With the majority of offseason over, the Seahawks have found themselves in familiar territory. Heading into the new season, they are once again being boasted as one of the most talented teams in the NFL.

There were some key additions, as well as losses, that got the Seahawks to this point. However, I believe the continuity of the roster from our Super Bowl is why the Seahawks are being ranked so high.

In the salary cap era of football, keeping winning teams together is one of the hardest feats for a front office. There are 31 other teams trying to get a piece of your roster.

The Seahawks have seen this first hand with Byron Maxwell, Chris Clemons, Red Bryant, James Carpenter and multiple others leaving for a higher paycheck.

What the Seahawks have been able to do, unlike most other teams, is keep their core unit together. When the season starts, we will have 17 out of the 22 starters that won us a Super Bowl. That is something that is almost unheard of in today’s NFL. Keep these players together to grow as a team only makes them that much stronger the next year.

Even though we kept the majority of our starters together, the Seahawks still had to go find some key pieces. Specifically, the Seahawks made a splash when they traded for Jimmy Graham.

Graham will be a game changer for the Seahawks offense.

On almost any play that we run the ball, teams will stack the box, meaning they’ll put an extra man by the line of scrimmage instead of in pass defense. That worked pretty well the last few years because we did not have a dynamic receiving threat and relied heavily on the performance of Marshawn Lynch.

Insert Graham and that plan goes out the window. Graham requires an extra defender to really cover him. The defense only has one player they can swing between pass defense or run defense to bolster coverage, so what do you do when you need two players each just to stop both Lynch and Graham?

That is how Graham is going to be a game changer. He will either be left open or Lynch will have a hay day every Sunday.

Graham may have been the highlight of the offseason, but it was not the only big signing the Seahawks made. With the departure of Maxwell, the Seahawks needed to fill a void. Cary Williams is the man being called upon to fill in.

Williams comes from Philadelphia, where he started last year. He is a perfect fit for the Legion of Boom. Williams is big, strong and mean. There won’t be a huge drop off from Maxwell to Williams. The Seahawks’ system will let him really showcase his skill set.

Another area of concern was the interior defensive line.

The Seahawks lost some depth there late in the season due to injuries, mainly when Brandon Mebane got hurt. With the uncertain future of first year Seahawk Kevin Williams, the Seahawks knew they needed to find some more support.

They went and signed Ahtybah Rubin. He is a defensive tackle that spent the last few years in Green Bay. The Seahawks love to have a big rotation on their defensive line, so this gives them another player to work with. I don’t expect Rubin to start, but he will definitely making meaningful snaps during the season.

Between the draft, offseason signings and not letting their core break up, the Seahawks have put themselves in a spot to compete for another Super Bowl.

They have all the talent they need. They just have to stick to the system that has got them to the Super Bowl the last two years and let everything else take care of itself.