3 advantages Seahawks have in 2024 offseason

How the Seahawks gain cap space, get younger, and get better in 2024: Seaside Joe 1745

The Seattle Seahawks are not in the position they wanted to be in at this point of the season, sitting at 6-7 and desperate to stop a four-game losing streak on Monday night against the Philadelphia Eagles. Nobody said getting back to the Super Bowl would be easy, but being outscored by 68 points in their last six games (30th in the NFL in that span) feels especially difficult.

If the Seahawks don’t get right in the next four games, how could they “get right” in 2024? I can think of at least three advantages that Seattle fans can look forward to from when the next offseason begins and to when the 2024 season is underway.

On Monday, I did write about the 49ers upcoming situation in 2024 and 2025, giving my reasons for why I think the Niners have maybe one more year like they’re having now and that’s it. Surely you would like to know more about the Seahawks and not San Francisco, which is partly what I’m delivering today.

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Contractual Options

For now, the Seahawks are calculated with only $3 million in 2024 space against Overthecap’s projected cap, but that numbers drops to -$9.6 million of “effective” cap space when factoring in necessary financial obligations. That does put Seattle in the bottom-10:

(You can see the 49ers right next to them at -$7.5 million and notice what I said about the Saints always being in financial hell? Maybe that happens to San Francisco.)

So that’s bad, right? Well, it depends on what the Seahawks REAL cap space is because John Schneider and Pete Carroll have surely already formed a plan for which contracts will actually NOT be on the books in 2024 and beyond. The Seahawks have options.

S Jamal Adams - $6 million savings/$16.5 million savings post-June 1

I’m all but certain that Adams will be released. His $16.5 million salary will not be traded. With a post-June 1 release, Seattle pushes some of their obligation into 2025, which is why that’s not “more savings” it’s just “more savings now”. Given that the cap will go up again in 2025 and that the Seahawks need more space now, I could see Adams getting a post-June 1 designation. Let’s toy with that:

New Seahawks “effective” cap space: $7 million

TE Will Dissly - $7 million savings

Dissly is entering the final year of his contract in 2024, so there is no post-June 1 option, in case you’re wondering. Long-term comfortable relationships be damned, there is no $10 million tight end in the world who has 11 catches for 111 yards and zero touchdowns. Dissly has to go for the betterment of the team.

New Seahawks “effective” cap space: $14 million

S Quandre Diggs - $11 million savings

Until the Seahawks are loaded on the offensive and defensive lines, I do not see a justification for paying this much money to their safeties. That is a luxury that Pete can’t afford at this juncture and in fact, Seattle was at its BEST when Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas were on rookie deals. (Granted, Thomas was paid before the 2011 CBA lowered first round salaries.)

This is not a move that will be beloved by all or understood like the previous two, but I think more Seahawks fans will be moved when realizing which out-going free agents need to be retained. And besides, this is not something Seattle MUST do, it is an OPTION. If they do it:

New Seahawks “effective” cap space: $25 million

In three moves, the Seahawks 2024 cap space goes from $3 million to $37 million. Seattle’s safeties left on the roster would be Julian Love, Coby Bryant, Jerrick Reed, plus two players on the practice squad. It would be a need for sure, but I’d rather that safety was a need this time instead of offensive line and defensive line help.

DT Bryan Mone ($5.9 million)

An easy one and a significant amount of savings.

New Seahawks “effective” cap space: $31 million

There are also other candidates for cap casualties, but I’m trying to be really sensitive to our viewers before being loud and clear on what needs to happen:

QB Geno Smith ($13.8 million savings/$22.5 million post June 1)

WR Tyler Lockett ($7.1 million savings/$17 million post June 1)

S Julian Love ($5.7 million)

ST Nick Bellore ($2.8 million)

If the Seahawks decide to transition from Geno to Drew Lock, the team would need to come to an agreement with Lock. The net savings next season depends on a few factors, including the length of Lock’s new deal.

We saw on Sunday, as we have a few other times this season, that even if Lockett is not a top-15 receiver that Seattle’s offense is sometimes without a better option. He was the go-to option for Lock and averaged 15 yards per target. It may not be so easy to go from him to Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

If the Seahawks cut two safeties, it could be necessary to keep Love. If the Seahawks don’t cut Adams (which I’m sure they will), it could be wise to cut Love. He had a hand in two turnovers on Sunday, but is he too much of a liability in coverage and tackling?

“What about DK Metcalf?”

For those wondering, there is no financial advantage to cutting OR trading Metcalf in 2024. The only real benefit to making a move like that would be IF Seattle felt that they’d be adding-by-subtracting AND were getting back a first round pick in return. I can’t see the Seahawks taking on a financial burden like that only because Metcalf has an unfathomable number of personal foul penalties. A desperate team would have to come in hot with an offer of a first round pick and more.

I always put it this way: If DK Metcalf were on another team, would you want the Seahawks to trade a first and third round pick to acquire him in 2024?

If the answer is no, then maybe that offer isn’t out there.

There are restructure options for Metcalf and Lockett, but I would hope Seattle doesn’t mess with those because it makes them more expensive and less expendable in 2025.

Why is this money so necessary?

We won’t get into free agents today, but the list of outgoing Seahawks who seem important includes: Jordyn Brooks, Leonard Williams, Damien Lewis, Noah Fant, Evan Brown, Drew Lock, Colby Parkinson, Phil Haynes, Bobby Wagner, and Mario Edwards. Darrell Taylor and Mike Jackson are restricted free agents, keeping them will require cap space too.

Seattle won’t and doesn’t need to keep all of those players, but just Williams, Brooks, Fant, Lewis, and Lock would be costly enough.

At the end of the day, the Seahawks are basically saving money by cutting players so that they can look MOSTLY THE SAME, not MOSTLY DIFFERENT. It’s just a matter of whether or not those changes should come with players who aren’t playing up to their immense contractual values (at safety) or with losing players who have been valuable (L. Williams).

What would you do?

Draft opportunities

The Seahawks enter the 2024 draft with their first round pick, two third round picks (one of their own, one from the Broncos), a fourth round pick, a fifth round pick, a sixth round pick, and a seventh round pick. Literally the only difference between a usual draft class and this one is that Seattle’s second round pick (traded for Williams) is now basically a little lower on day two (the Broncos trade the lower of their two thirds to Seattle).

If the draft order held up from today, the Seahawks would pick 13th, 75th, and 81st in the first three rounds.

If the Seahawks do struggle the rest of the season, the silver lining is that Seattle would have a top-10 pick again. That would make top-10 picks in three straight years, something that hasn’t happened to the Seahawks since 1992-1995: Off the top of your head, can you name those four players?

That’s not a streak that the Seahawks want to keep, but like I say, it’s at least a silver lining so long as Seattle lands another cornerstone franchise player.

The other thing that the Seahawks could do is make another trade if they want to be aggressive, like they’ve been in the past. Seattle has all their picks in the 2025 draft, except for a fifth rounder traded for Williams. If the Seahawks see a prospect in the draft who they think could significantly benefit the future of the franchise, like a quarterback, should they trade up?

The Chiefs traded up for Patrick Mahomes. The Bills traded up for Josh Allen. The Texans traded up for Deshaun Watson. It could work. There are also times when it does not work, like Trey Lance or Mitchell Trubisky. It’s risky. Should the Seahawks play it safe? Has playing it safe benefited the franchise in the last 10 years?

Seattle could entertain trading for a veteran. Again, it’s risky. I go back to the 49ers current run as a good team, as they made bold trades for Trent Williams and Christian McCaffrey. I go back to last September, when I wrote that the Seahawks should entertain trading for linebacker Roquan Smith, now praised as the difference-maker on Baltimore’s defense at a weak spot on Seattle’s defense.

Should the Seahawks do something like that? It’s too early to say what my opinion really is on the matter because I also love the idea of sticking-and-picking somewhere in the first round, I am not ADVOCATING for a trade, only saying there are options. We just have to hope that the player turns out to be a steal and as we’ve seen from Charles Cross and JSN, we need to exhibit patience with them.

Players on the way up

Speaking of Seattle’s draft picks and using them on players, the Seahawks have drafted 19 players in the last two years, signed a pair of notable undrafted free agents, and added four other notable undrafted free agents from other teams who remain on the roster. Of the 19 drafted players, all but two remain on the roster and one of those (Tyreke Smith) is on the practice squad. gip

And eight of those drafted players were picked in the first three rounds: Devon Witherspoon, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Charles Cross, Derick Hall, Boye Mafe, Ken Walker, Zach Charbonnet, and Abe Lucas.

The only one of these names who is not a starter or a “starter” (if you’re one of two running backs, you’re basically a starter) is Hall and there’s nothing surprising about that. Mafe was two years older as a rookie in 2022 and didn’t play that much more than Hall is playing now.

Seattle’s day 3 and undrafted players includes: Riq Woolen, Anthony Bradford, Coby Bryant, Jake Bobo, Dareke Young, and Chris Stoll, among those who play a lot or have notable roles so far. Others I think most expect to play more next season include Cameron Young, Mike Morris, Olu Oluwatimi, Jerrick Reed, and Kenny McIntosh.

The advantage that I think the Seahawks have here is that most teams didn’t pick three players in the top-20 and four players in the second round and a starting right tackle in the third round over the last two years. Seattle’s options with regards to their contracts, free agents and the 2024 draft get more clear thanks to having players potentially ready to step into larger toles next season:

• Having Bradford and Oluwatimi might allow the Seahawks to part ways with Evan Brown and Phil Haynes.

• Having JSN and Bobo might allow the Seahawks to consider which veteran pass catchers are truly necessary moving forward.

• Having Hall and Mafe, in addition to Uchenna Nwosu, could alleviate the pressure for Seattle to pick an edge rusher in the first round (but not necessarily eliminate it as an option).

• Having Walker and Charbonnet means that the Seahawks MUST tie up Pete Carroll in a basement before he is allowed to “watch tape” on college running backs.

• Having Cross and Lucas might set the Seahawks up at tackle for a decade, although as I’ve said many times before, it has to be an early draft consideration again because of two reasons: Is Cross developing as hoped? and is Lucas ever going to be a full-season tackle again?

On Cross, Top Billin’ is among those saying that Seattle’s left tackle hasn’t played like a recent top-10 pick lately. How he’s playing hasn’t been a topic I’ve addressed all year, admittedly, and that’s an oversight by Seaside Joe…

Others say that there’s data to support that Cross is fine, if not good, which is encouraging for a left tackle who only just turned 23. We’ll save evaluations on the Seahawks tackles for after the season.

Seattle’s young core of players, which also includes players we never discuss like offensive linemen Raiqwon O’Neal and McClendon Curtis; tight end Brady Russell; linebacker Drake Thomas; corner Tre Brown, who is in some ways a rookie this year; and several prospects on the practice squad like safety Jonathna Sutherland and linebacker Patrick O’Connell…this group is the Seahawks shining beacon of hope. It has to be.

As noted in the article, and as I wrote last week on 4 more things I learned about Seattle, the Seahawks are bound to get younger in 2024. They will create cap space to keep the players they want to keep, but not likely to be aggressive in outside free agency. Seattle uncharacteristically signed Dre’Mont Jones in 2023, will they step out of their comfortable shoes again next year? I’ll go over potential free agent options when the season is over.

More likely than not though, we know who most of the Seahawks starters will be in 2024. The positions most likely to see change are safety, cornerback (will Woolen keep his job?), interior offensive line, and potentially the retirement/parting again with Bobby Wagner. I expect most other positions to remain solid, which means that for the Seahawks to become great they will need players like JSN, Witherspoon, Walker, Charbonnet, Hall, and Mafe to be great.

That many young players with that type of potential on one roster IS an advantage. It COULD also be the type of advantage that allows the Seahawks to focus their draft picks or their contract options on one other change…Quarterback.

I’m not going to get into those specifics today (again), I just didn’t want to forget to mention it. The Seahawks may have the advantage—or disadvantage—of making a change at quarterback for the second time in three years.

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