Ty Okada arrived in Seattle with no draft call, no guarantees, and almost no attention outside the building. Now, after helping power the Seahawks to a Super Bowl title, the once-overlooked safety is suddenly being described as one of the franchise’s most important hidden pieces heading into 2026.
Bleacher Report spotlighted Okada on Monday as the Seahawks’ “best-kept secret” entering OTAs, a remarkable label for an undrafted player who spent most of his first two NFL seasons buried on the practice squad before emerging as a championship-caliber starter in the secondary.
Okada’s Path From Undrafted Free Agent to Super Bowl
The 26-year-old Woodbury, Minnesota, native went unselected out of Montana State in 2023. Seattle signed him as an undrafted free agent and kept him on the practice squad, where he spent most of the next two seasons learning the system from the bottom up.
That grind paid off. After appearing in just nine games across his first two professional seasons, Okada earned a starting opportunity in 2025 and seized it. He started 11 of 17 games at free safety, recording 46 solo tackles, 1 1/2 sacks, and one interception. His tackling was consistently a highlight — physical, precise, and uncharacteristic of a player who entered the league without a single draft pick invested in him.
“It’s remarkable,” Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said in December, as quoted by Seahawks.com. “His tackling all year has been phenomenal. He’s a tough son of a gun and takes great angles and trusts it.”
Okada acknowledged the emotional weight of the climb.
“I’d be lying to you if I told you there weren’t those moments of doubt,” he said in a May 12 interview with Locked On Seahawks host Corbin Smith. “But Seahawks as an organization, they have just such a great strong history of undrafted guys that have been able to prove themselves and make it.”
He leaned on family through those hard stretches.
“I got to give it to my entire family: my mom and dad, Chris and Michelle, my older brother MJ, and my amazing fiancée Anna,” Okada told Smith.
Okada Enters 2026 With Stiff Competition
Veteran cornerback Coby Bryant’s departure in free agency cleared room for Okada to claim an even larger role in Seattle’s secondary. Bleacher Report‘s Brent Sobleski, in his “Best Kept Secret” selection published Monday, called Okada a critical component of the Seahawks’ Super Bowl-winning defense and projected him as the team’s starting free safety in 2026.
Sobleski noted that Okada’s familiarity with Macdonald’s system, instinctive trigger and relentless tackling give him a clear edge heading into OTAs, even with the arrival of second-round rookie safety Bud Clark, who brings stronger ball-hawking ability to the position battle.
Okada’s contributions to Seattle’s championship run were quiet, steady, and consistently effective. That low profile earned him the best-kept secret label. It may not survive another full season at the top of the Seahawks’ depth chart.
Seahawks Little-Known Safety Called Team’s ‘Best-Kept Secret’ After Title Run