After allowing the fewest points in the NFL, earning the NFC's No. 1 seed and winning the Super Bowl in convincing fashion, the Seattle Seahawks lost a handful of key players over the offseason. And then they nearly repeated as world champions.
Yes, we're talking about the 2013 and 2014 Seahawks.
Their history provides useful context in examining the 2026 Seahawks' roster after an offseason in which the sum of the personnel hits it took following Seattle's Super Bowl LX victory seemed to be exaggerated by some observers. To be sure, there were some significant departures in safety Coby Bryant, outside linebacker Boye Mafe, cornerback Riq Woolen and running back Kenneth Walker III, the MVP of Seattle's 29-13 win over the New England Patriots.
But that pales in comparison to everyone Seattle lost from its Super Bowl XLVIII team -- only to go 12-4 in 2014, again claim the top seed and finish one yard away from a second straight title.
Of their top 20 players on both sides of the ball in terms of snap counts in 2013, the Seahawks said goodbye -- either via free agency, release/waivers or retirement -- to seven on offense and five on defense. They were: receivers Golden Tate (762 snaps) and Sidney Rice (330); offensive linemen Paul McQuiston (773), Breno Giacomini (534) and Michael Bowie (523); defensive linemen Chris Clemons (568), Clinton McDonald (531) and Red Bryant (481); cornerbacks Brandon Browner (453) and Walter Thurmond (469); tight end Kellen Davis (152); and fullback Michael Robinson (136).
All told, those 12 players combined for 5,712 snaps in 2013, according to Pro Football Reference data. That doesn't include the departures of Heath Farwell and Chris Maragos, who led the Seahawks in special teams snaps in 2013. Or that of Percy Harvin, who was injured for most of that season, returned a kickoff for a touchdown in Seattle's 43-8 win over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII and was jettisoned early the following year.
Based on the same top-20 parameters, the current team no longer has five players who had combined for 2,976 snaps in 2025. Almost all of them came from Bryant (977), Woolen (817), Mafe (561) and Walker (498). The fifth player was cornerback Derion Kendrick (123), a late-summer waiver claim who was already gone by Thanksgiving.
Brian Nemhauser, who runs the popular Hawk Blogger website and podcast, looked at Super Bowl champions dating back to 2010 and found that of those 16 teams, the 2025 Seahawks are returning the second-highest percentage of snaps in the following year.