TOP STORIES
The Opener
Soundgarden Is Playing Halftime of the Banner Game
Soundgarden announced Tuesday that it will reunite to play halftime of the season opener on Wednesday, Sept. 9 against New England at Lumen Field. Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd and Matt Cameron, under the band name, on the same turf where the championship banner goes up that night. They will be joined by Taylor Momsen of The Pretty Reckless and Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, filling the space left by Chris Cornell.
Sept. 9
A Wednesday night opener against the team Seattle beat in Super Bowl LX.
McCready is also playing the national anthem pregame, which means the man handles both ends of the evening. Before any of that, Luke Bryan headlines the Salute 250 Kickoff Concert in the Lumen Field North Lot at 2:30 p.m. PT, part of the team’s “Countdown to Kickoff” build-up. So the schedule for Sept. 9 is country music in the parking lot, an anthem from a Pearl Jam guitarist, a Super Bowl banner, and then the loudest band this city ever produced.
Halftime of a regular-season game is normally a punt-pass-and-kick contest and somebody’s high school drumline. Nobody is replacing Cornell and the band is not pretending otherwise, but the booking is exactly right: when Seattle finally got a night like this, it did not import a spectacle. It called home.
“
When Seattle finally got a night like this, it did not import a spectacle. It called home.
New England, meanwhile, gets to stand on that field seven months after Super Bowl LX, watch a banner climb into the rafters, then head to the locker room while the sound system tries to peel the roof canopy off. I have waited my whole life for a Seahawks home opener that felt like a civic event. This one has a setlist.
SOURCES →
Ownership
By Lunchtime, This Team Probably Belongs to Somebody Else
Keep Reading ↓
24 of 32
The number of owner votes required to approve a transfer of ownership.
The finance and ownership policy committees already voted unanimously last week to recommend approval, which is the part of this process where things could have gotten strange and didn’t. Nobody expects a surprise today. The Allen family’s run as owner, in the league’s eyes, ends this afternoon.
I keep waiting to feel something dramatic about it and mostly I feel the small stuff. Paul Allen bought this team in 1997 so it would not move to California. That decision is the reason there is a banner to raise in two weeks. Whatever the new group turns out to be, it inherits a Super Bowl champion, a settled quarterback, and a fan base that has already read the entire deal structure.
SOURCES →
Roster
Bud Clark’s Rookie Year Is Officially Over
Keep Reading ↓
To fill the three open spots on the 90-man roster, Seattle signed tackle Derrick Graham, safety Tysheem Johnson and running back Justin Jones. Johnson went undrafted out of Oregon last year, spent the 2025 preseason with the Bears and time on Atlanta’s practice squad. Graham was signed by Houston in June and cut on Aug. 2. His father, also Derrick Graham, played nine NFL seasons, two of them here.
That is how a defending champion patches a hole on the Tuesday of cutdown week: a second-generation tackle nobody drafted and a safety who has never held a job for a full season. The safety room behind Julian Love and Ty Okada is now held together with staples and Nick Emmanwori’s ankle.
SOURCES →
AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
The quarterbacks had custom cowboy hats made on the Tennessee trip in Episode 4, and Sam Darnold did not get the neon green 14 he asked for. Drew Lock wore his hat on top of his ball cap. Four episodes in, that is the most Drew Lock frame HBO has produced. Yahoo Sports
Kenneth Walker III did not practice Tuesday with a foot issue, three days before Kansas City closes the preseason against Seattle. Fine by me. The reunion I care about is Week 7 under the lights, and I would rather he arrive at that one at full speed. NBC Sports
Byron Murphy II said Tuesday that Seattle has been rushing him from multiple alignments, 3-technique and nose tackle both. The defensive tackle who tied for the team sack lead last year is now being pointed at quarterbacks from more directions. Somebody should warn the guards in this division. Heavy
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
Sean McVay says the Rams will carry three quarterbacks on the initial 53-man roster and still has not decided who backs up Matthew Stafford in Week 1. So the deepest team in football is spending a roster spot to avoid making a choice between two guys, behind a 38-year-old starter, in the year they are supposed to be the class of the conference. Bold plan. Hope the third one is comfortable.
NINERS
Kyle Shanahan says he will not call plays in San Francisco’s preseason finale against Las Vegas. Offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak gets the headset again, this time against a Raiders team run by his older brother Klint, who used to draw up Seattle’s offense. Family dinner in Houston must be an absolute delight. Two weeks from a season opener in Australia, and the last live rep goes to a sibling grudge match.
CARDINALS
Arizona signed safety Josh Minkins and punter Jack Browning, both most recently of the UFL’s Orlando Storm. No corresponding moves were needed, because Monday’s purge had already left the shelves bare. Every other team in this division is deciding which good players to cut. The Cardinals are buying spring-league punting in late August and calling it depth.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
This quarterback was the sixth overall pick of the 1987 draft, sat out his entire rookie season in a contract standoff, and was traded to Seattle in April 1988 without ever playing a game for the team that drafted him. Who is he?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
Kelly Stouffer, out of Colorado State. St. Louis could not get him signed, so the Cardinals shipped his rights to Seattle for a package of picks that included a first-rounder, and Stouffer never claimed the job.
Got a Question? Ask It.
The mailbag is open and lightly unhinged. Roster math, cap math, grunge-era setlist grievances, whatever you have. Send it in and I will answer one in a future issue, honestly and probably at too much length.
Owners vote at 11:30. The keys change hands before dinner. — The Rooster