THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Secret no more, these Seahawks can contend

No, I can’t guarantee that the Seahawks will win the Super Bowl.

But.

They are in the neighborhood with any team in the NFL, and I’m not the only one who believes it.

If you want to feel even better, most observers around the league considered the Hawks a powerhouse last week.

In other words, BEFORE they traded for Saints wide receiver Rashid Shaheed.

And now?

Consider: Pretty much everyone with ties to the NFL believes that the Hawks are among that little group of elite teams who could finish with a confetti shower at the Super Bowl.

Is all this catching you by surprise?

Hey, I get it.

We’re hidden away in our closet at the top corner of America, so Seahawks’ games run too late for a lot of the nation to stay awake.

The media is usually a year behind whatever Seattle GM John Schneider has up his sleeve.

Plus: Quarterback Sam Darnold remains a question mark case to most fans, who recall only several seasons of failure with the Jets.

So.

Who ARE these Seahawks that a lot of experts think might shock us in the postseason?

JUST TO open this part of the conversation, Darnold is a former first-round draft pick who floundered in New York, rehabbed his game last year in Minnesota (14-3 record, 35 TD passes), and walked away as a free agent.

Minnesota stuck with totally untested J.J. McCarthy, and is paying the price.

Schneider, meantime, quickly shipped Geno Smith off to Las Vegas and snapped up Darnold with a contract worth $100.5 million over three years.

Skeptics laughed at the Seahawks, largely because Darnold’s last two games with the Viks' were duds.

The naysayers were so, so wrong.

By bloated NFL salary standards, Darnold is being hugely underpaid.

Sam has thrown for 2,084 yards while leading the Hawks to their 6-2 record so far in 2025 — racking up 16 TD passes against just five picks.

I admit that some quarterback stats baffle me, but Darnold’s QBR of 77.9 (on a 70.4 percent completion rate) must be pretty salty, because it’s second in the league behind Lamar Jackson.

Meanwhile, let’s get back to the bigger picture. Stats aside, are the Seahawks legit playoff contenders?

The defense, with boss Mike Macdonald calling coverages (and everything else), looks rock solid.

There is talent and depth everywhere.

The Hawks have had only one bad game defensively, a 38-35 loss to Tampa Bay, and Macdonald blamed himself for having the wrong coverages and alignments in that one.

He didn’t even mention that secondary stars Devin Witherspoon and Julian Love — both Pro Bowl selections — were out injured.

“Coach Mac takes the heat, whether it’s fair or not,” Witherspoon said. “Players remember that.”

LET’S HOP to the present, shall we?

I admit, I’m wondering what this current Seahawk bunch might achieve.

For what it’s worth, the national media is pretty doggone curious, too.

Conor Orr does weekly NFL rankings for Sports Illustrated, and he jumped the Hawks from No. 3 to the top spot — mostly on the basis of adding Shaheed to the receiving and kick returning corps.

Here’s his take:

“The Seattle Seahawks, in my mind, are the best team in football right now.

“The addition of Rashid Shaheed transforms the Klint Kubiak offense and gives the scheme a classic top-remover that is so coveted with Shanahan-Kubiak inspired systems.

“Sam Darnold and the Seahawks are constantly getting loaded boxes, with Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet both among the top 10 running backs against eight-plus man fronts, according to Next Gen Stats.

“Shaheed is going to clear out space and allow Smith-Njigba more room to operate. This is a long way of saying that the 49ers and Rams are firmly on notice.”

The logic there is pretty obvious.

Shaheed and his 4.4 speed can open up space, and OC Klint Kubiak knows how to exploit it.

Among other advantages, he was the coordinator who worked with Shaheed last season in New Orleans.

Shaheed was thrilled with Tuesday’s trade, to the point that he told the media he didn’t care about free agency, that he intended to stay long-term in Seattle.

As useful as the Hawks’ offense has been so far, Kubiak’s outside zone running game has largely stalled (103 yards per game, 22nd in the NFL).

That was Orr’s point about the eight-man box pressuring the line of scrimmage.

Stop the run.

Shaheed alone will make teams loosen up and play with a little fear.

The Seahawks can unleash some weapons.

Let ‘em rip!

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Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press three times each week, normally Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On."