Do Seahawks need money to sign Devon Witherspoon?

Seattle has two rookies left to sign, do they have the cap room? Seaside Joe 1576

After Will Anderson signed his $35.2 million contract with a $22.6 million signing bonus two days ago, that leaves Devon Witherspoon as the highest-drafted non-quarterback who has yet to sign his rookie deal. This despite the fact that we already know the terms (mostly) of Witherspoon’s contract:

It will be a fully-guaranteed four-year deal worth $31.86 million and carry a $20.1 million signing bonus.

Since the 2011 CBA, teams and agents only have to worry about negotiating certain language in rookie contracts, usually dealing with when players are paid. This year, we’ve seen an unusual holdup in teams signing second round picks not because the agents can negotiate for more money, but because the NFLPA wants to get them more guaranteed money; the Seahawks’ deal for Derick Hall had an unprecedented amount of guaranteed money.

But we know how much total money Witherspoon will get, as well as how big his cap hit will be in 2023: $5.79 million. Do the Seahawks have that and is it partly responsible for Witherspoon being one of nine unsigned first round picks?

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Do the Seahawks have enough money to sign Devon Witherspoon?

Technically, yes. More accurately, probably not.

According to OvertheCap.com’s most recent projection, the Seahawks have $7.152 million in cap space right now, which you’re saying to yourself, “That’s more than $5.79 million!”

I may have flunked math at both the high school and college levels when I was a kid, but even I know that.

Let’s say hypothetically that Seattle signed Witherspoon and subtracted one number from the other, then they’d be left with $1.36 million, give or take the price of a couple of cryotherapy booths. Now, I’m not the salary cap expert that my friend John Gilbert of FieldGulls is, but I know that’s not enough for an NFL team to operate their season, sign a practice squad, make up for lost injuries, etc.

But it gets much worse than that because Witherspoon’s not the only unsigned Seahawks rookie…

Second round running back Zach Charbonnet has yet to sign his four-year, $6.876 million contract with a $2 million signing bonus and a $1.25 million 2023 cap hit. That means that the number of remaining money isn’t $1.36 million after Seattle signs all of their draft picks. It’s $110,000.

That’s when the cost of a cryotherapy booth is more important than just a “give or take” designation.

I’ll probably get a message from Gilbert after this post correcting me on a number or two (which I would welcome, including if you have any corrections) but it’s not hard to see that $7.1 million in cap space would not be enough for Witherspoon and Charbonnet (who is probably looking for the same contract upgrades that Hall got) and everything else that the Seahawks need to do to have enough.

Where will the money come from?

I’ve covered “where to find money” many times this offseason, so much so that I don’t even know where to begin in linking back to previous episodes of Seaside Joe (well, here’s a good one) but the short end of it is that you either restructure a player, trade a player, extend a player, or cut a player.

The Seahawks restructured Tyler Lockett already and their only other viable options (Jamal Adams, Quandre Diggs, Will Dissly) would be BAD ideas. Restructuring their contracts would make them more expensive and harder to part with in 2024.

We’ve talked a lot about extending Nwosu, potentially saving a few million there. Per Bob Condotta and/or Brady Henderson, there doesn’t seem to be any signs of movement there. Extending Noah Fant would do the trick, he has a $6.85 million base salary, but that would come out of left field and be risky. Is Fant the tight end of the future?

Seaside Joe has also gone over the Jamal Adams contract and trade possibilities a handful of times and I don’t think there is any possibility of a trade. But if the Seahawks reach a point with Adams where they can’t take waiting anymore (all of Pete Carroll’s messages this year have been pro-Adams though) I believe they could save quite a few million by releasing him.

That brings us to Bryan Mone. At a $2.285 million base salary with $500,000 of that guaranteed, the Seahawks could reach an injury settlement with Mone and potentially save at least a couple million dollars. Mone’s playing card: “I’m the only giant on the roster and I’m the only nose tackle with any experience.” But if the Seahawks get happy with fourth round pick Cameron Young, they might see their opportunity to save mone-y with Mone.

However, does that timeline make sense? Bryan Mone is recovering from a torn ACL suffered in December and isn’t expected back any time soon. Seattle needs to sign Witherspoon and Charbonnet sooner rather than later. Could they reach the settlement and then try and get Mone back under contract after they’ve figured out their entire 53-man roster?

I don’t see many options other than extending Nwosu or doing something with Fant’s deal, if not biting a very stupid bullet (like couldn’t pass high school math bullet) by restructuring one of their safeties. Perhaps I’ve overlooked an opportunity, but for now it seems like while the Seahawks could sign Witherspoon and Charbonnet any day now, they would still need to answer to that deal with another big move eventually.

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