Seahawks Lose 4 Starters As Rivals 49ers And Rams Add All-Pros

Nobody dismantles a champion faster than the NFL’s own rules. Seattle went 14-3, won Super Bowl LX 29-13, and sent four key pieces home with another team’s jersey before the confetti was off the turf. Rivals didn’t congratulate the Seahawks … they opened their checkbooks. The NFC West doesn’t do sentiment; it does business. This offseason, it did a lot of it.

The Guy Who Won the Super Bowl Is Gone

Walker didn’t leave because he wanted to. He left because Kansas City wrote a three-year, $43 million check with $28.7 million guaranteed, and John Schneider chose not to match it. That’s a calculated front-office decision — extensions for Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Devon Witherspoon are coming, and the cap math only works if you let the Super Bowl MVP walk. Schneider has made calls like this before and been right. But right now, Kenneth Walker III is in Kansas City running behind one of the best offensive lines in the league, and Seattle’s backfield answer amounts to a question mark.

Three More Walked Out the Same Door

Walker got the headlines, but the roster damage didn’t stop there. Boye Mafe, who posted nine sacks and a franchise-record seven consecutive games with a sack back in 2023, took a three-year, $60 million deal from Cincinnati. Riq Woolen, the fifth-round pick who became a Pro Bowl starter for three seasons before losing his starting spot in 2025, signed a one-year, $15 million deal with Philadelphia. Coby Bryant, a midseason starter in 2024 who held that job through the Super Bowl run, signed a three-year, $40 million contract with Chicago. Four contributors from a defense that shut New England out for three full quarters, gone in 48 hours.

San Francisco Didn’t Wait Around

While Seattle was absorbing those losses, Kyle Shanahan went out and fixed the one thing his offense had been missing. The 49ers signed Mike Evans, a player who matched Jerry Rice’s all-time record of 11 consecutive 1,000-yard seasons before injuries shortened his 2025 season to just eight games, to a three-year, $42.5 million base deal worth up to $60.4 million with incentives. San Francisco was already dangerous with a healthy Nick Bosa and Fred Warner returning from injury. Now they’ve added a boundary receiver who makes every safety in the NFC West nervous on third and long. The 49ers weren’t rebuilding. They were reloading.

The Rams Made the Boldest Move of the Entire Offseason

Los Angeles didn’t just add; they went and got the best available cornerback in football and paid him like it. The Rams traded a first-round pick to Kansas City for All-Pro Trent McDuffie, then locked him up immediately on a four-year, $124 million extension, the richest deal ever for a cornerback. Think about what that tells you. The Rams watched Seattle’s receivers dismantle their secondary in the NFC Championship Game, diagnosed the problem in real time, and spent a first-rounder plus historic money to solve it. That’s not a reaction. That’s a declaration of intent aimed at one specific team.

This Is What Rivals Do After You Beat Them

Here’s what nobody wants to say out loud: the Seahawks are now the blueprint everyone else is building against. McDuffie was specifically the answer to Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Evans was specifically the answer to San Francisco’s need for a contested-catch receiver who wins on the boundary. These weren’t random splashes; they were surgical strikes aimed at the exact weaknesses that cost both teams a Super Bowl shot. Welcome to life at the top of the NFC West.

Seattle’s Answer Has Been Quiet — Maybe Too Quiet

The Seahawks signed Rashid Shaheed to a three-year, $51 million deal, real value for a burner who can stretch the field and hurt you on returns. After that, the offseason has gone mostly silent. Schneider has four total draft picks heading into April and a deliberate plan: bank cap space, trust Mike Macdonald’s system to reload on the fly, and get JSN and Witherspoon locked up long-term. Schneider has earned the benefit of the doubt. But the NFC West just committed nine figures this month, and the margin for error is gone.

The Math Nobody Wants to Do

San Francisco paid up to $60.4 million for a receiver who ties Jerry Rice in the record books. The Rams committed $124 million to a single cornerback. Those aren’t reckless numbers; they’re a statement about what it costs to compete at the top of this division right now. Rivals are buying certainty. Fewer blown coverages. Fewer red-zone drives that stall. Fewer Sundays where the wrong guy is in the wrong spot with the game on the line. Seattle built its championship on elite defense and a punishing run game. That defense just lost four key contributors. That run game just lost its MVP. The NFC West has recalibrated around what Seattle built, and what Seattle no longer has.

The 12s Have Seen This Movie

This isn’t the first time Seattle has built something great and watched free agency pick it apart. The Legion of Boom didn’t fall apart overnight; it eroded one contract at a time, leaving behind a highlight reel and a lot of what-ifs. The difference now is Mike Macdonald, a defensive architect who can rebuild the same results with different pieces, and a franchise quarterback on a team-friendly deal with the most dangerous young receiver in the conference. The core is intact. The identity is intact. What remains is a team that has to prove last February wasn’t a one-time thing.

The Hard Part Starts Now

Rivals don’t beat champions by outplaying them in February. They beat them by outbuilding them in March. San Francisco is better armed, deeper at receiver, and angrier than they were a year ago. Los Angeles has the best cornerback in the conference locked up for four years and a front office that spent a first-round pick to get him. Schneider is navigating this with four draft picks and a plan that requires almost everything to break right. The Seahawks can still win this division as Jaxon Smith-Njigba is a nightmare nobody has answered, and Macdonald is one of the sharpest defensive minds in the game. But the NFC West just drew a hard line between the teams spending to reclaim the throne and the team trying to hold it. Seattle is on the wrong side of that line right now.

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Sources
Seattle Times — NFL free agency Day 2 recap: Seahawks lose Riq Woolen​
CBS News — New England Patriots lose Super Bowl LX, 29-13
NFL.com — Trent McDuffie, Rams agree to four-year, $124 million extension
Niners Wire — NFL free agency: 49ers, Mike Evans agree to 3-year deal
Seahawks Wire — Kenneth Walker III’s contract breakdown with Kansas City Chiefs
The Athletic/NYT — Bengals, Boye Mafe agree to 3-year, $60 million deal