Commentary: Seahawks in prime spot to contend now and well into the future

There is little chance that anybody on the team is thinking about this topic right now. Doubtful many of their fans are, either.

The predominant subjects on the minds of the Seahawks and their supporters are this upcoming playoff run and a chance at a Super Bowl that, for now, they are the favorites to win.

But this does not appear to be one final shot at glory as the window moves to within millimeters of closing. Seattle’s regular-season dominance this year feels more like a precursor for future supremacy.

Few things are guaranteed in the NFL, where parity rules and injuries pervade. Remember when wunderkind Dan Marino led the Dolphins to the Super Bowl in his second season? Yeah, he never went back.

But Seattle’s overall youth and surplus of talent signed beyond this season signals that this joyride is not approaching an offramp. It’s hard to think they can get much better than a 14-3 record and an NFL-best 191 point differential. It’s not, however, hard to think they can’t produce something similar.

First, there’s the youth factor. With a snap-weighted average of 26.3 years, the Seahawks are the third-youngest team in the NFL. Only the Packers and Jets are younger. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t a host of veterans also producing for Seattle, but those fresh faces are every bit as responsible for the Seahawks’ success this season.

Wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, 23, led the NFL in receiving yards and is the favorite to win the league’s Offensive Player of the Year award. He’ll be on his rookie contract through next year.

Cornerback Devon Witherspoon, 25, just made his third Pro Bowl and got a second-team All-Pro nod despite missing five games this season. He’ll be on his rookie contract through next year as well.

Safety Nick Emmanwori, 21, is behind only Browns linebacker Carson Schwesinger in the sportsbooks to win Defensive Rookie of the Year, and is under team control for the next three seasons. And though left tackle Charles Cross earned his Big Boy contract with a four-year, $104 million deal that kicks in next season, the 25-year-old should be around for years to come.

These are just a few selected players. There are more who fit the description. But the impact veterans should also be around through at least next season.

The once maligned Sam Darnold just joined Tom Brady as the only quarterback to lead his team to back-to-back 14-win seasons (Darnold did it last year with the Vikings), and finished the regular-season fifth in the league in passing yards. His contract runs through 2027. Linebacker Ernest Jones IV just got his first second-team All-Pro nod. His contract runs through 2027. Defensive lineman Leonard Williams also earned a spot on the NFL’s All-Pro second team. His contract runs through 2026.

One never knows how a team will fare based on the season before. The Chiefs were in the Super Bowl last year and missed the playoffs this year. The same thing happened to the 49ers two seasons ago. But this Seahawks run looks a lot less like a last hurrah than it does the first of many.

Two other factors: One is Mike Macdonald, who has emerged as one of the best head coaches in the league. The Seahawks’ defense has plenty of talented players, but they don’t seem to be dripping with future Hall of Famers the way the Legion of Boom teams were. And yet, Seattle still led the league in points allowed this season. That’s schematics just as much as it is personnel. As the aforementioned Jones said last Saturday, “We’re here today as the No. 1 because of Mike.”

The other is general manager John Schneider, who has spent the past two years with the final say in transactions after the departure of Pete Carroll. And when you look at the offloading of Geno Smith and DK Metcalf, the trade for receiver Rashid Shaheed, the drafting of Emmanwori and left guard Grey Zabel, and the hiring of Macdonald, it sure seems that the brass made the right choice in keeping him on.

The NFL is as mercurial a league as there is in professional sports. Every team should savor the wins when they pile up, because stacking them repeatedly is never a sure thing.

So for now, the Seahawks should embrace being set up for a championship. But if their fans want to embrace being set up beyond that, they certainly have good reason to.