Welcome to the spotlight, Jadarian Price.
Seattle’s first-round pick in April, Price makes his first start since 2021 — when he was a high school senior in Denison, Texas — in the standalone primetime NFL opener Wednesday, a rematch of the Seahawks’ Super Bowl LX victory the New England Patriots.
Price played 41 games over three seasons at Notre Dame, primarily as the backup to third overall pick Jeremiyah Love (Arizona Cardinals), and has plenty of tread on his tires (280 total college carries) as the envisioned engine of the Seahawks’ running game.
Price and Zach Charbonnet were vying for the lead role following the exit of Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III. Walker joined the Chiefs as a free agent, setting in motion the dominoes to overhaul the RB room. Charbonnet begins the season on the physically unable to perform list.
Price, however, did not play in preseason, therefore his first NFL carry will be on Wednesday.
The Patriots stormed into the AFC title game in head coach Mike Vrabel’s return to the franchise, winning at snow-covered Denver to get back to the Super Bowl. Repeating in the AFC won’t be easy.
New England had a 10-game winning streak during the regular season and ran toe-to-toe with the Broncos down the stretch.
The Seahawks legged out a strong finish in the tightly packed NFC West with a 14-3 record and smothered opponents with a suffocating defense. Sam Darnold’s steady play, Walker’s strong one-cut running ability and wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s All-Pro season — he averaged 105.5 yards per game and caught 10 touchdowns – was a winning combination.
Darnold improved to 1-4 in his career against the Patriots and was elated to be wearing a ring after one season with the Seahawks. But he admitted in the offseason he was “bummed” not to perform great on the grand stage, leaning heavily on Walker and a lights-out defense. Darnold had 14 interceptions in 2025, which tempered national plaudits for the 2018 No. 3 overall pick playing on his fifth team. He also passed for 4,048 yards and 25 touchdowns.
Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald praised Darnold’s drive to be even better this season.
“I’ll tell you right now, he’s being really decisive with the ball, taking care of the ball, making great decisions. He’s playing fast,” Macdonald said of Darnold. “He’s being aggressive when he needs to be. He’s doing a lot of great things. Great command. His process is really cool.”
Seattle was convinced Price was right in the first round.
Macdonald was more than convinced his talent signaled NFL stardom and offered higher praise for the character revealed in Price’s loyalty to stick with Notre Dame even with Love entrenched as the No. 1 running back. General manager John Schneider considered Price a steal and a fine scheme fit as Seattle transitions to a new offensive coordinator.
“Instant acceleration, vision, cut back ability, but his ability to work it back, not just completely bouncing all the time, working it back inside,” Schneider said. “And then probably his contact balance. One of his super talents is his ability to cut back and crease it. He has home-run speed; he has a lot of explosive runs. He has returned three kickoffs for touchdowns in his career, two this year. That’s such a unique feel. The USC game was ridiculous. Just that instant acceleration.”
Set to make its own introduction of a few fresh faces, New England won’t shed a tear over Walker’s departure. He ran into free agency by running over the Patriots, gaining 135 yards on 27 carries. The Patriots were sixth in run defense (101.7 yards per game) last season.
Keeping the Seattle run game in check is only part of the equation if the Patriots want to flip the painful result in February in their favor. Finding a way to string together drives against the fierce Seattle defense looms as the monster task for quarterback Drake Maye and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.
Macdonald delivered a masterclass game plan in the Super Bowl in February. There were few hints the Patriots were the No. 3 offense in the NFL during the blowout. New England’s offensive line was overwhelmed and Maye had precious little time to scan the field beyond his primary read before worrying about which Seahawks’ pass rusher might be tagging him in the backfield.
“We will have to block them better. We will have to be able to run the football better,” Vrabel said. “We will have to be able to stop the run better. There are a lot of things that we are going to have to do better based on the personnel that they have.”
Acquiring A.J. Brown from the Philadelphia Eagles gives Maye a proven No. 1 receiver. New England shuffled the depth chart at the position, releasing Stefon Diggs and trading Kayshon Boutte to the Houston Texans. They signed Romeo Doubs (Green Bay Packers) in free agency as Maye strives to build on an MVP-type season.
McDaniels is expecting exponential growth from Maye, who set a franchise record with a completion percentage of 72%, had 4,394 passing yards, 31 touchdowns and eight interceptions in 2025.
“This year, we’re trying to take (the 2025 foundation) and then go to the next phase of that, the next level of that, in his case which is obviously playing the position of quarterback. He knows a hell of a lot more than he did last year at this time,” McDaniels said during June minicamp.
Brown had five catches for 56 yards at Seattle in 2023 with the Eagles. He has six 1,000-yard seasons in seven years in the NFL.
This is the first Week 1 Super Bowl rematch since the Denver Broncos hosted the Carolina Panthers in 2016, a rematch of Super Bowl 50. New England has lost four consecutive games in the all-time series with Seattle. The Seahawks lead the series 12-9.
