News and notes on the Seahawks from the NFL Annual Meeting in Palm Beach, Florida earlier this week.

John Boyle

The NFL Annual Meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida earlier this week, an event that, in addition to team owners and officials holding those eponymous meetings, also features plenty of news coming from the media availability held by coaches and general managers.

With that in mind, in case you missed any of our coverage from earlier in the week, here are five Seahawks-related takeaways from the 2025 NFL Annual Meeting.

1. The Seahawks are ahead of where they were last season after making a coaching change a year ago.

The Seahawks have added some players they really like in free agency, including Pro Bowlers Sam Darnold, Cooper Kupp and DeMarcus Lawrence, and with five picks in the first three rounds, they also will expect to add some difference makers in the draft. But another reason they're optimistic about the 2025 season is that, thanks to the year of experience Macdonald and his coaching staff have under their belt, they feel like they're well ahead of where they were at this time a year ago.

"We're so much further ahead in knowing what each one of those guys really wants in a pass-rusher or a linebacker,"general manager and president of football operations John Schneider said. "Guys were just getting settled last year, so it was really hard to be like, 'OK, we're going to trust this coach because he's coached that guy,' and we don't necessarily know that coach that well yet, and we're not all speaking the same language as well as we should be. So I think we're just much further ahead and able to compensate for some of those deficiencies quicker than we were last year. I'm excited about it."

Macdonald won't allow himself to feel like he's ever ahead; there's always more work to do, but he does notice the difference having been through his first year on the job.

"I understand why he's saying ahead; I never feel ahead," Macdonald said when asked about Schneider's comment. "I always feel like we're chasing, there's always a sense of urgency with what we're doing, but having the year togetheragain, these were all people we've never worked with before, this was all our first time working together for the most part. Every time you get through a new cadence part of the year, it's not the first time you've ever done it, where that was the case last year. So we have a foundational knowledge about how we want to operate, what's important to us, what type of players we're looking for. All of those things, we have some ground that we're standing on."

Along those lines, Macdonald was asked what he knows now, 14 months into the job, that he didn't at this time last year.

"I think there's a lot I didn't know i didn't know last year; there's still a lot I don't know that I don't know," he said. "It's not like I'm the expert after a year. But every time there's a new part of the year, it's not like, 'Oh crap, here we are.' It's, 'OK, we did it last year, this is what we learned from it, this is what we liked about it, bing, bang, boom,' rather than just saying, 'This is how want to operate,' then we kind of learned as things went along. So that'll be helpful."

2. More offensive line additions will come in time, but the Seahawks are also banking on a new scheme and coaching staff to help that unit improve.

So far this offseason the Seahawks haven't done much to upgrade their offensive line, with the only addition being the signing of tackle Josh Jones, who likely will be in a swing tackle role as a backup to Charles Cross and Abe Lucas.Schneider said he still hopes to add to that group, both in the draft and perhaps in a free-agent signing or trade. But what Schneider and Macdonald both made clear is that they expect new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak's scheme, as well as experienced coaching, led by veteran line coach John Benton and run game coordinator Rick Dennison, to help the Seahawks get more out of the young players currently on the roster.

"Zone stuff is coming off the ball and running, and anytime you can instill your will on someone else first, especially as an offensive linemaninstilling confidence in those guys is huge," Schneider said. "If you're sitting backed up and you're in shotgun and you're throwing the crud out of it, that doesn't help those guys' confidence. These guys are like, all right, we run off the ball, we establish the run game, all the boots, all the movement, everything moves off of that."

A day later, Macdonald made a similar point, adding it's also reasonable to expect some natural growth from Year 1 to Year 2 for players like Christian Haynes, Sataoa Laumea and Jalen Sundell.

"It's definitely going to help us,"Macdonald said of the scheme. "I felt like what they've done in their past in college, that's part of their best film. Some of the wide-zone stuff, running off the ball, things like that. But I think it wouldn't be wise to underestimate a Year 1 to Year 2 jump. These are guys who are really excited about, they showed flashes last year, and you can kind of go all the way down the lineAbe having a whole offseason to work and train and get stronger, be in the same system the whole time, that's really valuable. Charles Cross, same thing, another offseason to get stronger, take his game to the next level and then obviously the guards are point of conversation.

"But again, going from being a rookie and you're just kind of like, 'What the heck's going on? I'm just going to go in there, and I'm working offseason, draft and all this crap.' Now it's, 'Hey, I've been training in the same spot all offseason. I get the whole offseason program from Day 1, any rookie should have an expectation to be able to really take their game to the next level, especially those guys."

3. Mike Macdonald wants more joint practices.

The Seahawks spent several days in Nashville last summer to take part in joint practices with the Titans ahead of their preseason game. Macdonald liked what the team got out of that, both from a team-bonding standpoint and also in the practices with the Titans, which gave the two teams a chance to get in quality work against an opponent with a bit more control than a game affords, and without live tackling.

And because that went well,Macdonald hopes to not just repeat what they did last year, but add to it with a second week of joint practices. The schedule and preseason opponents won't be known until later this spring, but the Seahawks do know that they'll play two home preseason games and one on the road, and Macdonald said Tuesday that his hope is to host a team for joint practices ahead of one of those home games, then do another extended road trip for their one road preseason game.

4. A few rule changes were voted on, but no decision on the "Tush Push."

One big part of the Annual Meeting each season is the discussion over and vote on potential rule changes, which can be proposed by the league's competition committee or by individual teams.

Among the more noteworthychanges approved this week were a rule moving the touchback after a kickoff downed in the end zone from the 30 to the 35-yard line, and a change to overtime. The change to the kickoff was made to create more returns, the thought being that teams will be less likely to kick the ball into or through the end zone rather than kick short and cover the return if they know a touchback will result in a drive starting at the 35. As for overtime, both teams will now be guaranteed a possession, a change from the past when, in regular-season games, the team that got the ball first in overtime could win with a touchdown on the first possession.

The most talked about proposed change, however, was not voted on. Rather than vote on the proposal to eliminate the play that has come to be known as the "tush push," a play mastered by the Eagles, the topic was instead tabled for further discussion at the Spring League Meeting in May.

5. Sam Darnold and Cooper Kupp's former coaches offered praise for the two new Seahawks.

With all the league's coaches in one place, Seahawks.com caught up with a couple of NFC head coaches to ask about Pro-Bowl players who signed with the Seahawks offseason, Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell, who oversaw quarterback Sam Darnold's breakout 2024 season, and Rams coach Sean McVay, who coached receiver Cooper Kupp for the Yakima native's first eight seasons.

"I think what I'm most proud of with where Sam is at in his quarterback journey now is I think he is as close to where he belongs, as far as people view him in this league,"OConnell said of Darnold. "At the same time, I think he's got enough experience now that he can really play the position that 'above the neck' mentality and make the other 10 guys in the huddle better. There's a lot of really good things Sam's going to bring to the Seahawks.

"I think it's not easy to come to a team with some established leaders, leadership like we have in Minnesota and be almost unanimously voted a captain, which he was. So I think Sam is going to walk in the door authentic, he's going to be himself and I think players gravitate towards that. Seattle's going to be really happy with Sam."

OnKupp, McVay said, "Great leader, great player. A guy that will pour into his teammates. He'll challenge his coaches because of the way that he looks at the game, the way he prepares. [He's] got great physical and mental toughness. Obviously, he's a legacy player with us, and I love Cooper and I wish him the best except for those two games we see [the Seahawks] next year."