Field Gulls
How much interest will the NFL and its networks have in the Seahawks under Sam Darnold?
We’re one day away from the release of the 2025 Seattle Seahawks regular season schedule. While we know which teams Seattle will face, we don’t know the order, dates, kickoff times, or the networks, which is why we do pointless but fun exercises like the one I’m about to do right now!
Once again, I’m predicting which games could wind up as bright light nights for the Seahawks, ranking by best chance to slim-and-none. For simplicity’s sake, prime time matchups consist of ‘Thursday Night Football’ on Amazon Prime Video, ‘Sunday Night Football’ on NBC, and ‘Monday Night Football’ on ESPN/ABC. We know the Seahawks won’t be playing on Black Friday or the Christmas night game, so even special holidays look unlikely for Seattle.
I didn’t do too badly last year in saying they would play the Detroit Lions on MNF and host the Green Bay Packers in prime time, so let’s see if I fare any better this time.
As a reminder: teams are allowed a maximum of six prime time games, with a seventh permitted for Week 18. The same divisional matchup is no longer allowed to be in prime time twice.
vs. Minnesota Vikings (14-3)
The storyline is already built! It’s Sam Darnold against the team he unexpectedly led to 14 wins and yet somehow that wasn’t enough to win the NFC North, much less secure the No. 1 seed in the conference. The J.J. McCarthy era is expected to begin this season after McCarthy’s unfortunate meniscus injury last preseason, and the Vikings have been huge spenders in free agency. Also, the Vikings and Seahawks played a great game last year and once had a three-year stretch playing in prime time. Sunday Night Football at Lumen Field, anyone?
at/vs. Los Angeles Rams (10-7)
It’s interesting how infrequently Seahawks vs. Rams has been chosen for national broadcast in recent years. They’ve had Thursday Night Football clashes in 2019 and 2021 and Sunday Night Football in 2019. That’s it. Given either a final playoff spot or the division has come down to tiebreakers over the past two years between these teams, I feel like the networks will take interest.
at/vs. San Francisco 49ers (6-11)
Meanwhile, the Seahawks-49ers rivalry has repeatedly been on national television despite Seattle’s predominantly non-competitive performances against San Francisco. It’s a rivalry that sells and the 49ers aren’t projected to be 6-11 bad again this year.
at Washington Commanders (12-5)
The Commanders will be trendy Super Bowl picks this year after their stunning run to the NFC Championship Game. Dan Quinn knows a thing or two about the Seahawks, as does Bobby Wagner. Jayden Daniels is looking like a superstar in the making and they’re going to be loading up on prime time games without question. I can see this being a Sunday or Monday night matchup.
vs. Houston Texans (10-7)
The Texans were...
