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The Refs Are Coming Back. The Ratification Vote Is Thursday Night.
Two years of negotiations. A walkout. A gag order to all 32 teams. One hundred and fifty replacement officials recruited from small colleges. Training clinics running since May 1. And then, on Tuesday, the whole thing quietly resolved itself.
The NFL and the NFL Referees Association have reached a tentative collective bargaining agreement, per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert and Kalyn Kahler. The union has scheduled a ratification vote for Thursday night. If the membership approves, the replacement officials stand down, the contingency replay rules get shelved, and the 2026 season begins with the same professional crews who’ve been doing this for years.
A month ago, one league source told ESPN it would take “an act of God” to bridge the economic gaps between the two sides. The league had offered 6.45% annual raises over six years. The union wanted north of 10%. Owners were “alarmed.” And then, apparently, someone blinked.
$385K
Average annual compensation for an NFL official in 2025, per ESPN.
For Seattle, this is personal. The Fail Mary happened fourteen years ago, during the last referee lockout. Golden Tate and M.D. Jennings went up for that ball in the end zone at CenturyLink Field, one replacement official signaled touchdown, another signaled interception, and the rest is a story Packers fans will tell their grandchildren about with trembling hands. That memory hung over every minute of these negotiations.
The specific terms remain undisclosed. But the scheduling of a ratification vote is itself the news. You don’t schedule a vote unless both sides think it passes. The May 31 deadline is no longer a cliff. It’s a formality.
SOURCES →
Roster Moves
Dante Fowler Makes It Official. The Edge Room Has a Rotation Again.
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This was always the plan. Fowler visited the VMAC before the draft. Schneider skipped edge rusher with all eight picks. The comp pick deadline passed. And then Fowler signed, costing Seattle nothing in the compensatory formula and projecting four picks back in 2027. That’s the Schneider special: wait until the math works, then make the call.
58.5
Career sacks for Fowler across 11 NFL seasons with six different teams.
The connection is Aden Durde. Fowler played under Seattle’s defensive coordinator in both Atlanta and Dallas. Lawrence came to Seattle last year via the same pipeline and finished with six sacks, 11 tackles for loss, and three forced fumbles on the way to a ring. Fowler isn’t Lawrence. But at 31, with 58.5 career sacks and a 14.1% pass-rush win rate that ranked 30th among qualifying edge defenders last season, he’s not asking to carry the defense. He’s asking for 20 snaps a game and a chance to win something.
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AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
The Seahawks kicked off Phase Two of the offseason program on Monday at the VMAC. Sam Darnold, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Cooper Kupp were all spotted in workouts. The defending champs are on schedule and showing up. Like adults. Seahawks.com
SI on Seahawks published a full week-by-week schedule prediction ahead of the May 15 release. Bears in Week 1, Super Bowl rematch with the Patriots mid-December, and a Chiefs Monday Night finale. Nine days until we find out how close they are. SI
The Seahawks’ Fowler signing means all four major free-agent losses have been replaced: Price for Walker, Clark for Bryant, Neal for Woolen, and now Fowler for Mafe. Four holes, four patches. The offseason just got very boring, and that’s exactly how Schneider likes it. Spokesman-Review
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
Stafford still hasn’t made any public comments about the Ty Simpson pick. Simpson said Stafford’s wife reached out on social media, which is the QB equivalent of a neighbor’s kid getting your mom’s number. McVay admitted his draft-night mood was partly about worrying the pick could derail Stafford’s extension talks. Meanwhile, Simpson is competing with Stetson Bennett for the backup job. The Rams drafted their $38-million MVP’s replacement with the 13th pick and now have to pretend everyone’s fine with it. The 2026 soap opera is just getting started.
NINERS
Trent Williams’ 2026 cap figure went from $38.84 million to $46.34 million to $20.01 million in five weeks, per NBC Sports’ Maiocco. That’s not cap management, that’s financial interpretive dance. They got their two-year, $50 million extension done and then added a no-holdout clause, presumably because both sides wanted to formalize the concept of showing up to work. San Francisco also drafted a fifth-round tackle from Kansas as Williams’ eventual replacement. He ran a 4.94 forty. Good luck blocking Leonard Williams with a 40-time.
CARDINALS
The Aaron Rodgers-to-Arizona discourse is peaking, and the best part is how quickly it collapsed. ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss asked a source if the Rodgers noise was real. The response: “Not at all.” Kendrick Bourne is publicly recruiting Rodgers on social media. The head coach dodged the question on the Jim Rome Show. And Florio pointed out that Arizona still has to play the Seahawks, Rams, and 49ers twice each, so what exactly would Rodgers be signing up for? The Cardinals QB room is Brissett, Minshew, Beck, and a dream that will not come true.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
Sam Adams was drafted 8th overall by the Seahawks in 1994 out of Texas A&M and played six seasons alongside Hall of Famer Cortez Kennedy before leaving for Baltimore, where he won Super Bowl XXXV. How many career sacks did Adams record across his 14-year NFL career?
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44 sacks. Adams was a rare interior pass rusher who earned three Pro Bowl selections across six teams after starting his career in Seattle. His best Seahawks season was 1997, when he posted career highs with 52 tackles and 7.0 sacks.
THIS DAY IN SEAHAWKS HISTORY
2022
May 6, 2022
Riq Woolen Signs His Rookie Contract
On this date four years ago, the Seahawks signed fifth-round pick Tariq ‘Riq’ Woolen to a four-year, $3.99 million rookie contract. Woolen would go on to have one of the best rookie cornerback seasons in NFL history, tying for the league lead with six interceptions and earning Pro Bowl honors. He’s now in Philadelphia, but it all started with a pen stroke at the VMAC on May 6, 2022.
Got a Question for The Rooster?
Drop your Seahawks question into the mailbag. Cap math, draft regrets, who should start at right guard — whatever’s on your mind. The best ones get answered in a future issue. Names and neighborhoods encouraged.
The refs are coming back. The edge room has a fourth chair. The schedule drops in nine days. Everything is falling into place, which is exactly when you start looking over your shoulder. Go Hawks. — The Rooster