The NFC West has not produced a three-peat champion since the 2004-2007 Seahawks. Seattle’s 2026 roster looks like the most credible candidate to break that drought in nearly two decades.
That was the consensus on the latest Football Debate Club, where PFSN’s Ian Cummings and NFL analyst Josh Hite agreed that the defending Super Bowl champions can repeat as NFC West champs and make playoff noise. Host Cam Mellor called the round a draw at three points apiece. The shared answer was yes.
Roster Continuity Is the Whole Argument
Both analysts started from the same observation: this Seahawks roster barely moved.
“They didn’t have a ton of turnover this year,” Cummings said. “They retained 95 percent of their offensive snaps. 14 to 15 players with at least 300 snaps on the defensive side. Not as much, but still 79 percent. 10 of 11 full-time starters on both sides of the ball. Ken Walker, [Coby] Bryant the only ones that lost [as full-time starters].”
Hite reached the same conclusion from a different number.
“If you’re just looking at starting starters, they return 20 of 22 starting players,” Hite said. “More importantly, they return most of their stars on the offensive and defensive lines. That’s where the games are made. They have all the returning offensive linemen, who were ranked in the upper half of the league last year. Same with the defensive linemen. All their big-time sack leaders on the defensive line are still there.”
That continuity matters most because the coaching change wasn’t a scheme change. New offensive coordinator Brian Fleury spent seven seasons on Kyle Shanahan’s San Francisco staff and overlapped with Klint Kubiak there in 2023. Cummings called Fleury “an A-plus offensive coordinator hire who shares commonalities with Kubiak.” The playbook stays. The personnel stays.
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Hite singled out one returning piece in particular: defensive back Nick Emmanwori, whose rookie season earned All-Rookie team recognition and turned him into Mike Macdonald’s Kyle Hamilton equivalent inside the defense.
“They have their Swiss army knife [Nick Emmanwori] still there,” Hite said. “Another year in this scheme, he’s very settled in, and he can make an impact.”
The Rams Are the Only Real Obstacle
Cummings flagged one team as a legitimate threat, and it isn’t San Francisco.
“I think the Rams would be the biggest threat,” Cummings said. “Matthew Stafford, the reigning MVP, started 48 to 51 games the past three years. But with his age, I would lean toward the Seahawks.”
The numbers track. Stafford won the 2025 AP MVP by five points over Drake Maye, throwing for an NFL-best 4,707 yards and 46 touchdowns. He started 17 games in 2025, 16 in 2024 and 16 in 2023, putting him at 49 starts over the three-year window Cummings cited. He turned 38 in February.
Los Angeles reached the NFC Championship Game last season and lost 31-27 to Seattle. The roster keeps continuity at quarterback, Sean McVay’s offense and a defense built around 2024 draft picks Jared Verse and Braden Fiske. The age question is real, though. Every year Stafford ages another year is one more year his back, his thumb and his disc issues collect interest.
San Francisco’s offseason flux and Arizona’s roster gap take both teams out of the realistic conversation. Seattle’s path runs through Los Angeles. If Macdonald’s defense holds up against Stafford twice and Fleury keeps the offense within shouting distance of last season’s output, the divisional three-peat history is breakable.
The Seahawks haven’t won three straight NFC West titles in two decades. They’re better positioned to do it now than they have been at any point since.
