The New Orleans Saints head to their first road contest of the season against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 3 at 3:05 p.m. Sept. 21 with the broadcast on CBS. The Saints will face the Seahawks for the 16th time in the regular season, with New Orleans leading the series 10-6.
Let's take a deeper look at the Saints' Week 3 opponent, the Seattle Seahawks:
2025 NFL WEEK 3: NEW ORLEANS SAINTS at SEATTLE SEAHAWKS
Meet Your Saints Opponent: Seattle Seahawks
Coach: Mike Macdonald
Quarterback: Sam Darnold
2024 record: 10-7, second in NFC West
Most recent regular season matchup: Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022 - Saints 39, Seahawks 32
Seahawks-Saints series record: Saints lead 10-8 (including two postseason game)
Seattle Seahawks 2024 season recap:
The Seahawks got out to a 3-0 start before a three-game losing streak. They'd go 1-2 over the next three weeks to head into their bye in Week 10. Out of their bye they'd take control of their playoff destiny with four straight wins to get to 8-5 and first in the NFC West. However a 1-2 record in their next three games would see their playoff hopes eliminated heading into Week 18 as the Los Angeles Rams surged ahead and held an insurmountable tiebreaker advantage despite the Seahawks winning their Week 18 game against the Rams. Seattle finished with a 10-7 record, second in the NFC West and missed the playoffs for the second year in a row.
| 2024 Seahawks Per Game Stats | League Ranking | |
|---|---|---|
| Scoring Avg. | 22.1 | 18 |
| Opp. Scoring Avg. | 21.6 | 11 |
| Total Off. | 332.2 | 14 |
| Rushing Off. | 95.7 | 28 |
| Passing Off. | 236.5 | 8 |
| Total Def. | 332.7 | 14 |
| Rushing Def. | 120.8 | 16 |
| Passing Def. | 211.9 | 11 |
Deep Dive: Seattle Seahawks roster review
1. New look wide receiver room
While the Seahawks leading receiver from 2024, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, will remain in Seattle fresh off an 1,130-yard season and his first Pro Bowl berth, Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf departed Seattle in the offseason. Lockett signed with the Tennessee Titans, while Metcalf was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers. In their place they brought in two veterans, wide receiver Cooper Kupp coming off a 67-catch, 710-yard campaign with the Los Angeles Rams, as well as a familiar face for new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak's offense, Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Valdes-Scantling racked up 17 catches for 385 yards and four touchdowns in eight games with the Saints in 2024 after signing with the team midseason.
2. Betting on Sam Darnold's breakout year
The Seahawks shook things up at quarterback as well trading quarterback Geno Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders and signing Sam Darnold fresh off a breakout Pro Bowl campaign with the Minnesota Vikings. Darnold completed 66.2% of his passes for 4,319 yards adding 35 touchdowns to 12 interceptions, leading the Vikings to a 14-3 record as the starter. In 2024, Darnold was the most dangerous deep ball thrower in the league, throwing for 1,023 yards on deep passes (20+ air yards), the most in the NFL as well as leading the NFL in deep completions (28) and tied for the most deep TD passes (nine), according to Next Gen Stats.
3. Focus on offense in 2025 NFL Draft
The offensive remake did not end in free agency or with coaching changes as the Seahawks used nine of their 11 picks in the 2025 NFL Draft on offensive players. They added North Dakota State offensive lineman Grey Zabel with the 18th pick. In the second and third round they added Miami tight end Elijah Arroyo with the 50th pick and Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe with the 92nd pick.
"It was just the way it happened,'' Seahawks General Manager John Schneider said. "We had some defensive guys that we talked about, had a couple upsets and things started happening. So it was like 'OK, we're going here, we're going here, we're going here.' The offensive guys ended up standing out on our board.''
