Sports

‘Hard Knocks’: Seattle Seahawks, Episode 1 running recap and highlights

Nairavoice · Aug 5, 2026 · 11 min read

It’s finally here! The Seattle Seahawks are making their maiden appearance on HBO’s ‘Hard Knocks’ series, with episode one kicking off on Tuesday night. If you have not yet caught this episode, I highly recommend checking this article out at another time. Otherwise, we’re going to dive right into what happened in the season premiere and whether or not this is truly shaping up to be a fascinating look into the Super Bowl champions.

The show starts with a cold open of the Super Bowl ring ceremony and awwwww look at Leonard Williams getting emotional.
- The rings dropped from the ceiling like it came from the heavens!
Sam Darnold opened his box and the ring fell out.
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This is a great reminder that the Seahawks won the damn Super Bowl.
Derick Hall gets into Day 1 of training camp with a big-ass monster truck. I’m sure he’s going to be trucking opposing offensive linemen again this season.
Buttercup the Goat is going to be a new Seahawks mascot and possibly a meme as far as I’m concerned.
Brady Russell picked up Buttercup, who promptly peed on him. I’ve personally never had goat pee before.
“How far can we take it? How can we far can we take out ’26 team?” – Mike Macdonald in the coaches’ room
Macdonald gathers the players in to celebrate the wins. Not the Super Bowl, but the wins of Jake Bobo, Bryce Cabeldue, Ty Okada, and Beau Stephens, all of whom got married this offseason. Safety AJ Finley and defensive quality control coach Keller Chryst also welcomed new kids into the world, so congrats to them!
Super cool that the 12s are heavily featured in this first episode. The best fans in the NFL!
Awwww Mike’s son Jack is so cute. Jack is in Mike’s office with mom, Stephanie.

The show starts with a cold open of the Super Bowl ring ceremony and awwwww look at Leonard Williams getting emotional.

The rings dropped from the ceiling like it came from the heavens!

Sam Darnold opened his box and the ring fell out.

This is a great reminder that the Seahawks won the damn Super Bowl.

Derick Hall gets into Day 1 of training camp with a big-ass monster truck. I’m sure he’s going to be trucking opposing offensive linemen again this season.

Buttercup the Goat is going to be a new Seahawks mascot and possibly a meme as far as I’m concerned.

Brady Russell picked up Buttercup, who promptly peed on him. I’ve personally never had goat pee before.

“How far can we take it? How can we far can we take out ’26 team?” – Mike Macdonald in the coaches’ room

Macdonald gathers the players in to celebrate the wins. Not the Super Bowl, but the wins of Jake Bobo, Bryce Cabeldue, Ty Okada, and Beau Stephens, all of whom got married this offseason. Safety AJ Finley and defensive quality control coach Keller Chryst also welcomed new kids into the world, so congrats to them!

Super cool that the 12s are heavily featured in this first episode. The best fans in the NFL!

Awwww Mike’s son Jack is so cute. Jack is in Mike’s office with mom, Stephanie.

The attention shifts to Sam Darnold, the man “who’s seen just about everything, maybe because he’s played just about everywhere,” says the dulcet voice of Liev Schreiber.
- “I’m not going around town being like, ‘yeah I won the Super Bowl,'” Darnold says in his interview. He really carries himself exceptionally well in a way that’s endearing to fans.
Man, the offense appears to be kicking the defense’s ass in the early stages of training camp. Mike Macdonald tells Darnold this is “not where we want to be on defense.” He says they look really frustrated because the offense is making fast decisions. “They’re all on tilt now.”
Devon Witherspoon: “Oh we look fried out here today.”
DAMN! Beautiful pick over the middle by Patrick O’Connell on a Sam Darnold throw for Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Ernest Jones said “we need a pick right now” and he got it.
Witherspoon is going to be a ‘Hard Knocks’ star. I can just feel it.
Sam Darnold tells the rookies in the huddle they have to sign autographs, everyone who feels like signing autographs should also sign. It’s a clear theme in the organization given Macdonald instructs rookies to sign autographs.
John Schneider checks in, addressing the Devon Witherspoon contract situation and Ian Rapoport’s report that Seattle was looking to make him the highest paid corner. “I called Ian and was like, ‘Hey you need to call the agent and tell them that’s not f—king coming from us.” Everything is smoothed over after Spoon seemingly caught wind of the story.
Witherspoon said, “My mind is go win football games, bro” and that the negotiations are not really on his mind right now.
Julian Love mentioned in his press conference that Mike Macdonald talked to the team about the 1990s Chicago Bulls dynasty and how Michael Jordan couldn’t get over the hump. But there’s a greater point to it all besides Macdonald knowing so much ball. Why can’t the Seahawks have that perfect flow state of football?

The attention shifts to Sam Darnold, the man “who’s seen just about everything, maybe because he’s played just about everywhere,” says the dulcet voice of Liev Schreiber.

“I’m not going around town being like, ‘yeah I won the Super Bowl,'” Darnold says in his interview. He really carries himself exceptionally well in a way that’s endearing to fans.

“I’m not going around town being like, ‘yeah I won the Super Bowl,'” Darnold says in his interview. He really carries himself exceptionally well in a way that’s endearing to fans.

Man, the offense appears to be kicking the defense’s ass in the early stages of training camp. Mike Macdonald tells Darnold this is “not where we want to be on defense.” He says they look really frustrated because the offense is making fast decisions. “They’re all on tilt now.”

Devon Witherspoon: “Oh we look fried out here today.”

DAMN! Beautiful pick over the middle by Patrick O’Connell on a Sam Darnold throw for Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Ernest Jones said “we need a pick right now” and he got it.

Witherspoon is going to be a ‘Hard Knocks’ star. I can just feel it.

Sam Darnold tells the rookies in the huddle they have to sign autographs, everyone who feels like signing autographs should also sign. It’s a clear theme in the organization given Macdonald instructs rookies to sign autographs.

John Schneider checks in, addressing the Devon Witherspoon contract situation and Ian Rapoport’s report that Seattle was looking to make him the highest paid corner. “I called Ian and was like, ‘Hey you need to call the agent and tell them that’s not f—king coming from us.” Everything is smoothed over after Spoon seemingly caught wind of the story.

Witherspoon said, “My mind is go win football games, bro” and that the negotiations are not really on his mind right now.

Julian Love mentioned in his press conference that Mike Macdonald talked to the team about the 1990s Chicago Bulls dynasty and how Michael Jordan couldn’t get over the hump. But there’s a greater point to it all besides Macdonald knowing so much ball. Why can’t the Seahawks have that perfect flow state of football?

Speaking of basketball, we get the deep thoughts of Sam Darnold and Cooper Kupp on LeBron James signing with the Philadelphia 76ers. This might be too much NBA talk on Field Gulls without the SuperSonics back yet, so I’ll pause there.
Can anyone link me to the article that said the Seahawks have the 32nd ranked running back room in the NFL? “WHO GIVES A F—K?!” says running backs coach, Thomas Hammock. If you can handle the profanity, this is a must-watch.

Speaking of basketball, we get the deep thoughts of Sam Darnold and Cooper Kupp on LeBron James signing with the Philadelphia 76ers. This might be too much NBA talk on Field Gulls without the SuperSonics back yet, so I’ll pause there.

Can anyone link me to the article that said the Seahawks have the 32nd ranked running back room in the NFL? “WHO GIVES A F—K?!” says running backs coach, Thomas Hammock. If you can handle the profanity, this is a must-watch.

The Jadarian Price hype might be real. He looks so decisive and fast out there and this isn’t even the padded portion of practice yet.
During the coaches’ meeting, you get a montage of assistants talking about who’s struggling and/or really need to step up when the pads come on. Thomas Hammock had a good review of Jadarian Price, the only player named in that segment.
The July 30 practice was the first padded one of camp, so the crew wasted no time including that in the premiere.
“God I love under-center seven-step drops.” – Sam Darnold. He also says it takes him back to “Joe Montana and the 49ers” but I think he jokingly pronounced it like the actor Joe Mantegna.
A woman in the crowd got an autograph from Sam and said “you won my heart last year.” It was said in such an endearing, grandmotherly way.
CONFIRMED: Sam Darnold went to the Travis Kelce/Taylor Swift wedding.
You can see why the Seahawks signed Cooper Kupp. He might not be 2021 Kupp, but JSN said he’s like another coach out there.
“Another explosive run because we can’t keep an edge!” Mike is NOT happy with the run defense in this padded practice.
We get a close-up of a helmetless Connor O’Toole squaring up with Bobby Hart during practice. Macdonald has no time for such antics. “This is bullshit!”
A little bit of shoving between Bryce Cabeldue and Tyrice Knight. A really needless Derick Hall chokeslam of Cabeldue that Macdonald is noticeably upset about. He’s speaking to Aden Durde about that incident. Eventually, Hall hugs it out after practice.
That’s a wrap for the first episode! Good start, nothing too revealing about certain players, I imagine things will ramp up in the coming weeks as padded practices are more common and we start to see an increased roster churn. In my opinion, Mike Macdonald is going to come out of this series as a revelation to the rest of the NFL, and maybe to some Seahawks fans who aren’t as tuned into the team as we are.

The Jadarian Price hype might be real. He looks so decisive and fast out there and this isn’t even the padded portion of practice yet.

During the coaches’ meeting, you get a montage of assistants talking about who’s struggling and/or really need to step up when the pads come on. Thomas Hammock had a good review of Jadarian Price, the only player named in that segment.

The July 30 practice was the first padded one of camp, so the crew wasted no time including that in the premiere.

“God I love under-center seven-step drops.” – Sam Darnold. He also says it takes him back to “Joe Montana and the 49ers” but I think he jokingly pronounced it like the actor Joe Mantegna.

A woman in the crowd got an autograph from Sam and said “you won my heart last year.” It was said in such an endearing, grandmotherly way.

CONFIRMED: Sam Darnold went to the Travis Kelce/Taylor Swift wedding.

You can see why the Seahawks signed Cooper Kupp. He might not be 2021 Kupp, but JSN said he’s like another coach out there.

“Another explosive run because we can’t keep an edge!” Mike is NOT happy with the run defense in this padded practice.

We get a close-up of a helmetless Connor O’Toole squaring up with Bobby Hart during practice. Macdonald has no time for such antics. “This is bullshit!”

A little bit of shoving between Bryce Cabeldue and Tyrice Knight. A really needless Derick Hall chokeslam of Cabeldue that Macdonald is noticeably upset about. He’s speaking to Aden Durde about that incident. Eventually, Hall hugs it out after practice.

That’s a wrap for the first episode! Good start, nothing too revealing about certain players, I imagine things will ramp up in the coming weeks as padded practices are more common and we start to see an increased roster churn. In my opinion, Mike Macdonald is going to come out of this series as a revelation to the rest of the NFL, and maybe to some Seahawks fans who aren’t as tuned into the team as we are.

Give us your thoughts in the comments!