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From ‘Soft’ to ‘Robust’: The Seahawks Sale Just Caught Fire
Three weeks ago, the word was soft. ESPN’s Seth Wickersham reported that buyer interest in the Seahawks was underwhelming, that the initial $11 billion fever dream had deflated, and that NFL owners were exchanging concerned glances at spring meetings. The franchise that just won a Super Bowl couldn’t find enough people willing to pay for it.
That narrative is dead. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport went on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday and dropped a full reversal. The market is now “robust,” owners could hold a special meeting in August to vote on new ownership, and the final number could eclipse $10 billion. In real estate terms, the Seahawks went from ‘price reduced’ to ‘multiple offers above asking’ in less than a month.
$10B+
The potential sale price, per Rapoport. It would set a new NFL record.
What changed? Probably competition. Three named bidding groups surfaced in early May: the Mittal-Grousbeck partnership, Vinod Khosla, and whispers around Steve Ballmer. Once buyers saw other buyers, the instinct kicked in. Nobody wants to lose an auction they showed up for.
Roger Goodell had pushed back on the “soft” framing at the spring meeting in Orlando, calling interest “tremendous.” Rapoport’s reporting suggests Goodell wasn’t just spinning. If the August timeline holds, the Seahawks could have a new owner before the September 9 opener against New England. That means somebody is about to spend more on a football team than the GDP of Belize. And the football team doesn’t even come with a beach.
SOURCES →
Roster
Schneider Trades for a Gunner Nobody’s Heard Of. That’s the Point.
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Career receptions for Charles in 25 NFL games. He’s a gunner, not a receiver.
Charles, 29, earned PFF special teams grades above 88.0 in both of his healthy seasons with the Jets before a torn ACL wiped out all of 2025. He recorded 14 special teams tackles and a blocked punt across two seasons. Schneider is betting the knee heals and the coverage instincts survive.
Between Charles and sixth-round pick Emmanuel Henderson Jr., the Seahawks now have two candidates to replace Young’s gunner role. The roster sits at 91 players. The competition for the bottom of the 53 just got a little louder.
SOURCES →
AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
OTAs resume today at the VMAC with Sessions 2 and 3 on the schedule. The Seahawks’ official offseason calendar lists May 28-29, June 1, and June 3-4 as the remaining OTA dates before mandatory minicamp June 9-11. Eighty-four of 91 showed up Monday. The other seven should be worried about their lockers. Seahawks.com
Drake Thomas intercepted Sam Darnold and returned it for a pick-six during Day 1 of OTAs. Thomas is wearing No. 32 after a breakout 2025 campaign. Darnold will survive. Thomas just put his name on the training camp conversation. Seattle Sports
The Witherspoon extension remains not close, per CBS Sports, but the timeline hasn’t changed: training camp is two months away, and that’s when Seattle typically closes these deals. The shared-agent dynamic with the Patriots’ Christian Gonzalez is the holdup. Patience costs nothing when you have two years of control. CBS Sports
The 49ers gave backup QB Mac Jones a $300,000 raise ahead of OTAs. A nice reward for filling in during Brock Purdy’s turf toe absence. That’s roughly what Puka Nacua makes per quarter. 49ers Webzone
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
Nacua’s extension remains unsigned, the off-field legal situation remains active, and Turf Show Times is now floating a $200 million holdout scenario. Meanwhile, the Rams have to figure out how to eventually pay Kobie Turner, Byron Young, and Steve Avila too, none of whom have fifth-year options. Rambling Fan ran the math on a Nacua deal at $43 million AAV and concluded the Rams’ cash spending would hit 20% above the salary cap. The NFC’s best team on paper might also be the NFC’s most financially fragile.
NINERS
San Francisco opens OTAs today with both Nick Bosa and first-round pick Mykel Williams still rehabbing torn ACLs, per the Press Democrat. Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch were spotted last week doing a backyard podcast in Alameda, sipping Diet Cokes and laughing, which Tim Kawakami called the most relaxed offseason of the Shanahan-Lynch era. Relaxed is one word for it. Another word is ‘complacent.’ They ranked dead last in sacks with 20 last season and their big defensive addition was trading a third-round pick for Osa Odighizuwa. Bold strategy when the Seahawks just hung a second banner in the building where you held a Super Bowl.
CARDINALS
June 1 is four days away, and the Cardinals are about to become the NFL’s most interesting garage sale. Josh Sweat, who led the team with 12 sacks last season, hasn’t shown up to OTAs and multiple teams have called about a trade, per Jordan Schultz. A post-June 1 deal saves Arizona $10.9 million in cap space. The most likely destination? Green Bay, where fired Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon now runs the defense. Sweat followed Gannon to Arizona in the first place. Now Gannon left and Sweat wants to follow him again. The Cardinals are paying $76 million for a player who’d rather be anywhere else.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
Shaun Alexander holds the NFL record for most touchdowns scored in a single half. How many did he score, and against which team?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
Five. Alexander put up four rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown in the first half against the Minnesota Vikings on September 29, 2002. The record still stands.
Got a question for The Rooster?
Issue #100 and I’m still answering your mail. Drop a question about the Seahawks, the sale, the Witherspoon extension, or anything else that’s keeping you up at night. The weirder the better.
Issue one hundred. Still here. Still caffeinated. Still unreasonably invested in the secondary depth chart of a professional football team. Go Hawks. — The Rooster