RENTON — Talking with the media after Thursday’s practice, the final one before the Seahawks take a mandated three-day break that marks the end of the preseason and the beginning of the regular season, coach Mike Macdonald didn’t hesitate.
Asked how he feels about the initial 53-man roster, Macdonald offered living proof of the optimism that has increasingly permeated over the past month.
“I feel great about our roster,” Macdonald said. “That might come back to bite me if we’re a couple plays away from being not deep at certain positions (meaning, suffering an injury or two). Unfortunately, we’ve lived that story, and when that happens you have got to move and shake and make adjustments. Whether the person’s coming up from our (practice) squad, which is the ideal situation or sometimes you have to make a transaction.
“But right now we’re great where we’re at, and let’s go play a real football game.”
They’ll get that chance Sept. 7 at Lumen Field against the San Francisco 49ers. Kickoff is at 1:05 p.m. for the first game of the Seahawks’ 50th season.
The 49ers for most of the past 15 years have provided a measure of whether the Seahawks are “great where we’re at.”
Here are some of the notable games:
A 42-13 sound barrier-shattering win over the 49ers on a Sunday night in December 2012 in Seattle announced that quarterback Russell Wilson and the Legion of Boom Seahawks had truly arrived.
A win over the 49ers in the NFC title game the next season might be regarded as more momentous and pivotal than the Super Bowl victory over Denver two weeks later, which almost felt like a foregone conclusion by then.
Five consecutive losses in the 2022 and 2023 seasons (including a wild-card playoff game), all by eight points or more and three by 18 points or more, seemed to be as big of an on-field factor as anything that convinced the Seahawks it was time to move on from coach Pete Carroll.
A 36-24 loss to the 49ers at Lumen Field last Oct. 10 dropped the Seahawks to 3-3 after a 3-0 start and showed that Macdonald maybe had more work to do to rebuild things than fans hoped or realized.
And a 20-17 victory at San Francisco barely a month later — Nov. 17 — showed that maybe Macdonald knew what he was doing in his first year as a head coach.
That was the first game with Seattle’s new inside linebacking duo of Ernest Jones IV in the middle and Tyrice Knight on the weakside, as well as just the fourth game for Coby Bryant starting at safety.
It also began a stretch of six victories in the final eight games, during which Seattle allowed the fourth-fewest yards in the NFL (304.8 per game), fifth-fewest points (18.4), fifth-fewest first downs (18.1) and sixth-fewest passing yards (205.0).
Home losses to the Packers and Vikings — who scored 30 and 27 points, respectively — made clear there was still work to be done.
But a 10-win season in which the Seahawks just narrowly missed the playoffs via tiebreakers appeared to show that things are headed in the right direction.
Not that the Vegas oddsmakers or those who follow their odds seem convinced.
The 49ers opened as 1 1/2-point favorites in early betting lines, according to VegasInsider.com, with most spreads having since moved in the direction of San Francisco, which is now generally favored by 2 1/2 points.
Macdonald isn’t concerned about perception.
Asked Thursday where he thinks the Seahawks stand in comparison with the rest of the NFC West, Macdonald said, “I don’t care. I care where we’re at.”
Because the game is at Lumen Field in a season that the Seahawks will have just eight at home and nine on the road would seem to make it as important of an opener they have played in years.
Not only can the Seahawks strike an early blow of supremacy in the NFC West but the game gives them a chance to reverse a bizarre trend. The Seahawks went just 3-6 at home last season and were 7-1 on the road — the only road loss coming against a Detroit team that finished 15-2.
The Seahawks know they won’t reach their goals in 2025 by winning just three home games.
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The opener also might reveal if the 49ers are as vulnerable as many prognosticators feel they are becoming.
After finishing 6-11 during an injury-riddled 2024 season, the 49ers spent the offseason jettisoning high-priced veterans and investing little in free agents, though they did re-sign quarterback Brock Purdy to a five-year deal worth up to $265 million.
The trade of Deebo Samuel to Washington and injuries to Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings mean the 49ers could open with second-year player Ricky Pearsall as their top wide receiver. They also might be forced to give significant snaps to Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who the Seahawks released Tuesday. He signed to the 49ers’ practice squad.
The 49ers still have Christian McCaffrey in the backfield along with the recently acquired Brian Robinson, and George Kittle at tight end. Kittle sat out Seattle’s win last November but returned a week later and had three 100-yard-plus games the rest of the way.
And Nick Bosa and Fred Warner returned to lead a defense that could feature three draft picks as starters or in key roles.
49ers general manager John Lynch defended the team’s offseason strategy by saying, “We still have a lot of Hall of Fame-worthy players.”
The opener also will be a matchup of few secrets.
Veteran players on both sides are well-acquainted from playing each other twice a year (and new Seahawks QB Sam Darnold spent the 2023 season with the 49ers), and the first-year offensive coordinators for both teams are brothers — Seattle’s Klint Kubiak and San Francisco’s Klay Kubiak.
Both are sons of former longtime NFL coach Gary Kubiak, and they run versions of the outside-zone run-based offense often associated primarily with two-time Super Bowl-winning coach Mike Shanahan, father of 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan.
That means the game should be more about execution and winning one-on-one matchups than deception.
NFL rules dictate that players get three days off following the final week of preseason.
After practicing Thursday, the Seahawks weren’t scheduled to be back on the field until Monday, when preparations will begin in earnest for an opener as intriguing as any the team has had in years.
“We’re going into Week 1, and it’s exciting,” Macdonald said Thursday. “But I’m thinking about, ‘Hey, this weekend, let’s go get a breath of fresh air, and then we’ll come back. Let’s be fresh, put the best possible game plan we can against San Francisco and then go rip it on Sunday.’ ”
Bob Condotta: bcondotta@seattletimes.com. Bob Condotta is a sports reporter at The Seattle Times who primarily covers the Seahawks but also dabbles in other sports. He has worked at The Times since 2002, reporting on University of Washington Husky football and basketball for his first 10 years at the paper before switching to the Seahawks in 2013.