbonnet likely to miss the start of the season as he recovers from a torn ACL, first-round pick Jadarian Price is the favorite to open as Seattle’s RB1. That being said, it’ll likely be more of a running-back-by-committee approach, especially given Price’s somewhat limited workload at Notre Dame, where he was the backup to No. 3 overall pick Jeremiyah Love.

George Holani and free agent addition Emanuel Wilson are the likely candidates to join Price in that backfield timeshare. Holani played well in the postseason after Charbonnet got hurt, and Wilson rushed for 998 yards over the past two seasons as Green Bay’s RB2. Kenny McIntosh also could be in the mix, but he has a steeper hill to climb as he works back from the torn ACL he suffered last summer.

Fullback

• Locks: Robbie Ouzts, Brady Russell

Kubiak is gone, but the fullback is here to stay under Fleury. And the position might even take on a larger role this fall, with head coach Mike Macdonald hinting that the fullback could be more involved in the passing game. The 6-foot-3, 274-pound Robbie Ouzts is likely to remain the primary fullback, while de facto special teams captain Brady Russell returns as a hybrid depth piece who can play both fullback and tight end.

Wide receiver

• Locks: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cooper Kupp, Rashid Shaheed, Tory Horton
• Likely: Jake Bobo
• Other top contenders: Emmanuel Henderson Jr., Cody White, Ricky White III, Irv Charles

Reigning NFL receiving leader Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cooper Kupp, Rashid Shaheed and Tory Horton return as the clear-cut top four wideouts – assuming Horton has fully recovered from the shin injury that wiped away the second half of his promising rookie campaign.

Shaheed and Horton, in particular, will be two major storylines to follow in camp. The speedy Shaheed, who drew a lot of buzz this spring while showing a growing rapport with Darnold, could be poised for a big step forward as a receiver. And after Horton totaled six touchdowns in eight games last year, a return to health could give Seattle’s offense another significant boost this fall.

Meanwhile, Jake Bobo also seems likely to make the roster, given that Seattle matched Jacksonville’s offer sheet and signed him to a two-year, $5.5 million deal.

The question then becomes: Will the Seahawks keep a sixth receiver to fill Dareke Young’s role as a gunner and special teams stalwart? If so, the four leading candidates are rookie sixth-round pick Emmanuel Henderson Jr., former Jets special teams ace Irv Charles, Cody White and Ricky White III.

Henderson might be the most interesting of that group, given his combination of big-time speed, receiving upside and proven special teams prowess. He had 766 receiving yards, a kick return TD and four special teams tackles at Kansas last season.

Tight end

• Locks: AJ Barner, Elijah Arroyo
• Likely: Eric Saubert, Nick Kallerup
• Other top contenders: Lance Mason

Even while playing through a slew of injuries last year, AJ Barner still managed to pile up 519 receiving yards and six TD catches. If healthy this fall, he could be poised to explode for a massive Year 3. Meanwhile, the Seahawks will look to get more out of Elijah Arroyo. The 2025 second-round pick is coming off a relatively underwhelming rookie campaign, but his unique size-speed combo makes him another prime breakout candidate.

Eric Saubert and Nick Kallerup seem likely to return as run-blocking specialists, but neither is a guarantee. Keep in mind, the aforementioned Brady Russell can play both fullback and tight end, and he’s already a roster lock as the de facto special teams captain. So, if the Seahawks are in a particularly tight roster crunch, it’s possible they could keep just three tight ends, knowing that Russell could essentially be their fourth.

Offensive line

• Locks: LT Charles Cross, LG Grey Zabel, C Jalen Sundell, RG Anthony Bradford, RT Abraham Lucas
• Lock if not traded: C Olu Oluwatimi
• Likely: T Josh Jones, T/G/C Mason Richman, G Beau Stephens
• Other top contenders: G Bryce Cabeldue, G Christian Haynes, T Amari Kight, T Bobby Hart

After returning all 11 offensive linemen who played snaps last season and then drafting All-American guard Beau Stephens as a fifth-round pick, the roster battles in the trenches will be particularly tight.

Charles Cross, Grey Zabel, Jalen Sundell, Anthony Bradford and Abraham Lucas are obviously all locks to make the roster as returning starters. However, several players could push Bradford for the starting right guard spot, including Stephens, Bryce Cabeldue and Christian Haynes.

Meanwhile, Olu Oluwatimi’s name has been floated as a potential trade candidate, given that he’s a starting-caliber center whose path to a starting job is blocked by Sundell. A potential Oluwatimi trade likely hinges, in part, on Mason Richman’s development as a possible backup center. Richman is listed as a tackle/guard, but also worked at center this spring.

Josh Jones is probably still the favorite to be Seattle’s swing tackle again, but Macdonald had some pointed comments toward the veteran after he didn’t practice this spring, so he might not be a surefire lock at this point. Amari Kight and veteran free agent addition Bobby Hart figure to be Jones’ competition for the top backup tackle role.

Seattle Seahawks news and more

• Brock: Seattle Seahawks will have a top-10 offensive line in the NFL
• Where Seattle Seahawks landed in ESPN’s annual position rankings
• Khosla-led group seen as good match for Seattle Seahawks’ ‘culture’

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