Seahawks South is the weirdest storyline of Seattle's 2025 season
Seattle Seahawks fans are going to be conflicted this year. Sure, 12s are still going to root full-on for their team, but something quite odd is happening this season, too. In a strange twist of fate, the Las Vegas Raiders will basically be Seahawks South in 2025.
Vegas will not just have former long-term Seattle head coach Pete Carroll as their own head coach this year, but three-year starter Geno Smith will have the same role for the Raiders. But the recently departed Seahawks don't stop there. Jamal Adams will be part of Vegas, too.
This is where things get complicated. Pete Carroll is always going to be a beloved person to most 12s. He was an optimistic guy who was a good person, and also just happened to lead the team to its highest sustained level of success. He didn't want to leave when he did; the Seahawks told him he needed to go.
2025 is destined to be a very strange season for Seattle Seahawks fans
Geno Smith wanted out. He was a fairly divisive figure among Seahawks fans anyway. He was a productive quarterback who made far too many errors at crucial times. He led the league in red-zone interceptions in 2024, for instance. But was the team better because Smith was QB1? Absolutely.
Jamal Adams was great for the Seattle Seahawks...for one year. After the team overpaid to acquire him from the New York Jets in 2020, Adams had 9.5 sacks (an NFL record for a defensive back) in year one. He would never have another sack for the team in three more seasons.
A lot of the reason for that might be that the safety was injured so much that he rarely played. Had he played more, maybe he would have supplied more quarterback pressures while being terrible in coverage.
He also had a weird spat with a Jets reporter where Adams rudely posted about the reporter's girlfriend, and the safety also left the stadium (or stayed home) before Week 15 of the 2023 season after being told he wasn't going to play. Not a team-first guy at the time.
Still, watching Carroll roam the sidelines, Smith lead the Raiders' offense, and Adams play inside linebacker (yes, he changed positions) for Las Vegas is going to be a slightly out-of-body experience for Seattle Seahawks fans. 2025 is going to be a very strange season, though hopefully a great one for a 12th person's favorite team.
AFC Notes: J.K. Dobbins, Bo Nix, Broncos, Chargers
Broncos
Bo Nix is entering the second year of his career after his breakout rookie campaign in 2024. Hall of Fame QB Peyton Manning is confident Nix is “made of the right stuff” to continue being a highly successful quarterback.
“Bo is made of the right stuff. He’s a little bit older, carries himself the right way. And all of it should help as he moves forward in his career,” Manning said, via Troy Renck of the Denver Post. “I am just happy that Bo is the established starter. For a number of years, they had quarterback competitions. That’s hard on the receivers, the coaches, the play-caller, and the quarterback. Now, they’ve got their guy.”
Manning thinks Nix showed talent beyond his years as a rookie.
“I just don’t see that as being a big factor for him. Rookie quarterbacks are supposed to struggle, and then the game slows down. But, it sure looked like it slowed down a lot for him last year,” Manning said. “Like with C.J. Stroud, Bo didn’t play like a rookie. … I believe experience is the best teacher, and he got great experience last year.”
Manning added that playing under Sean Payton for a second season should be beneficial for Nix.
“The continuity, more than anything else. There are times when guys go into their second year, and they are going on their third coordinator,” Manning said. “He has an experienced head coach in Sean, who is his play-caller. Having that same voice and verbiage is so critical. We expect Sean to be here for a long time, so Bo will use that to his advantage.”
Broncos
Broncos RB J.K. Dobbins had a resurgence in his career after missing 2022 with a knee injury and 2023 with a torn Achilles. His surgeon, Dr. Neal ElAttrache, said he grew a close relationship with Dobbins and praised him for his perseverance.
“I can’t say enough about him,” ElAttrache said, via Luca Evans of The Denver Post. “I mean, he’s the kind of guy that I would like to have as a friend forever. He’s that kind of person.”
ElAttrache pointed out that damaged ligaments can never return to their previous health, but Dobbins has worked hard on his rehab.
“You never want to expect they’re going to be 22 years old again,” ElAttrache said. “You can’t turn back the clock and go before, when he was that number one (running back) for the Ravens. But, having said that, his performance was still right there.”
Chargers
Chargers DC Jesse Minter still holds on to rejection letters from graduate assistant jobs that he applied to across the country, accumulating 98 in total. Minter said the rejections are a reminder to be grateful for where he is now.
“Because that’s just how I operate,” Minter said, via Daniel Popper of The Athletic. “It’s just that reminder of the joy that it is, the blessing that it is, the opportunity that you have, not to take it for granted and not to ever feel like you’ve arrived.”
Minter said he’s always tried to operate without an ego and build a culture of letting people know their value.
“A lot of coaches have crazy egos, and I think there’s a difference in being confident in yourself and sure of yourself, and then having an ego,” Minter said. “I’ve always tried really, really hard to not have an ego, to really try to build a situation where everybody feels like they have value, where everybody feels like they’re part of the success.”
- Per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Chargers RB Najee Harris participated in three-straight practices last week and was cleared for contact on Friday.
