Sam Darnold and the Seahawks have good reason to believe they can repeat as Super Bowl champions. Steph Chambers / Getty ImagesSept. 4, 2026 Updated “The Athletic Football Show” is previewing all 32 teams leading up to the 2026 NFL season. Below are select quotes from the show’s preview of the Seattle Seahawks. The quotes have been edited for clarity. You can watch the whole preview on YouTube and in the embedded video below or listen to the full NFC West preview wherever you get your podcasts.Derrik Klassen on what excites him most about the Seahawks: This can still be the best defense in football. I’ve hemmed and hawed a little over, you know, they lose Boye Mafe for Dante Fowler; that’s a bit of a downgrade. What’s it going to look like without Riq Woolen? And we’ll talk about that later. But so long as Mike Macdonald is still there and this front looks the way it looks, they can be the best defense in football any given week and any given year. Trying to play against the Seahawks is like trying to play poker and they’re just ahead of you every single step. You can never get into the right call against them because they always find a way to just abuse what you’re doing.Robert Mays on what he’s watching the first month of the season: What I’m watching over the first month of the season is what Brian Fleury’s version of this offense looks like. I think Macdonald has found someone who thinks about things in the way that he does in Fleury, and it’s more than just schematic continuity. I think he’s also somebody they tapped as the right person for the job based on how his mind works and how he wants to approach these things. His background is fascinating. He was the run game coordinator and tight ends coach in San Francisco. He had been on that offensive staff for a few years in a couple of roles. Before he was in San Francisco, he was the head of football research for the Miami Dolphins for several years. And so he just spent all of his time figuring out esoteric situational football considerations as somebody who worked in an analytics department. And then before that, he was a position coach on defense. I can’t remember anybody who has had a background like this before.Dave Helman on what’s keeping him up at night: It’s nitpicking, but that’s what we’re doing when you’re talking about the reigning Super Bowl champs. The depth chart on defense, particularly in the secondary, looks a little thin. And if you don’t believe me, just let the Seahawks show you with their actions. They went after Terrion Arnold, who’s in the middle of a B&E kidnapping fiasco, looking for help. He got put on the commissioner’s exempt list, so he can’t help you. They bring in Trevon Diggs, who’s been banged up and hasn’t been the same player the last few years. They cut him, then John Schneider says they’re interested in bringing him back to the practice squad. And then they do a trade for Avery Smith, who was an impressive undrafted corner for the Los Angeles Chargers. They are screaming at us that they don’t love their cornerback depth chart. And I understand why.Subscribe to “The Athletic Football Show” on YouTube.