Why the Seahawks Should Wait on a Derick Hall Contract Extension

The Seahawks may like Derick Hall’s upside, but his snap counts, role, and production suggest Seattle should take a wait-and-see approach before committing long-term money.

If edge rushers grew on trees, then Derick Hall would be tap water.

You don’t even need to go outside. No energy is exerted in obtaining it. All you have to do is walk into the kitchen and turn on the faucet and sure enough at least two sacks will drop out.

That’s the type of player Hall has been through three years of his Seahawks career, a run-of-the-mill edge rusher every team has at least two or three of on defense. But the further away we get from his most disappointing season, the more the narrative builds that Hall is not tap water.

He’s “magic beans” and the Seattle Seahawks must give Derick Hall a contract extension.

I couldn’t disagree more. The Seahawks don’t need to decide whether Derick Hall could become a star. They must decide whether he already is one and if Mike Macdonald’s defense actually needs him.

What Derick Hall is and what he isn’t

The premise of today’s newsletter is the type of risk that most people who cover the Seahawks are not willing to take. Arguing that Hall is “an underrated superstar who proved in the Super Bowl just how good he actually is” is an easy click or share and more likely to garner support amongst fans than what I’m going to say, but I believe that the “wait” approach is far more grounded in reality.

And that’s all I want Seaside Joe to be: A “grounded reality” Seahawks newsletter that’s willing to take the less popular side when nobody else is.

However, let me preface that by saying what this article is not arguing:

• I’m not arguing that Hall couldn’t be great next season

• I’m not arguing that the Seahawks shouldn’t extend Hall at some point

• I’m not arguing that Hall has no value

These are all the “easy” arguments to make to Seahawks fans, which is that as a 25-year-old player at a premium position who was drafted in the top-40 because of his unique physical traits, Hall could be Seattle’s best edge rusher in a year or two. Here he is at his best as a pass rusher, getting to Brock Purdy just a millisecond too late:

In fact, it was me arguing after the draft that the Seahawks probably view Hall as a better edge prospect than anyone who they could have picked:

One obvious reason is that Macdonald/Schneider see Hall as being a better “prospect” than any of the edges they didn’t draft. Which is also probably true. In fact, Hall is the same age as first round pick Akheem Mesidor.

At 6’3 (not 6’8 like the misleading picture of him that Mike Salk tweeted suggests he is) and 255 with a 4.55 40-yard dash, Hall is the type of player who teams typically only find in either the first two rounds of the draft or after he’s had an underwhelming career with the team that drafted him.

Uchenna Nwosu is a perfect example of the latter.

Hall is SHORTER than Leonard Williams.

Even if the Seahawks don’t keep Hall after 2026, they’ll still need someone like Hall anyway. That is true.

Salk, who is trying to keep the lights on at Seattle Sports by beating the “extend Hall” drum all offseason, is right about the fact that the Seahawks have avoided long-term answers at edge rusher and leaving fans to wonder what John Schneider plans to do if 2026 is the final season in Seattle for both DeMarcus Lawrence and Nwosu:

“I would love to see them sign him up and take care of one of the most important positions on the field for the next few years – given that everyone else they have on their roster at that spot is a gigantic question mark after this season.”

But this is where so many sports radio hosts fall into the trap of believing that the easiest option is the only option.

Haven’t you ever watched a show or a movie on TV “because it’s on” and didn’t feel like changing the channel? It might get the job done, but it doesn’t guarantee that you wouldn’t like another program better if you were willing to surf.

Sometimes fans think they love a player when really he just happens to wear their favorite team’s uniform, and don’t consider if they love the player because he’s wearing a Seahawks uniform. Hundreds of Seahawks players have been replaced by new Seahawks players and the replacements were at least as beloved as their predecessors.

Maybe the change is far better for the team than you think.

As a Seahawks fan, I hope that Derick Hall spends every day trying to figure out why his career hasn’t been better, what he needs to do differently next season to get more playing time, and pestering Aden Durde to give him challenges that he can use to prove that he’s worthy of a contract extension.

If Hall wins, everybody wins.

Brian “The Hawk Blogger” Nemhauser said that “there has never been a better time to extend Hall” than this offseason. Kind of a funny thing to say given that Hall was not extension eligible until 2026. There literally has never been another opportunity to extend Hall before now. This is the first time!

Quite the contrary to the premise of giving someone a raise before he’s good because you’re worried he might cost more later, the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement with the NFLPA is specifically designed to give teams a huge negotiation advantage with tools like the transition tag and franchise tag so they can have a wait-and-see approach.

Hall has no leverage and yet some are framing a massive overpay as if it would be a hometown discount.

“I hope” and “he might” is not enough for a general manager working under a salary cap to give a player a five- or six-percent chunk of the annual budget out of fear that Seattle couldn’t easily find a different, cheaper player who does the same job.

Because despite everything that Hall is as an exceptional athlete for a person his size, he still isn’t a starter. And the signing of Dante Fowler, Jr. suggests that Mike Macdonald may end up keeping Hall in the EDGE4 role.

What Derick Hall isn’t