That is how you announce yourself: at home, under the lights, against the Patriots, with a Super Bowl LX rematch serving as the first hard-edged test of the Seahawks schedule 2026. No easing in, no soft landing, no polite September stroll. Seattle gets the kind of opener that immediately tells you whether a championship team is built to repeat the job or just admire the trophy while everyone else sharpens their knives.
And Julian Edelman, speaking on FOX NFL Kickoff, is not exactly hiding his admiration. He said he is big on Seattle, pointed to the fact that they are returning 20 of 22 starters, and called them “a storm brewing to just wipe out a lot of teams.” That is not the language you use for a team scraping together an identity. That is the language you use for a roster that already knows what it is and now has to prove it again.
A champion with very little room for doubt
The Seahawks are coming off a Super Bowl championship and a franchise-record 14 regular-season wins, which is exactly why this opener matters so much. Teams can talk all summer about standards, depth and continuity. Seattle has the numbers to back it up. A 14-3 season, 28.4 points per game, 351.4 total yards per game, 17.2 opponent points per game and 285.6 total yards allowed per game is the sort of profile that forces the rest of the league to take notice.
But this is also where the schedule starts to bite. The Seahawks changed offensive coordinators, with Klint Kubiak leaving for the Las Vegas Raiders and Brian Fleury taking over, and that is the one genuine wrinkle hanging over an otherwise imposing setup. A new voice can freshen a good team. It can also interrupt rhythm. Against a Patriots team arriving with Super Bowl LX on the scoreboard, Seattle will have to show that its title run was not just a perfect storm of timing and execution.
Why this opener has real bite
Edelman’s comments about Sam Darnold are particularly revealing. He said Darnold was mad about his Super Bowl performance, and that the week before that he had an unbelievable game to beat the Los Angeles Rams. He also pointed out that Darnold gets to go into the offseason almost like he lost the Super Bowl with his mindset after winning one. That is a sharp little detail, because it captures the difference between celebration and obsession. Seattle are not being asked to enjoy their status. They are being asked to defend it with the same edge that got them there.
There is also the shadow of the Rams, who were a major talking point in Edelman’s assessment. Matthew Stafford won NFL MVP honors in 2025, and the Rams added Myles Garrett and Trent McDuffie, while Aaron Donald came out of retirement after two years away from the game. That is a brutal reminder that the Seahawks are not entering a quiet division or a sleepy conference picture. The NFC West is getting heavier, not easier.
So yes, the opener against the Patriots is a statement game. It is also a warning label. If Seattle starts slowly, the questions will come fast. If they hit the ground running, the league will have to deal with a champion that looks even more dangerous than the one that just lifted the trophy.
Edelman put it plainly: “They’re really good.” That may be the understatement of the week. On this evidence, the Seahawks schedule 2026 begins with a game that could tell us almost everything we need to know about where this team is headed next.
