Week 9 SNF Fantasy Football Preview : SEA vs. WAS

​

  • By Nathan Hernandez

    Last Updated on November 2, 2025 5:31 pm by Jon Mosales | Published: November 2, 2025

    SNF – Seattle Seahawks @ Washington Commanders

    Point spread: SEA -3 | WAS +3

    Moneyline: GB -162 | WAS +136

    Total: Over 48.5 | Under 48.5

    Make sure to get the draft guide for all our positional rankings, game reviews and waiver wire recommendations.

    Get the SportsEthos NFL FantasyPass!

    Overview:

    The Seahawks are coming off their bye week and sit at 5-2 tied for the lead of the NFC West. They go on the road for this week’s Sunday Night Football contest to take on the Washington Commanders, a 3-5 team attempting to weather a three-game skid with the return of young star quarterback Jayden Daniels, who has missed three games in two separate stints this season. The Commanders are an old team, especially defensively, and also one that is dealing with several impactful injuries that have made the defense a weakness too difficult to bear without a fully-healthy Daniels. Terry McLaurin has had an even more unfortunate run of injuries this season, after re-aggravating his quad injury in preparation for this matchup. Washington ranks 17th in Offensive EPA/Play and 27th in Defensive EPA/Play. Seattle has been an impressive team in some areas of both sides of the football this season, and they currently sit at 16th in Offensive EPA/Play and 10th in Defensive EPA/Play. They are the much better team defensively, but Jayden Daniels is a true wild card player that can single-handedly beat the best when he is at his best. It will be hard for Washington to overcome all of their injuries that are piling up, but having four defensive linemen on injured reserve is ominous in its own right. To me, the Seahawks should have no problem trouncing the Commanders on SNF, as they match up really well on both sides of the football, but the Commanders have the better QB and home-field advantage, and as we know, anything can happen on any given Sunday.

    Quarterbacks:

    Sam Darnold joined Seattle in the offseason after revitalizing his career in with a one-year stint in Minnesota and leading the team and one of the most prolific passing offenses in the NFL to a 14-3 record last season. Before having some trouble against the Texans in Week 7 before last week’s bye, Darnold had turned in a top-10 fantasy QB performance in 3-of-4 weeks. Now in Seattle, Darnold is showing a strong connection to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who has been absolutely remarkable in the first half of his third NFL season, while Darnold and the passing attack rank 7th in the NFL in Offensive EPA/Pass. The team has been particularly successful at throwing to intermediate and deep routes, with the highest EPA/Pass on throws 10 or more yards downfield. On the other side of the ball, the Commanders’ defense allows the eighth-best mark in EPA/Pass on throws of 10 or more air yards this season. Darnold should be able to put in work against this WAS D, and will likely wind up something of a high-upside, fringe QB1 in this game. As for the Commanders, the returning Jayden Daniels has a tough task in front of him to end a three-game losing streak against what’s been one of the toughest defenses of the first half of the season. Despite being one of three teams in the NFL with a sub-20% blitz rate, they rank fourth in the NFL in pressure rate. They are consistently getting pressure on the QB without having to dial up the blitz, which is just a small part of what makes them such a great matchup for Daniels and the Commanders. He will be operating without Terry McLaurin again, but at least Deebo Samuel was able to shake off his heel injury and get good to go for this contest. The Seahawks rank 9th in Pass Rush Win Rate on the year, while the Commanders are also 9th in Pass Block Win Rate, so the trenches might be where we find the most decisive matchup in this game. Daniels is a must-start when healthy, but start him with cautious optimism that he can at least maintain his elite fantasy floor.

    Running Backs:

    This week’s SNF bout features two of the more frustrating backfields for the 2025 fantasy football season, at least as of late. As for Seattle, the Seahawks have been stubborn with their usage splits between Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet. Charbonnet has operated as the primary back in short-yardage situations, tied for 7th in the NFL in goal-to-go rushing attempts. He has five goal line TDs on the season, but has averaged just 2.8 YPC. Meanwhile, Kenneth Walker III sees a majority of his usage between the 20s, and is one of the most explosive RBs in the NFL despite the modest workload. He has taken almost 15% of his carries for explosive plays this season, as 14-of-95 carries have gone for 10+ yards this season. The Commanders are particularly bad at defending outside runs, allowing the 6th-highest EPA/Rush on runs that go outside the tackles this season. While the Seahawks have been dead last in EPA/rush on outside runs this season, they do run them at the 10th-highest rate in the NFL, so Kenneth Walker might be a decent start in this one. Charbonnet is more like a perennial TD or bust flex play. In Washington, they’ve adapted to using a split RB rotation themselves, with rookie Jacory Croskey-Merritt serving as the primary early-down back, while Jeremy McNichols has found success as the team’s primary pass-catching threat out of the backfield. JCM has had three-straight fantasy finishes outside the top-30 at the RB position, and has mostly operated as a TD-or-bust fantasy asset this season. McNichols hasn’t turned in a fantasy-viable performance yet this year, but he’s seen his snaps and performances improve in three-straight games, and last week finished with 5-of-6 targets for 64 yards through the air. If nothing else, it’s a sizable enough role to make JCM a less-favorable fantasy start, especially with Seattle coming to town. The Seahawks allow the 10th-fewest RB fantasy points this season, and rank 5th in Run Stop Win Rate.

    Wide Receivers: 


    Want to get access to Nathan’s articles? You’ll need to have a SportsEthos NFL FantasyPass membership. Click here to learn more and sign up!  

    November 2, 2025, 5:31 pm