Seahawks land at the bottom of the waiver wire order as roster cuts set the opening order for the season

The preseason has ended, and NFL roster cuts are now working their way through the waiver process, which means teams do not just decide who makes the club, they also decide how quickly those who do not can be claimed. According to Yahoo Sports’ look at league-wide waiver eligibility, the Seattle Seahawks will open the season with the lowest waiver priority.

That detail matters because waiver priority functions as a kind of early-season sorting mechanism. When players are released and remain eligible, the waiver wire determines which team can claim them first, before the player is free to sign elsewhere. A team with lower priority generally has to wait longer, which can affect depth planning, especially if it is searching for a specific positional fit after cutdowns.

Seattle’s position is also notable in football terms because the Seahawks enter this phase as the Super Bowl champion being given the chance to defend their title. But the roster-cut timeline forces even the reigning champion to navigate the same transactional reality as every other club: players can be separated from the roster, and teams have limited windows to secure replacements.

The Yahoo piece frames its emphasis on the waiver wire as a practical guide to where each team sits, including which players are eligible as the regular season nears. While Seattle’s priority is the standout point in the preview, the underlying takeaway is that waiver eligibility is not automatic for every player, and eligibility rules can vary based on factors such as how a player is released and the conditions attached to their contract status.

For Seahawks supporters, the immediate implication is less about a single “target” and more about timing. If Seattle expects to need a fast claim to solve a roster gap, being last in waiver priority can raise the odds that other teams grab comparable options first. For the rest of the league, Seattle’s slot at the bottom also means claims that fit the Seahawks’ preferred roster profile could disappear quickly if other clubs are higher on the order and want similar players.

What to watch next is how teams translate their cutdown evaluations into waiver claims once the wire opens. The early priority order will influence which clubs get first access to newly available players, and that can ripple into practice-squad decisions and the weekly rotation as the regular season begins.