What ESPN unit ratings for 2025 NFL season tell us about the Seattle Seahawks

From where we're sitting the Seattle Seahawks look a lot better than they did last year at this time, especially at the quarterback position, where they're much younger and deeper than they were in 2024. Their wide receiver corps probably took a step down with the transition from DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett to Cooper Kupp and a few other new faces playing behind WR1 Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The Seahawks also landed upgrades at left guard and tight end during the draft.

On the other side of the ball head coach Mike Macdonald should benefit from a full year of experience in the NFL - and he's got two new tools to help his defense take the next step. The aging star DeMarcus Lawrence replacing the underperforming Dre'Mont Jones on the edge amounts to a modest upgrade up front, while adding Nick Emmanwori to the back end opens up a ton of possibilities schematically for Macdonald.

Is the end result actually better than they personnel they fielded last season, though? Let's see what ESPN's annual projections from Mike Clay have to say about that. Here's how Seattle's units rank on a scale of 1-10 going into the 2025 season, with where they ranked from 1-32 last year in parantheses.

ESPN rates Seahawks 2025 units

Quarterback: 4/10 (18th)

Running back: 8/10 (4th)

Wide receiver: 6/10 (3rd)

Tight end: 5/10 (21st)

Offensive line: 4/10 (32nd)

Interior defensive line: 9/10 (2nd)

Edge rusher: 6/10 (16th)

Off-ball linebacker: 4/10 (12th)

Cornerback: 7/10 (10th)

Safety: 6/10 (28th)

Seattle's safety room of course turned out to be better than 28th, especially once Coby Bryant broke out and joined the starting lineup. With Emmanwori in the fold they're in very good shape there. Cornerback is strong - at least for the three projected starters - adding depth on the boundary sounds like a pretty good idea, though. The edge and iDL groups are roughly the same - and clearly Clay's inside linebacker rankings for Seattle in 2024 were way off the mark but they're in good shape now with Ernest Jones and Tyrice Knight projected to start.

On offense the 4/10 rating for Sam Darnold, Jalen Milroe and company is disappointing given how well Darnold performed last season. That said, at least Geno Smith and the Raiders got the same rating - indicating ESPN sees that swap as a lateral move. We still think it's an upgrade, but we're in a very small minority on that take. Running back is still strong, tight end is improved, and the offensive line got at least one big upgrade - although they needed 2-3.

One of the big x-factors here is how much of a step down the wide receiver group is taking compared to last season. Keep in mind when Clay ranked them third going into last year he did not know how limited Tyler Lockett would look. JSN and DK were a great 1-2, but you need three quality options to really compete with a modern passing game and they just didn't have that. With JSN. Kupp and several possibilities to fill that WR3 role, including Marquez Valdez-Scantling and rookie Tory Horton - they at least have multiple options. If one of them can step up and secure that role it'll answer a lot of questions for that unit and this offense in general.