The NFL playoffs are set to begin in just a few hours as Jim Harbaugh, Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers visit DeMeco Ryans, C.J. Stroud and the Hosuton Texans, who are contractually obligated to be the first postseason team broadcast each year. The Seattle Seahawks are on the outside looking in as the tournament gets started. While they finished with a solid 10-7 record, it wasn’t enough to win the NFC West crown, which went to the Los Angeles Rams.
Next year we can probably expect the Rams to be tough as usual, and the San Francisco 49ers are a strong candidate to rebound from an injury-plagued year and be a playoff contender once again. Tough as the division looks, the Seahawks are also one of the top teams who didn’t make the postseason – and they’re well-positioned to get back to the playoffs next year.
In a new column from Jeremy Hanna at Newsweek, the Seahawks were ranked among the top-five non-playoff teams who could make it in 2025.
Newsweek on Seahawks-2025 NFL playoffs
“Fortunately, there is no reason to doubt that they’ll repeat their success next season, especially since quarterback Geno Smith will return and there are talks of getting receiver DK Metcalf more involved in the offense. Despite making the playoffs, the Seahawks are a solid team. Had a single game gone a different direction, they would be tearing it up in the postseason right now.”
Obviously this is an easy take, as close as the Seahawk came to the playoffs. Had they beaten the terrible New York Giants at home in Week 5 like they were supposed to we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. Several other close games could have gone their way with a bit more turnover luck, as well.
That being said, every NFL team has bad breaks during the season and wins games they should lose and vice-versa. There’s a legitimate reason why Seattle didn’t make the tournament this year – and we all know the offensive line is the most-critical element in that failure, despite what some misguided fans think about Geno Smith.
Speaking of Geno Smith, the Seahawks are in a bad in-between land with their sort-of franchise, sort-of bridge quarterback. Entering the final year of his contract, Smith is by far the best option to start for this team in 2025 – and only a handful of quarterbacks in the league are better at managing the kind of pressure he has to face week in and week out.
If the Seahawks can actually fix that offensive line in one offseason then all bets are off – and no team in the NFC (not counting a healthy Detroit Lions) would have cause to consider them anything but a very dangerous team with Geno leading them.
The odds are against it, though. The Seahawks may take a step back if they move on from Geno Smith – and therefore miss out on the postseason again as they reset their roster to a younger version led by a cheaper QB – but that’s probably their best option if they’re going to break out of the no-man’s land between losing in the Wild Card round and just missing the playoffs.
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