Seahawks 2024 free agent spending relative to average

The Seahawks spend less now but give themselves more flexibility for tomorrow: Seaside Joe 1919

In terms of which team had the “worst” offseason, a subject that should be as taboo as immediate draft grades because how can anyone be so sure what the right answer is yet, I once again find myself diametrically opposed to the mainstream’s most popular answer: I like what the Dallas Cowboys have done.

What’s funny to me is that it feels like yesterday “we” were criticizing the Cowboys for overpaying their okay players and now the tables have turned to lambasting Jerry Jones for not overpaying okay players. If this is some long con game to egg Dallas into giving Dak Prescott a contract that could surely sink the franchise even deeper into the basement then by all means, I APOLOGIZE! Then the mainstream is smarter than I am.

But I don’t think that’s what’s happening.

Something that Rich Eisen said on his show months ago, after Jones had used the phrase “all-in” for the Cowboys 2024 season, was that the owner was actually implying that Dallas would not pay out the big extensions that everyone is waiting for and instead pressure Dak Prescott to finally win some meaningful playoff games before a new contract. When I heard that my first thought was, “That’s the smartest thing I’ve ever heard from Jerry Jones”, if true.

Some others would say that it is the dumbest strategy, hence the conensus grades online for the Cowboys having the worst offseason of any team, but I’m still waiting for more teams to copy Seattle’s move when the Seahawks opted to trade Russell Wilson instead of pay him what the Broncos were willing to pay him. The Seahawks haven’t won a playoff game since then, however I believe we’d all agree that Seattle is better off and won the trade.

No other franchise seems to be doing this: From Jared Goff to Lamar Jackson to Jalen Hurts to Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield, most teams are terrified of having to start over at quarterback and would rather overpay than test unknown waters. Any examples to the contrary have caveats: The Lions traded Matthew Stafford after 12 seasons of failure as a franchise, not because of a contract dispute. The Packers traded Aaron Rodgers because he was 40 and a lot more expensive than Jordan Love. The Texans traded Deshaun Watson because of all of the reasons.

In recent years only, the closest example I can think of to Seattle trading Wilson would be the Minnesota Vikings telling Kirk Cousins to:

What do you think that I think about the Vikings decision to part ways with Cousins? A move like this was long overdue! The last time that a team let their franchise quarterback leave in free agency and didn’t live to regret it was probably….when the Moons told Kirk Cousins to:

I don’t see Dak Prescott as irreplaceable. Especially not with the added pressure to pay a quarterback at least $55 million per season, given that the Cowboys have a 2-5 playoff record in the past eight years.

Now that I’ve said all that, I could hit send on this newsletter and get a notification in five minutes that the Dallas Cowboys have signed Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, and Micah Parsons to monumental long-term contract extensions. But if what Rich Eisen said is true, that the Cowboys are instead going to hold off on new deals and wait until they see real results before deciding whether or not to rip the band-aid off of the Dak agreement (Dak is a 2025 free agent but he has a $55 million cap hit this year and $40 million in dead money next year), then it is with a heavy heart that I have to say I agree with what Jerry Jones is planning to do this year.

That’s what I would do. I would extend Lamb now because he’s a free agent next year, I would try to hold off on Parsons because he’s not a free agent until 2026, and I would not stress about the possibility that I could lose Dak Prescott given that the separation is due to being overpaid. I could even be wrong about how good Dak is, I understand there are varying levels of opinions on all quarterbacks, but now that the position is being paid over $50 million per season then I can’t say I would feel bad about losing any of them except maybe the top four of five in the league, at most.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: I don’t understand why any quarterback makes more than Patrick Mahomes.

(To be fair, Mahomes has an average annual cap hit of $66 million from 2025-2027, so in some ways he’ll soon be the highest-paid.)

So, I disagree that the Cowboys are having a bad offseason just because the team didn’t spend a lot of money. However, the mainstream media narrative is right about one thing: The Cowboys haven’t spent any money. The Cowboys have spent a total of $16.9 million on 10 free agents for an average annual salary of $1.7 million and only $9.2 million in total guarantees. Those numbers rank 32nd, 32nd, and 32nd, all are very far away from the teams ranked 31st.

I thought it would be interesting to compare Seattle’s 2024 free agent spending to the Cowboys, as well as the other 30 teams. Here’s how much the Seahawks have spent, as well as who has spent the most and whether or not any NFC teams could have gained an advantage from their spending: