When you have a matchup of two 3-1 NFL teams, that’s a game to watch — even if one of those teams is somewhat decimated by injuries like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are.
On Sunday, the 3-1 Bucs fly across the country to Seattle to take on the 3-1 Seahawks in a 4:05 p.m. ET showdown in NFL Week 5.
We’ll give you our Bucs vs. Seahawks prediction and picks for PrizePicks NFL for this matchup, with players like RBs Kenneth Walker III and Rachaad White highlighted.
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The Seahawks have looked very strong lately, cleanly winning each of their past three games despite a scare in last week’s divisional battle against the Arizona Cardinals.
On the other side, the Bucs dropped their first game last week to the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles after Mayfield threw a late interception in the red zone.
Bucs vs. Seahawks: Prediction, Week 5 Preview
Although it won't affect our predictions for this game, these teams will roll out beautiful retro uniform combos for this game — which is worth looking forward to on its own.
Let’s take a look both sides of this Bucs vs. Seahawks matchup through the statistical lens of how things are going so far in the 2025 season to help you make your game prediction.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Preview vs. Seahawks
We mentioned that one of these teams had been decimated by injuries, and it’s pretty easy to single out the Bucs as that unfortunate team.
RB Bucky Irving has been ruled out, leaving RB Rachaad White to start. In addition to Irving, the Buccaneers will be without top WR Mike Evans and top CB Jamel Dean. Meanwhile, WR Sterling Shepard, OT Tristan Wirfs, LB Lavonte David, and OLB Hasson Reddick are battling injuries but are expected to play.
Despite these injuries, the Buccaneers have had a solid offensive start to the season, thanks to Mayfield’s heroics and the emergence of first-round rookie WR Emeka Egbuka. Mayfield has an 8:1 TD:INT ratio and ranks 12th among starting QBs in passer rating.
Meanwhile, Egbuka ranks 12th in the NFL with 282 receiving yards and has scored in all but one game.
The Bucs also got back WR Chris Godwin last week, in his first game since 2024's season-ending ankle injury. Godwin registered 10 targets as he played on 90% of pass snaps, though it only resulted in 3 receptions for 26 yards vs. a stout Eagles pass defense.
On defense, the Buccaneers have kept their MO as a stout defense, bolstered by one of the strongest rush defenses in the league thanks to the hulking presence of DT Vita Vea in the middle.
They are allowing only 2.92 yards per carry on the ground and 54 yards per game to opposing backfields, both of which rank as top-three numbers in the league.
They are more susceptible through the air, but are one of the best deep-passing defenses in the league, only allowing two completions of 20+ air yards on 12 attempts for a 16.7% completion percentage, the best number in the league, per FTN’s Stathub.
Seattle Seahawks Preview vs. Bucs
The Seahawks are remarkably healthy on offense coming into this game. RB2 Zach Charbonnet has returned to full health after missing a game earlier this season, which means the entire offense should be out there for this one.
On offense, the Seahawks have been one of the run-heaviest teams in the league so far this season, ranking 31st in Pass Rate over Expected (PROE), per Draft Sharks. Despite this, they have struggled, ranking 26th with only 3.6 yards per carry with Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet leading the backfield.
This is another poor matchup for them in the ground game against Tampa Bay’s top rushing defense, so we’ll need to see some good things from Darnold and the passing game if the home team is going to put up points.
That passing game has actually flashed in small doses and currently ranks as the NFL’s top deep-passing unit with a 61% completion percentage on throws of 20+ air yards.
The Seattle passing game ranks sixth in expected points added per dropback, which means we could see heavy weight on the shoulders of WRs Jaxon Smith-Njigba — who is second in the NFL in team target share, Cooper Kupp, and Tory Horton.
Bucs vs. Seahawks Same-Game Picks for PrizePicks
Here are three Buccaneers vs. Seahawks same-game player picks for this Week 5 game, including Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker III and Bucs RB Rachaad White projections to target.
You can pick More or Less on these projections on PrizePicks, as well as dozens more, to win real money this NFL season.
Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker III Projections vs. Bucs: 12.5 Receiving Yards
Given that the Buccaneers have stopped running backs from really getting anywhere on the ground, opposing offenses have naturally tried to get their backs going through the air vs. this defense.
The Bucs are coming off a game where they limited RB Saquon Barkley to 43 yards on 19 carries — 2.3 yards per carry.
To this end, the Bucs have given up the following to opposing RBs through the air so far this season:
- Bijan Robinson: 100 yards
- Nick Chubb: 29 yards
- Woody Marks: 37 yards
- Breece Hall: 31 yards
- Braelon Allen: 17 yards
- Saquon Barkley: 31 yards
That’s a lot of different running backs with more than Kenneth Walker III's projection in only four weeks!
Since Walker had 3 catches in Week 1, he’s only had one catch in each of the ensuing three games, but those three catches have gone for 13, 12, and 29 yards.
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Bucs RB Rachaad White Projections vs. Seahawks: 11.5 Yards Longest Rush
With Bucky Irving expected to miss this game and possibly the next several with a foot injury, Rachaad White takes pole position as Tampa Bay’s current RB1, with Sean Tucker expected to back him up. Unfortunately, this is a very tough matchup for White to step into.
Teams playing the Seahawks don’t lean heavily toward either the run or the pass, ranking 12th in PROE Against, per Draft Sharks. However, teams have struggled to run the ball well against them, with three of their four opponents registering under 3.4 yards per carry.
This could be an issue for White, who has had less than this number in three of his four games this season and in 11-of-17 games in 2024.
The Buccaneers are also the 30th-ranked team in Run Block Win Rate, per ESPN. This is another factor that could make it difficult for White to get clean running lanes against a Seattle defense that ranks second in Run Stop Win Rate, via the same metric.
Bucs QB Baker Mayfield Projections vs. Seahawks: 18.5 Rushing Yards
There simply aren’t many quarterbacks at all who have the “dog” factor that Mayfield has, especially when it comes to running the football, either on designed runs or scrambles.
The Seahawks have not really faced a quarterback that’s a running threat this season, outside of Kyler Murray, and he had 41 rush yards on five carries last week against them.
In four games this season, Mayfield has run for 39, 33, 44, and 13 yards.
Given that the Seahawks rank second in Pass Rush Win Rate, we could see them frequently break things down against a Tampa OL that has struggled to keep a clean pocket, leading to situations where Mayfield needs to scramble to keep the play alive. This is where Baker is frequently at his best, and currently ranks seventh among quarterbacks with 129 rushing yards.
Lastly, Baker Mayfield ranks 17th in designed QB runs this year, with 14. With Irving sidelined, it wouldn't be surprising to see the Bucs dial up more opportunities for Baker to run.
Make Bucs vs. Seahawks Picks on PrizePicks
As the Bucs make the cross-coast trip to Seattle, which of these two 3-1 teams will get their fourth win first?
The Seahawks have seemed like the more put-together team so far this season, while the Buccaneers are extremely dogged and will fight to the final minute to get the win — as seen by three game-winning drives, and their near comeback vs. the Eagles in Week 4.
This is a great spot to traverse over to PrizePicks and get real money action on your NFL predictions for the Sunday slate of games, including Bucs vs. Seahawks.
With a wide variety of projections, you can choose your favorite More or Less projections and build a Lineup to win real money.
