Josh Jobe free agency

What would you pay for a job well done?

The Seattle Seahawks should be willing to part with every free agent on their roster this offseason (including the ones who I think they should keep), especially a trio of secondary players bound to be overpaid, but if there’s a priority in that group it should be Josh Jobe.

Maybe my only criticism of Jobe is that I heard someone mispronounce his name as “JOB-EE” like “Toby” and now I sort of wish that was how you say it.

The upside

Jobe’s resume does a much better job of representing that “chip on my shoulder” mentality than Tariq Woolen’s because he hasn’t had a contingent of fans over the past four years calling him the best corner in the game.

A former undrafted free agent out of Alabama, Jobe had to first prove to the Eagles that he was worthy of making their roster as a rookie (which he did) and then make Philadelphia regret cutting him after two seasons (which they should).

Jobe signed with the Seahawks needing to prove himself over players who Seattle fans had more incentive to root for like Nehemiah Pritchett, D.J. James, and Tre Brown, and that’s exactly what he did by making the initial 53-man roster and then soon taking over as a starter.

This season, Jobe allowed just 49% of throws in his direction to be completed, the best mark in the NFL for anybody who was targeted at least 90 times and the ninth-best for anybody targeted at least 40 times.

Jobe had arguably the hardest job of anybody in the secondary because quarterbacks must avoid Woolen and Devon Witherspoon — essentially making him the “Brandon Browner” or “Byron Maxwell” of the group — and he did more than just acquit himself … I’d say he was more valuable on a per play basis than Woolen.

More valuable and yet he might be paid less because of reputations.

If Jobe’s market comes in around $16 million per season (that’s the D.J. Reed range) then keeping him allows a smoother transition for Mike Macdonald’s defense in 2026 than needing to coach up an entire new group of outside corners.

But if another team comes in over market value and offers $20 million AAV, then Seattle might have to bow out.

The downside

Well, the Seahawks didn’t re-sign Browner or Maxwell, did they?

You can’t exactly call any of those players “field-tilting corners” and ultimately Browner and Maxwell proved to be overpaid by the Patriots and Eagles. We also haven’t seen Jobe succeed without Macdonald and we haven’t seen another cornerback get a chance to prove himself for Macdonald.

If the Ravens secondary post-Macdonald proves anything, it’s that the coach deserves most of the credit for the success of players like Brandon Stephens, a very Jobe-like cornerback who signed a contract with the Jets with $23 million guaranteed and allowed 10 (TEN) touchdowns last season.

That was the most in the NFL.

If Jobe leave in free agency, the Seahawks probably get a 4th round comp pick at worst (unless it’s offset) and probably won’t regret the loss.

The reason that you re-sign him is that you know he’s good enough for the job. The reason that you don’t re-sign him is that you don’t know that you can’t get as good or better with someone who does the same job(e) for 10% of the price.

Prediction: Seahawks let him walk

I talked myself out of Josh Jobe because of Mike Macdonald.

What we learned during the Pete Carroll era is that if you get lucky with Richard Sherman, you pay that guy. Once. And that’s only if he’s RICHARD SHERMAN. None of these free agents are Richard Sherman.

The secondary didn’t lose its luster because they let guys like Maxwell and Browner leave. The problem was that they never really replaced them.

The replacements (Cary Williams, Jeremy Lane, Deshawn Shead, Tre Flowers) didn’t have IT. The best replacement, Shaquill Griffin, was good but not great. Carroll was a great defensive backs coach—arguably the best to ever do it. But would anyone say he had a “system” that helped them?

Or was it that Earl Thomas was a generational deep safety, and Kam Chancellor was the perfect fit for a role that only Carroll knew should exist, and Sherman was a once-in-a-lifetime day three cornerback who locked down half of the field?

Compared to Pete—in his own right a Hall of Famer—I trust Macdonald’s system a lot more. And for that reason, I trust that Seattle can draft a player, scour free agency, and pick up another player from waivers just as they did find Ty Okada, Drake Thomas*, and Jobe.

*pete pickup but thrived with macdonald

The flipside to that argument is that Derion Kendrick and Pritchett were really bad this season when they weren’t making interceptions or pass breakups.

I believe in the system, so if the Seahawks do re-sign Josh Jobe then clearly Macdonald knows more about it than I do.

Seaside Joe 2548