Seahawks sale among things to watch at NFL owners meetings

SEATTLE – The NFL is the league that never sleeps for long.

Just after the first few waves of free agency have subsided, the NFL will hold its annual meeting Sunday to Tuesday in Phoenix, throwing the league back into the news for a few more days.

Here are five Seahawks-related things to watch:

Any updates on Seahawks sale?

The league meetings usually conclude with a news conference with commissioner Roger Goodell.

It will be his first since Seahawks team chair Jody Allen announced last month that the team is going up for sale.

As of Friday, there had yet to be any credible reports emerging of possible suitors — not that there aren’t any, just that news of possible suitors hasn’t surfaced. Any questions to Goodell at the league meetings might not elicit any concrete details of where things stand.

Still, anything said by the league about the sale will be newsworthy.

Goodell might also get questions about the progress of talks about extending or altering current media-rights deals. Those deals could factor into the Seahawks’ sale price.

Goodell also surely will get questions about the league’s stalemate on a new labor deal with game officials and the possibility of again having to use replacements refs like in 2012 (Fail Mary II, anyone?).

Macdonald to meet media Monday

The league meetings also feature what essentially are news conferences for all 32 NFL coaches.

NFC coaches, including Seattle’s Mike Macdonald, will talk Monday morning.

It will be the first chance for Macdonald to talk at length about the Seahawks’ moves made in free agency and plans without some of the key players Seattle did not re-sign. Running back Kenneth Walker III, safety Coby Bryant, rush end Boye Mafe and cornerback Riq Woolen signed with other teams.

Though those departures are noteworthy — especially with Seattle coming off a Super Bowl title and Walker having been the MVP — all teams suffer some roster turnover this time of year.

In general, the Seahawks seem set for a somewhat smoother offseason with its roster than in many previous years, particularly after signing receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba to a contract extension last week.

JSN’s contract extension through 2031 leaves only the question of whether the Seahawks can get cornerback Devon Witherspoon signed to a similar extension before training camp in late July.

Other possible moves for Seahawks?

Smith-Njigba’s extension makes him the highest-paid receiver in NFL history and highest-paid player in team history, but the Seahawks still have plenty of cap space to make moves this offseason. The league meetings is often a place where rumors of transactions run rampant.

The Seahawks were listed as having just over $30 million in effective cap space Friday, via OverTheCap.com after accounting for the contracts of Smith-Njigba and Jake Bobo signed this past week.

Bobo’s new deal brought down his salary-cap hit for this year, from $3.52 million to $2.31 million, with the caveat that the cap hit is now guaranteed and the previous number was not.

Seattle has plenty of flexibility to fit in an extension for Witherspoon — who already counts $10.1 million against the cap for this year. An extension could be constructed in a way to not increase that number much, if at all — and the Seahawks still could add more players.

Seattle, though, might be content for now to save moves for after the NFL draft (April 23-25), when the team’s needs will be clearer. Also enough time will have passed for signings that would impact the formula for determining compensatory 2027 NFL draft picks for free agents lost this year.

The Seahawks brought in free-agent running back Najee Harris for a visit this past week, but that appears to have been an exploratory visit with no signing imminent. Harris was scheduled to visit the Raiders on Thursday this week, according to NFL.com.

Kickoffs focus of possible rules changes

The league’s 11-person competition committee — which does not include anyone with the Seahawks — will consider several proposals for rule changes or modifications during the league meetings, and there could be votes taken for approval.

Not among the proposals, however, is outlawing the Tush Push, which was a big focus a year ago. For now, the league seems content with the Tush Push.

There are also no proposals concerning the mechanics that allowed the replay review that resulted in Zach Charbonnet’s two-point play against the Rams in December.

A proposal by the Rams to limit the amount of time before a replay review can be initiated was withdrawn.

Several proposals designed at continuing to refine the dynamic kickoff rule implemented in 2024 are on the docket.

Those include allowing teams to declare an onside kick at any time during the game instead of just when trailing in the fourth quarter and eliminating the incentive for teams to kick the ball out of hounds when they are at the 40-yard line.

Another is aimed solely at the dispute between the league and officials. The league will consider a proposal that would allow the NFL’s control center to correct clear and obvious missed calls, but only if there is a referee work stoppage and replacement refs are used.

More international matchups finalized?

The league has continued to drip out news on the nine international games that will be played this year. The league has announced at least one team participating in all nine games. But the only game in which both opponents have been announced is Rams vs. 49ers in Australia.

The Seahawks are still possibilities for two games that feature teams on their schedule in 2026: in Mexico City, where the 49ers have been announced as the host team; and in London, where Washington has been announced as a host team. Speculation has centered on the other team in that game likely being Houston or the New York Giants.

The league has said details on those games will come in the spring. Sometimes the NFL releases news during the league meetings.