The Seattle Seahawks did an excellent job during the 2025 NFL draft, especially with their first three selections. In Round 1, they added North Dakota State guard Grey Zabel, who should be a starter right away. They also brought in safety Nick Emmanwori and tight end Elijah Arroyo, who will also have key roles quickly.

Emmanwori is a star in the making who exploded at the NFL Combine. He’s expected to give them their new enforcer in the secondary, and is said to be a perfect fit for Mike Macdonald’s defense. Arroyo is a pass-catching tight end who will help them move on from Noah Fant.

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Those additions leave them with limited holes on the roster, but that doesn’t mean there are none. In fact, two of their top needs, according to Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine, are still on the offensive line.

“However, they still need an upgrade at center and right guard. They didn’t go all-in on offensive linemen and gave Darnold another weapon in Elijah Arroyo and drafted a developmental quarterback in Jalen Milroe.” — Ballentine, Bleacher Report

Seattle is set to start Olu Oluwatimi at center and either Anthony Bradford or Christian Haynes at guard. Neither is considered an elite player, with Bradford being ranked No. 72 out of 77 at guard by Pro Football Focus. Haynes didn’t play enough to get ranked, but the 2024 third-round pick left a lot to be desired.

That said, it’s unlikely the Seahawks do anything more at this point other than bank on improvement from their young linemen.

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At 28-20, winners of 11 of their last 13 series, and with a 3 1/2 game lead in the AL West, the Mariners have been good. Better than expected. Better than most of the teams in the American League. Better offensively than they’ve been in years. Better defensively than they appeared to be when the season began. Better in the bullpen than they were last year. Better depth than we knew.

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The stats tell that story. Your eyes tell that story. At least through the first 48 games, those statements are all but indisputable. And with just six games to go before we get to the one-third mark of the season, it’s probably fair to say that it is no longer “early” in the season.

I don’t know if the Mariners can keep up this pace. I’m not sure if anyone does. But I strongly believe they are succeeding because of two qualities that often describe teams that see high levels of success.

They are resilient. And they are relentless.

I might not be able to prove either of those statements, but the first one should be easy to see. At one point this week, the team was without eight members of its projected opening day 26-man roster. That includes three members of their starting rotation, always assumed to be the strength of the squad. Sixty percent of the rotation! Thirty-one percent of the roster!

None of it has slowed them down. The “next man up” mentality is alive and well in this clubhouse.

But their resilience has been on display in other ways. They are now 7-1 in deciding “rubber games” of series. They have won five series after dropping the first game. Only once have they lost as many as four games in a row, and they responded almost immediately by winning four straight, on the road, including three against the excellent Padres.

They aren’t phased by late-game deficits. In fact, they have 14 comeback wins this year (tied for second most in baseball behind only the Dodgers), including a few memorable ones against the A’s, Astros and White Sox.

And it’s funny, but a whole bunch of those comebacks have come from their other great quality: their relentlessness.

The Oxford Dictionary defines relentless as “oppressively constant; incessant,” and that’s how the Mariners must appear to opponents. We expected that would be true of their rotation. It would certainly seem oppressive to have to face any combination of their top five starters in a single series and deal with the incessant pounding of the strike zone with a steady diet of fastballs and nasty breaking balls.

There was a sense that the return of Matt Brash, the return to form of Gabe Speier and the continued emergence of Andrés Muñoz would give the late innings a similar feel.

But I’d be lying if I told you I expected a relentless offense. Yet, it has been exactly that, thanks both to the approach and the depth of the lineup.

On most nights, the Mariners can offer a lineup with seven or eight players with an OPS+ over 100 (which is league average). Yes, that’s insane. There’s Jorge Polanco (177), Cal Raleigh (168), Dylan Moore (149), Leo Rivas (139), J.P. Crawford (132), Randy Arozarena (129), Julio Rodríguez (111), and Rowdy Tellez (107). Ben Williamson, Miles Mastrobuoni and Leody Taveras are not at that level, but all three have battled with competitive at-bats and contributed directly to huge wins.

And that is the other way in which they have been relentless: they simply haven’t given away many at-bats. There is no precise way to define an at-bat that was given away, but you know it when you see it. It can be characterized by chasing lots of pitches outside the zone, popping up, or rolling over on ground balls early in the count. What had become an unfortunate hallmark of this offense for the last two seasons has (thankfully) disappeared.

They take down ace pitchers, having won games against Tarik Skubal, Hunter Brown, Garrett Crochet, Michael King, Nathan Eovaldi and Max Fried. They’ve hung around in games long enough to put pressure on relievers. And even on nights when they haven’t scored much, they have offered a sense of hope that runs are coming because they haven’t given up and continue to work hard.

The Mariners may not maintain their currently pace of 95 wins. But they are sure developing the characteristics of a team that can do that and more. If these personality traits continue to define them, there should be plenty of meaningful and fun baseball ahead.

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Finding a franchise quarterback is arguably the most important – and perhaps most difficult – task for any NFL general manager.

That’s why one former GM loves that the Seattle Seahawks essentially gave themselves two bites at the apple this offseason.

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The Seahawks underwent a major shift at quarterback in March, when they traded away 34-year-old veteran Geno Smith and then replaced him by signing 27-year-old Sam Darnold to a team-friendly three-year, $100.5 million deal.

But they didn’t stop there. Seahawks GM John Schneider also spent a third-round pick on Alabama dual-threat QB Jalen Milroe in April’s NFL Draft, giving the team a longer-term developmental option at the position.

Former Las Vegas Raiders GM Mike Mayock praised Schneider’s approach last week during an appearance on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.

“Philosophically, I love what they did, because very few NFL teams are intentional about the quarterback position, in my opinion, the way they should be,” said Mayock, who also spent 15 years as a draft analyst for NFL Network.

“So basically, it’s two moves. They go out and they trade Geno at age 34 (and then sign) a 27-year-old Sam Darnold. They pay Sam a reasonable starting salary that they can effectively get out of after two years for plus or minus $65 million and a reasonable dead cap hit. And then they draft a developmental quarterback behind him. So there’s a plan A and a plan B here.”

In signing Darnold, the Seahawks are hoping the former first-round pick can build on his breakout 2024 campaign with the Minnesota Vikings, which revived his once-disappointing career. But at the same time, as Mayock mentioned, the Seahawks structured Darnold’s contract in a way that allows them to move on after one or two years if he doesn’t pan out.

And in Milroe, the Seahawks took a shot at a rare athletic talent. Milroe still needs a plenty of polishing as a passer, but with big-time speed packed into a powerful 6-foot-2, 217-pound frame, he has a tantalizing skill set as a runner.

“I love the fact that, you know, let’s root for Sam Darnold to be who he was last year and continue to get better, but let’s also develop this young kid who had the best physical traits of any quarterback in this draft,” Mayock said. “And does (Milroe) need 10,000 reps and time on task? Absolutely. But (in the meantime), Darnold is there and can play at a highly competent level.

“I just think that John doubled down on it – not unlike signing Matt Flynn years ago and drafting Russell Wilson in the third round. I’m just a big fan of what John did there.”

Listen to the full conversation with Mike Mayock at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

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