Analysis: Five things for the Seahawks to watch at NFL combine

SEATTLE – The NFL is the league that never sleeps.

Just two weeks following the league’s biggest event of the season – the Super Bowl – comes one of the biggest happenings of the offseason, the 2025 NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis.

The on-field drills, which run from Thursday to March 2, are the marquee event of the combine .

Players are scheduled to begin arriving Sunday and team personnel and agents will arrive even earlier to begin the formal and informal meetings that often are more important than the drills.

Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald and general manager/president of football operations John Schneider will lead the Seahawks’ contingent.

They are expected to meet with the media – Schneider scheduled for Tuesday and Macdonald Wednesday – and the sessions that may divulge news.

Here are a few things to watch as the combine approaches.

How will the free agent markets begin to unfold?

While the media focus inevitably centers on the draft prospects, the most-important happenings are often behind the scenes, as team execs such as Schneider meet with agents of pending free agents.

The free-agent negotiating period begins March 10 and the signing period March 12.

The meetings at the combine tend to serve as the unofficial beginning of free agency,

“Player X wants to make $8 million, we’ll find that out,” Schneider said during an appearance on Seattle Sports 710 Thursday. “… We’ll find out what other people are looking at.’’

That information helps the Seahawks as they formulates offers to their free agents such as linebacker Ernest Jones IV and players they might want to offer extensions, such as quarterback Geno Smith, as well as any external free agents.

Teams and agents learned this week that the salary cap will be higher than anticipated – in the $277.5-281.5 million range, up from last year’s $255.4 million.

That gives teams more flexibility and figures to increase the asking price of pending free agents.

While Schneider said the Seahawks have a general sense of what the market will be for players and positions, he said the combine helps formalize assumptions.

“There are surprises every year after we get done talking to everybody,’’ he said.

Will the combine reinforce that this draft lacks star power but has depth?

A year ago, the top of the draft was a foregone conclusion – the Bears were going to take USC QB Caleb Williams with the first pick.

There is more intrigue this year as it’s unclear who the Titans will take with the first pick.

While some of that has to do with the Titans unsure what they want to do position-wise, it’s indicative of a draft that many feel doesn’t have as many surefire stars as last year’s but might prove to have more depth.

“I’m excited about this draft,’’ NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said this week. “It’s a starter’s draft, is how I would phrase it. Going through and watching all these guys for the combine and talking to a bunch of people around the league, OK, some positions maybe don’t have that superstar that we have had in years past, but we do have a boatload of starters, particularly the defensive line. A bunch of really, really good players.”

For the Seahawks, who draft at 18, that could make it tempting to try to trade down and add picks. Of course, everyone else could think similarly, making it competitive to pull off deals.

All teams will get a better sense of the nature and quality of the draft during the week in Indy.

Could a quarterback grab the Seahawks’ eye?

It seems only a question of when and how – and not whether – the Seahawks sign Smith to an extension.

Smith signed his current deal with the Seahawks on March 9 in 2023, a week or so after the combine.

Even if Smith signs a new deal, that doesn’t mean the Seahawks won’t add a quarterback in the draft this year.

Backup Sam Howell has a year left on his rookie deal and no guaranteed money left on his contract. He left the door wide open for competition when he got a chance to play in 2025.

The complication is that the Seahawks don’t seem to have an avenue for getting the top two QBs in the draft – Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders – and there isn’t anyone else deemed worthy at the moment of going in the first round.

“In terms of the quarterbacks, I haven’t been able to find that buzz out there for someone who is a quarterback who teams would want to get at the bottom of (round) one,’’ Jeremiah said.

Jeremiah said the QB he will be watching at the combine is Jaxson Dart of Ole Miss, who began his career at USC in 2021.

“Jaxson Dart is my third guy,’’ he said. “That would be the one I think I would keep an eye on and see if the buzz builds with him .”

There won’t be much going on for locals.

Coming off an appearance in the NCAA title game a year ago, the Huskies had 13 players invited to the combine – second-most behind only national champ Michigan’s 18.

Coming off a 6-7 season this year, UW is at the bottom of the list with just one – linebacker Carson Bruener.

Washington State, which had three players invited last year, has just one, Kyle Williams, who is one of 49 receivers scheduled to be on hand.

There will be a few other players with local ties, notably Oregon offensive lineman Josh Conerly Jr. of Rainier Beach High, who with a good showing could further strengthen his bid to get taken in the first round; guard Jackson Slater of Sacramento, a Newport High grad; and Ohio State receiver Emeka Egbuka of Steilacoom and defensive lineman JT Tuimoloau of Eastside Catholic.

And, yes, the Seahawks will scout offensive linemen

Of the 329 players invited to the combine, 50 are offensive linemen.

All are listed simply as offensive linemen and not tackles, guards or centers.

For many of those players, the combine will help teams figure out where they will best fit.

The Seahawks will certainly look closely at all of them, especially new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and new offensive line coach John Benton.

The Seahawks’ obvious needs up front have had many mock drafters predicting they will take an offensive lineman at 18. They appear more unsettled at guard and center spots that generally aren’t drafted as highly as tackles.

Jeremiah says the draft is deep enough teams might be able to wait until the second or third rounds on the second day to get guards and centers.

“I think you can address that interior offensive line later on in the draft,” Jeremiah said. “I think there is some depth along that interior.”