With the Seattle Seahawks coming off a relatively uninspiring preseason, the special teams concern was the performance of Jason Myers, who missed five kicks in three games. Myers was perfect on his field goals and extra points, which was a huge relief.
But through three weeks of the regular season, the Seahawks have a different issue on special teams that certainly won’t be a problem in 2025.
The Seahawks are one of the worst teams at defending kick returns
Last season, Jay Harbaugh’s unit allowed just 24 yards per kick return, which was tied for fourth-fewest in the NFL and nearly two full yards below the league average. Seattle has allowed 81 turnovers (second most in the league) while Jason Myers has a career-low 17.5% touchback rate, so the Seahawks’ high-scoring offense is only part of the equation. This is a team willing to put the ball in play and limit the opposition to worse field position than a touchback at the 35.
According to Stathead, the average starting field position for Seahawks opponents on kickoffs is their own 28, the worst in the NFL (well, best, if you look at it from Seattle’s perspective).
That’s not happening in 2026.
Week 3 is almost over, The Seahawks rank 30th in yards per return allowed at 30.1. They have allowed five of 11 kickoffs to run backs of at least 30 yards. In 2025, the Seahawks have allowed just eight such returns. The average starting field position for Seahawks opponents from kickoffs is their own 32, which is worse than the league average and includes touchbacks and illegal kicks that carry the ball to the 40.
I’m no film expert, but it looks like the Seahawks are having trouble getting out of content and getting off their blocks in the first place. None of these returnees interact until they are close to 30.
I stress that this is only a kickoff return problem, as the Seahawks are the only team in the NFL that has yet to allow a punt return.
If the Seahawks’ coverage unit can’t consistently produce returns much better than a 35-yard line touchback, then Jason Myers can just kick more touchbacks when possible. Seattle is really, really close to a big comeback break and the dam could burst sooner rather than later.
Losing Dareke Young, Cody White, and Jake Bobo could be huge
The Seahawks didn’t lose many players from last season’s roster, but 15 of last year’s kick return tackles came from current Las Vegas Raiders Dareke Young and Cody White. Young was second behind Brady Russell in kick return tackles, while White had six before suffering a season-ending injury. Jake Bobo is still with the team but is on injured reserve for the year. That’s a combined 407 special teams lost to injury or departure. Seattle usually has at least one of those three receivers in kick coverage duties, and during the playoffs (when White was on IR) the Seahawks combined Bobo and Young.
It’s no coincidence that Montorie Foster Jr., star of Hard Knocks and one of the summer’s preseason standouts, has been a healthy scratch for two games. Foster has played seven special teams snaps (three punts, four kickoffs) and that’s the extent of his action to this point. Seattle has gone two straight games without a receiver covering kicks.
After Week 4, Irv Charles was available to come off injured reserve. There’s no way he’ll do anything on offense, not when he’s pushing 30 and has no career targets. But he was acquired in the offseason because, when healthy, he should be an invaluable special teams contributor.
In his last healthy season (2024), Charles was part of the kick coverage duties with the New York Jets, but the kick coverage stats before 2025 are a different animal when touchback rates were north of 65 percent under the old rules. The ball is now in play on kickoffs the majority of the time, so Charles can justify double-digit snaps weekly on the return.
Despite everything I’ve said about kick returns, the Seahawks have only allowed one touchdown drive after a kickoff, and that was back on opening night against the New England Patriots. But the knock-on effect of allowing the opposition to start reasonably well in good field position is that, if a punt is forced, you’re probably backed up. The margin for error for giving up at least one field goal attempt is, at most, 25-ish yards if the other team is anywhere from its own 30 or higher. That’s asking too much of any defense, regardless of when they defend their own territory from turnovers like we saw in the Washington Commanders game.
This isn’t a high-priority fix for Seattle compared to run game inconsistencies, pre-snap penalties, and low red zone struggles, but it’s one of the “little things” currently going against the Seahawks.