The Seattle Seahawks changed their offense a massive amount in 2025. The quarterback and two of the top three wide receivers are gone. In their place is quarterback Sam Darnold, who needs to prove he can be good again, and two veteran receivers.
Plus, Seattle appears to have gotten lucky by choosing Tory Horton in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL draft. He is playing more like a second-round selection. Hopefully, that will continue into the regular season.
One veteran who isn't working out as well as Seattle hoped, though, is Marquez Valdes-Scantling. MVS has been slowed by an injury, and injuries have plagued him throughout his career, and passed over on the receiver depth chart by Horton. The issue is that Seattle could have gone in a different direction.
Instead, that other direction is now with the Las Vegas Raiders, home to the Seahawks' former head coach, Pete Carroll, and former QB1, Geno Smith. Vegas signed five-time Pro Bowler Amari Cooper to a one-year deal on the day before final roster cuts needed to be made.
The contract is for a maximum of $6 million, but there are a lot of incentives built in. That includes a $500,000 per-game roster bonus. In other words, if Cooper can't play, he won't come anywhere close to $6 million.
The Seattle Seahawks should have signed Amari Cooper instead of Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Cooper has caught 61 percent of his career targets, while MVS has caught fewer than 50 percent. Cooper has seven 1,000-plus yard receiving seasons (the last coming in 2023), but MVS's best season is only 690 yards in 2020.
Of course, Valdes-Scantling had an in with the Seahawks where Cooper did not. MVS played under offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak last year when both were with the New Orleans Saints. Kubiak, of course, is now Seattle's OC.
As far as pure talent, however? Cooper is much better. Sam Darnold should be throwing him passes instead of former Seahawk Geno Smith. This isn't Pete Carroll stealing a player from Seattle, though. The fact is that general manager John Schneider had every chance to sign Amari Cooper and didn't.
Now, there is a decent chance that Marquez Valdes-Scantling is either traded before roster cuts are made or he doesn't make the team. The Seattle Seahawks have a bunch of players vying for the WR4 and later spots, and Jake Bobo, Dareke Young, and Cody White help on special teams, and MVS doesn't.