2016 Seattle Seahawks season
The 2016 season was the Seattle Seahawks' 41st in the National Football League and their seventh under head coach Pete Carroll. On October 23, the team played the Arizona Cardinals in a game that ended in a 6–6 tie, the Seahawks' first tie in franchise history. With their win against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 15, the Seahawks claimed their third NFC West title in the last four years. The Seahawks defeated the Detroit Lions in the Wild Card Round, but lost to the eventual NFC champion Atlanta Falcons in the Divisional Round. Another highlight from this season includes head coach Pete Carroll's first return to Gillette Stadium on November 13 for the first time in 17 years. Carroll served as Patriots head coach from 1997–1999, the last before Bill Belichick's hiring in 2000.
For the first time since trading for him in 2010, Marshawn Lynch did not play for the Seahawks as he retired in the offseason. Lynch would later come out of retirement to play for his hometown team Oakland Raiders before their relocation to Las Vegas before rejoining the Seahawks in December 2019.
Roster changes
Free agents
Signings
Departures
Trades
- September 3: The Seahawks acquired strong safety Dewey McDonald in a trade that sent a conditional 7th-round draft pick to the Oakland Raiders.
Draft
Undrafted free agents
All undrafted free agents were signed after the 2016 NFL draft concluded on April 30, unless noted otherwise.| Position | Player | College | Notes |
| QB | Trevone Boykin | TCU | |
| FB/DT | Brandin Bryant | Florida Atlantic | waived September 3 |
| LB | Kyle Coleman | Arkansas–Pine Bluff | signed June 2, waived August 29 |
| TE | Clayton Echard | Missouri | signed July 31, waived September 3 |
| CB | DeAndre Elliott | Colorado State | |
| TE | George Fant | Western Kentucky | |
| LB | Christian French | Oregon | placed on injured reserve May 18, waived August 11 |
| LS | Nolan Frese | Houston | signed June 28 |
| DE | Tylor Harris | Wake Forest | signed August 11, waived September 3 |
| WR | Montario Hunter | Elizabeth City State | signed July 29, waived August 29 |
| DT | Lars Koht | Florida International | waived May 9 |
| LB | Steve Longa | Rutgers | waived September 3 |
| RB | Tre Madden | USC | placed on injured reserve August 7 |
| OT | Lene Maiava | Arizona | waived July 29 |
| CB | Jamal Marshall | North Texas | signed May 9, waived June 1 |
| WR | Tanner McEvoy | Wisconsin | |
| DE | Montese Overton | East Carolina | waived August 11 |
| LB | Kache Palacio | Washington State | signed August 6, waived September 3 |
| DE | David Perkins | Illinois State | placed on injured reserve August 7, waived September 5 |
| RB | Troymaine Pope | Jacksonville State | signed August 6, waived September 3 |
| S | Tyvis Powell | Ohio State | |
| LB | Pete Robertson | Texas Tech | signed May 9, waived August 30 |
| TE | Joe Sommers | Wisconsin–Oshkosh | signed August 6 |
| FB | Taniela Tupou | Washington | signed May 9, waived September 3, signed September 5 |
Staff
Final roster
- Starters in bold.
- denotes players that were selected to the 2017 Pro Bowl.
Preseason
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Game site | NFL.com recap |
| 1 | at Kansas City Chiefs | W 17–16 | 1–0 | Arrowhead Stadium | ||
| 2 | Minnesota Vikings | L 11–18 | 1–1 | CenturyLink Field | ||
| 3 | Dallas Cowboys | W 27–17 | 2–1 | CenturyLink Field | ||
| 4 | at Oakland Raiders | W 23–21 | 3–1 | Oakland Alameda Coliseum |
Regular season
Schedule
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.Game summaries
Week 1: vs. Miami Dolphins
Week 2: at Los Angeles Rams
Week 3: vs. San Francisco 49ers
Week 4: at New York Jets
Week 6: vs. Atlanta Falcons
Week 7: at Arizona Cardinals
and Steven Hauschka both missed chip-shot field goals in overtime as the Seahawks and Cardinals played to a 6–6 draw, the first tie in Seattle Seahawks history.Week 8: at New Orleans Saints
Week 9: vs. Buffalo Bills
With the win, the Seahawks have now recorded at least one victory at CenturyLink Field against each of the 31 other franchises.Week 10: at New England Patriots
Over one and half year after Super Bowl XLIX, the Seahawks were trying to get their revenge against the Patriots after the heartbreaking interception. They successfully got their revenge by stopping the Patriots from getting into the end zone, and won the game 31-24. The Seahawks were the only team to defeat the Patriots under Tom Brady during this season. This also marked Pete Carroll's first game in New England in 17 years after he got fired from the Patriots organization.Week 11: vs. Philadelphia Eagles
Week 12: at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Week 13: vs. Carolina Panthers
Sunday Night Football featured a Divisional Playoff rematch from 2015 as the Seattle Seahawks faced the Carolina Panthers in CenturyLink field. Russell Wilson threw for 277 yards with one touchdown and one interception while Cam Newton was held to 182 yards and one touchdown. This was the first time that Seattle had scored 40 points in a regular season game since the 2013 season. Seattle improved their record to 8-3-1 of season. The win was not without cost, however, as star safety Earl Thomas broke his leg early in the second quarter, knocking him out for the rest of the season.Week 14: at Green Bay Packers
Russell Wilson had his worst game of his career, throwing only one touchdown and a career-high five picks against a red-hot Packers team, causing the Seahawks to fall to their worst loss in the last six years. Seattle's defense was without safety Earl Thomas, who was out for the year with a broken leg. They only managed one sack on the final play in the third quarter, ending a streak of 10 consecutive quarters without a sack. Aaron Rodgers, with a 3:0 TD-INT ratio, posted a 150.8 passer rating in this game, the highest allowed by the Seattle defense since Pete Carroll became head coach in 2010.Week 15: vs. Los Angeles Rams
With their 24–3 victory over the Rams, the Seahawks moved to 9–4–1 and clinched the NFC West title.Week 16: vs. Arizona Cardinals
Week 17: at San Francisco 49ers
Postseason
Schedule
| Playoff round | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Game site | NFL.com recap |
| Wild Card | Detroit Lions | W 26–6 | 1–0 | CenturyLink Field | ||
| Divisional | at Atlanta Falcons | L 20–36 | 1–1 | Georgia Dome |