Defying the typical post-title roster exodus, Seattle returns nearly 87% of its championship core. This rare continuity positions Mike Macdonald’s squad for a legitimate run at repeating.
While head coach Mike Macdonald believes his group must evolve and adapt in 2026 ... the reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks return enough talent from last year's title team to give the 12s plenty of reason for optimism.
Typically, Super Bowl-winning rosters are picked apart just months after the Lombardi Trophy is hoisted.
Key contributors hit the open market in free agency, leaving whoever just became the kings of the NFL to scramble for replacements.
Luckily for Seattle, that wasn't the case this year.
Sure, there were some departures.
Boye Mafe opted to move to the AFC and join the Cincinnati Bengals, Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III took his talents to Kansas City and teamed up with Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid and Travis Kelce while Tariq Woolen headed to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Still, the Seahawks largely avoided the type of roster attrition that often follows a championship run.
And courtesy of a breakdown by Cameron Van Til of Seattle Sports, Macdonald returns 86.9% of combined offensive and defensive snaps from 2025, the third-highest percentage in 16 years.
Only Tom Brady's 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (98%) and Patrick Mahomes' 2019 Kansas City Chiefs (87%) experienced higher rates of continuity.
While neither Brady's 2021 Buccaneers nor Mahomes' 2020 Chiefs ultimately repeated as champions, Brady came within three points of back-to-back NFC title game appearances, and Mahomes advanced to the Super Bowl for the second time in as many years.
Even if Macdonald is correct in choosing evolution over simply running back what worked in 2025, Seattle returning so much of its championship core should go a long way toward keeping the Seahawks in the thick of the NFC race yet again.
Of course — that doesn't mean it'll be easy.
The personnel may be the same, but the scheme isn't.
Despite Macdonald believing that raising the question is "overrated," offensive coordinator Brian Fleury will be calling plays for the first time in his career, though he did learn under one of the league's brightest minds in Kyle Shanahan.
So yes, schematically, Seattle will look different in 2026.
That's may be the exact kind of growth Macdonald is seeking.
But when nearly 87% of a championship roster returns, evolution becomes much easier than a rebuild.
And history seems to suggest that matters.
The Seahawks are betting it matters enough to keep them playing meaningful football deep into January once again.
