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The Seahawks Moved Rylie Mills to Defensive End. That’s Not Housekeeping.
The most interesting roster update of the offseason doesn’t involve a contract or a signing. It involves a line on the Seahawks’ official depth chart. Rylie Mills, the second-year defensive lineman out of Notre Dame, has been moved from defensive tackle to defensive end.
If you’re shrugging, you weren’t watching the Super Bowl closely enough. Mills recorded a sack in just five snaps against New England, dragging an offensive lineman with him to bring down Drake Maye. Five snaps. One sack. The kind of play that turns a fifth-round pick into a storyline.
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Super Bowl snaps Mills played before recording his first career sack.
SI on Seahawks laid out the case: the Seahawks could be planning for the eventual succession of Leonard Williams, their three-time Pro Bowler who has contemplated retirement after winning the championship. Williams turns 32 in June. He’s not done, but the clock is ticking, and the front office doesn’t wait for clocks to run out. Mills played three-technique DT in his limited 2025 regular season action but mixed DT and strongside DE at Notre Dame. The versatility was always there. Now it’s the plan.
With Boye Mafe gone to Cincinnati and the edge room still searching for a proven addition, Mills sliding outside gives Macdonald another movable piece. He’s 6-5, 290 pounds. He ran a sub-5.0 forty at the combine. At defensive end, he’s a different kind of problem for offensive tackles than Derick Hall or Uchenna Nwosu. Every quiet May roster move looks like housekeeping until September, when it looks like the reason you won a game.
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Free Agency
The Comp Pick Deadline Has Passed. Fowler Is Still Out There. Still.
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Pro Football Rumors confirmed this week that Fowler remains one of Schneider’s top options at edge rusher, citing ESPN’s Brady Henderson. NBC Sports’ Michael David Smith noted that Seahawks defensive coordinator Aden Durde has coached Fowler before, in both Atlanta and Dallas. The schematic fit is already there. Fowler played all 17 games for Dallas last season and is one year removed from a 10.5-sack campaign in Washington.
There is nothing stopping this deal except, apparently, the deal itself. Fowler visited the VMAC on April 16. The comp deadline has passed. Rookie minicamp is over. OTAs start May 26. At some point the door at the VMAC needs to stop being unlocked and start being walked through.
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There is nothing stopping this deal except, apparently, the deal itself.
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AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
The NFL distributed 2026 crew assignments to referees while simultaneously training their replacements. Seven new officials hired, replacement clinics running since May 1, CBA expires May 31. The league is literally assigning officials to games and preparing to fire them at the same time. Peak NFL. LifeZette
The Seahawks were wary of the 49ers’ interest in Jadarian Price at pick 32, per Brady Henderson via Pro Football Rumors. San Francisco lurking was one reason Schneider stayed put instead of trading back. Sometimes the best trade is the one you didn’t make. Pro Football Rumors
Stafford’s potential multi-year extension talks with the Rams may have been accelerated by the Ty Simpson pick. He announced at NFL Honors he’d return for 2026 but Simpson’s arrival changes the calculus. Nothing motivates contract negotiations like your replacement sitting in the meeting room. Roundtable
The NFL schedule is targeting a May 13-14 release. The Seahawks host the Wednesday Night opener September 9 at Lumen Field. Mike Wilbon has all but named Chicago as the opponent. Ten days until we know for sure. Field Gulls
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
McVay admitted his draft-night sourpuss face was partly about how Stafford would react to the Ty Simpson pick. Stafford still hasn’t spoken publicly since the draft. Simpson said Stafford’s wife reached out on social media. Not Stafford. His wife. McVay told the Boston Globe he’s worried the pick could “throw a wrench” into Stafford’s extension negotiations. The Rams drafted their MVP’s replacement at 13 and are now begging the MVP not to be mad about it. Outstanding organizational vibes.
NINERS
San Francisco’s rookie minicamp is still a week away, but the pre-camp discourse is already in midseason form. Shanahan ranked third-round pick Kaelon Black as the No. 2 running back on their board, then admitted post-draft that it would be “tough for all eight picks to make the roster.” PFF gave the draft class a D. One anonymous exec told ESPN that Stribling “is not as good as Aiyuk was.” The 49ers are building consensus inside the building. The consensus outside the building is different.
CARDINALS
Ossenfort still won’t name a starting quarterback. The competition is now a three-man race between Brissett, Minshew, and third-round rookie Carson Beck. Brissett went 1-11 as a starter last year, skipped the voluntary program, and wants an extension. FanDuel has Arizona’s win total at 4.5, tied with Miami for worst in football. They used the No. 3 overall pick on a running back. This franchise is building a house and starting with the chandelier.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
Mack Strong spent his entire 14-year NFL career as the Seattle Seahawks’ fullback after signing as an undrafted free agent in 1993, blocking for three different 1,000-yard rushers and winning the Steve Largent Award a franchise-record five times. How many regular-season games did Strong appear in during his Seahawks career?
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201 games. Strong appeared in more regular-season games than any Seahawk at the time of his retirement, doing it all as an undrafted free agent who never changed his address. He blocked for Chris Warren, Ricky Watters, and Shaun Alexander, and earned two Pro Bowl selections and a First-Team All-Pro honor in 2005.
THE GOLDEN EGG
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The Golden Egg doesn’t always go to the loudest name. Sometimes it goes to the guy who just changed his address on the depth chart and made everyone in the building pay attention.
Rylie Mills was a fifth-round pick out of Notre Dame who spent most of his rookie year rehabbing from a knee injury. He played four regular-season games. Then he played five snaps in the Super Bowl and recorded a sack by dragging an offensive lineman to the quarterback like a man pulling a suitcase through an airport. That play turned heads. The position switch to defensive end is the front office’s way of saying they noticed.
At 6-5, 290 pounds, Mills has the frame to play multiple spots along the defensive line. The Seahawks are betting his future is at end, potentially as the long-term successor to Leonard Williams. Year Two at a new position, fully healthy, with a Super Bowl ring already in the case. The quiet offseason move might be the loudest story by September.
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Career Sack (in 5 Super Bowl Snaps)
6’5″ / 290
Size (DT Frame, DE Future)
4
Regular Season Games Played (Year 1)
Got a Question for The Rooster?
Draft takes, cap math, conspiracy theories about why Schneider hasn’t signed Fowler yet. Send your questions to the mailbag and I’ll answer them with the care and attention they probably don’t deserve.
The schedule drops in ten days. The edge room is still one phone call short. But somewhere in Renton, a 290-pound man just learned a new position, and that's the kind of thing that wins games in January. Go Hawks. — The Rooster