How much Seahawks saved by not re-signing free agent 'losses'
4 free agent replacements, $75 million in extra cap space
The Seattle Seahawks are one week into training camp and starting to practice with pads on, but the Devon Witherspoon contract negotiations continue without a new deal. There are more than two schools of thought about what Seattle’s best move would be with their three-time Pro Bowl cornerback, and all opinions revolve around money.
Nobody thinks the Seahawks would be better without Witherspoon. Some fans think that the roster could suffer if $30 million per year was wrapped around a cornerback, or they’re worried Witherspoon isn’t durable, or they question if he can shut down any receiver in the NFL like Richard Sherman.
One thing nobody questions is Seattle’s ability to manage the salary cap.
Seahawks criticized for free agency
If the Seahawks had “kept the band together” by re-signing the top four free agents who departed (the media never mentions how Seattle re-signed Rashid Shaheed, proving that they were okay with paying certain players), they would have had to commit a total of $155 million to them.
That’s an average total contract value of $40 million for Kenneth Walker, Coby Bryant, Boye Mafe, and Riq Woolen.
Players with an average age over 27.
On the surface that may not sound that bad, but what would actually be happening would be that the Seahawks would be committed to paying those players the most money in a year or two, when they’re roughly 30.
Instead, John Schneider targeted rookie replacements in the first three rounds of the draft, reinforced by value veterans.
The one exception to that rule, edge defenders, Seattle clearly feels as though the year they’ve spent with Jared Ivey, Connor O’Toole, and Jalan Gaines has upgraded those players from “undrafted free agents” to being better than a third or fourth-round pick.
By not paying players after the Super Bowl for what would have only felt like “for the sake of it”, the Seahawks gave themselves options.
They got younger.
They extended Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Derick Hall.
They can afford more extensions.
They won’t swallow the real cap hits of those contracts in 2027
And to those really paying attention to how Seattle won 14 games and the Super Bowl, the Seahawks don’t seem worse for free agency. If anything, their future seems better.
Here were the four major player/contract swaps that the Seattle Seahawks made in 2026.
RB
Kenneth Walker III: 3 years, $43m, $28.7m guaranteed
Jadarian Price: 4 years, $16.8m, fully-guaranteed
If there was one free agent loss who truly tilted the field last season, it was Walker. This was even more apparent in the playoffs and Walker’s increased snap count because absent that unfortunate break for Zach Charbonnet, there’s little chance there would have been so much attention on Walker’s exit.
Because in the regular season, Walker had a 46.8% share of the snap count, including 10 games when he was under 50% and only one game when he was over 57%.
Walker’s highest snap count and season-high for touches both came in the Super Bowl. If Charbonnet had been healthy, there would have been no need for that.
As good as Walker is at improvising, which he probably still doesn’t get enough credit for, it’s still only as a running back who was regularly around 11 or 12 rushing attempts per game and without adding much in the passing game.
I don’t know what the Chiefs are expecting, but if it’s 20 rushing attempts and 5 receptions per game, that’ll be news to the Seahawks.
Instead, the Seahawks shift the investment at running back to a player who is signed for one more year than Walker (two, if you include the fifth-year option), is three years younger, and has almost no tread on his tires.
Whether or not Price is actually good, we don’t know. That’s the risk.
There’s also risk with signing Walker as a free agent. Seattle reinforced the move by also signing Emanuel Wilson, and also hoping that George Holani will be a worthy option as well.
The flexibility comes with the contracts.
2026 cap savings: $2.6 million
2027 cap savings: $14.8 million
Walker’s cap hit goes up to $18.6 million in 2027, which was what actually deterred the Seahawks from extending him. Both Schneider and Mike Macdonald expressed calm about Walker’s departure in free agency, with “other options out there” as the main reason for it.
Kenneth Walker will always be a legend in Seattle for the Super Bowl. That doesn’t mean Price can’t write his own legacy, if not a better one.
S
Coby Bryant: 3 years, $40m, $25.7m guaranteed
Bud Clark: 4 years, $7.8m, $5.5m guaranteed
Bryant intercepted seven passes in the last two seasons, but I have a feeling that those turnovers will just transfer over to the next safeties in Macdonald’s defense. Between Julian Love, Ty Okada, and Nick Emmanwori, the Seahawks are already in the conversation for having the best safeties room in the NFL (depending how you position Emmanwori) and that’s before you get to Clark.
Not only did Schneider draft Clark in the second round as a player who could surpass Okada and Bryant in value to Seattle’s defense, the Seahawks also signed Rodney Thomas II and D’Anthony Bell.
The Bears were desperate to improve their safeties room, signing (I’d say “overpaying”) Bryant and drafting Dillon Thieneman in the first round, so it makes sense that Seattle couldn’t match their enthusiasm for an upgrade. The difference in cap space is substantial this year, but absurd next year.
2026 cap savings: $4.5 million
2027 cap savings: $15.8 million
Bryant becomes a $17 million safety in 2027. I can’t imagine any offensive coordinator or quarterback gameplanning around Bryant, which is the type of safety I’d expect to make that much money. With as much talent as there is around safety on defense, expect more errant balls to go towards Okada and Clark next season.
CB
Riq Woolen: 1 year, $12m, fully-guaranteed
Julian Neal: 4 years, $6.7m, $1.3m guaranteed
Woolen expects to be better in Vic Fangio’s defense and maybe he will be.
But I wonder…If you were defensive of Woolen during his Seahawks career after he gave up a touchdown or earned another penalty that extended the other team’s drive, would you still feel like “he’s worth it” if you re-watched those games today?
Now that Woolen is no longer on the Seahawks, does it feel easier to say, “I’m kinda glad he’s gone”?
Woolen signed a one-year contract but the cap hit is spread over two seasons: He has a $3.4 million cap hit in 2026, but then an $8.6 million cap hit in 2027, when Woolen will be a free agent again.
2026 cap savings: $2.2 million
Julian Neal comes with a cheap four-year rookie contract, but he’s been missing practices with an injury and that’s never good for your first training camp. Who knows how Neal’s career will go or not, but Seattle also reinforced this position with a veteran: Noah Igbinoghene ($1.7m salary, $500k guaranteed).
By not signing Woolen to the same deal that Philly did, the Seahawks also save over $7 million in cap space in 2027. Josh Jobe was a much smarter signing and as long as Witherspoon sticks around, still gives Seattle their two starting outside corners. It’s hard to imagine how keeping Woolen would have made the Seahawks better because it’s past the time to find out how the defense can do when they have a full year without him.
OLB
Boye Mafe: 3 years, $60m, $19m guaranteed
Dante Fowler, Jr.: 1 year, $2.5m, $500k guaranteed
The one case where the Seahawks went older, not younger. But in Schneider’s defense, Seattle is essentially replacing their fourth-best edge defender with someone who could be their fourth-best edge defender, and in the process they save $14.5 million in immediate cap space.
Mafe’s $17 million cap hit with the Bengals this year is unusually high for the first year of a contract specifically because Cincinnati doesn’t trust him.
2026 cap savings: $14.5m
2027 cap savings: $21.3 million (depending who Seattle signs)
The Bengals only gave Mafe $19 million guaranteed, giving him one year to prove himself after a disappointing season with two sacks. Mafe flourishes or flounders, and if he fails then the Bengals spent that much more money on a one-year contract than Seattle did for Fowler.
Could be that Fowler goes the way of Connor Williams or Jahri Evans, a “remember him?” Seahawks moment. But with as much money as the team is saving on these bets, the Seahawks can always take more swings—bigger swings—because they played it safe.
Happy to see Woolen gone! This is called addition by subtraction. He only thinks about his only showboating he can do during the game. He damn near cost is the Rams game.
I’m most disappointed by losing Walker. His reads in postseason were nearly perfect. He followed blocks that were there and improvised to deliver yards single-handedly, when defenders blew up his lanes. The defense and Kenneth Walker III won the Super Bowl.
He wasn’t always that good throughout his career, but he also didn’t have as good an o-line in his early career.
My hope is that Price will get good looks from behind a disciplined o-line from day one. Too often, our RBs get coached to do one thing, the o-line can’t perform as envisioned, and the RB learns to resort to survival mode. This happened to Walker, and he had just recently gotten comfortable in scripted mode. (Charbs does scripted mode and has a lower ceiling than Walker when the script fails.)
Price’s highlight reel shows that he can follow the script and improvise. Hopefully, the o-line will make the script worthwhile, and Price’s natural talent will deliver unscripted highlights. By far the biggest challenge is to have an o-line that can make it look like the way it was drawn up.