Seahawks lose first free agent of 2024

Colby Parkinson signs with division rival Rams: Seaside Joe 1836

Of all the outgoing free agents who I thought the Seattle Seahawks should or would prioritize, tight end Colby Parkinson checked a lot of boxes. Unfortunately, Parkinson also checked a lot of boxes for the Los Angeles Rams apparently, as the tight end signed a three-year, $22.5 million contract on Monday to join Seattle’s division rivals.

The move leaves the Seahawks in a tight ends predicament, as Will Dissly has been released and Noah Fant is a free agent who is probable to command more money than anyone thinks he’s worth right now. Re-signing Fant would be fine, if not great, but Seattle doesn’t seem to be on a timeline where spending $12-$15 million per season on a tight end would appear like a wise move. Keeping in contact with Dissly is good too. However, keeping Dissly doesn’t really address the position as a receiver in a significant way.

With Parkinson getting over $7 million per season (in my offseason plan, I had Parkinson signing a three-year, $24 million contract, so I was off by $1.5 million total), Fant is more likely to get a deal closer to what Dalton Schultz received from the Texans: Three years, $36 million.

There is a chance, as I’ve been saying, that Fant would sign a one-year prove-it contract. I doubt he would do that with the Seahawks unless he was promised by Mike Macdonald and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb that he would be the second or third option in the offense. That does not seem likely even with Parkinson gone.

In L.A., Parkinson has a real opportunity to get better and to hit free agency again when he’s only 28. The Rams have Tyler Higbee as the starter and 2023 fifth round pick Davis Allen as the backup, but Higbee’s a mistake-waiting-to-happen on every play and Allen did miss a lot of time with injury as a rookie. Parkinson is only 25 and may have just been scratching the surface of what he’s capable of; when the Seahawks signed Gerald Everett away from the Rams in 2021, I thought the addition was really overrated because I had closely followed Everett’s career.

If I were to give the Everett signing a C grade three years ago, I’d call the Parkinson signing more like a B+.

In addition to signing Parkinson, the Rams added free agent guard Jonah Jackson on Monday. A third round pick in the Damien Lewis draft class, Jackson was a Pro Bowler with the Lions in 2021 and he signed a three-year, $51 million deal with L.A.. The move gives the Rams arguably the best interior offensive line in the NFL: Jackson, Kevin Dotson (re-signed last week), and Steve Avila, an early second round pick in 2023.

With Lewis weighing offers as we speak, he could end up getting a deal similar to Jackson’s and for me that’s too rich for Seattle’s tastes right now. In my offseason plan, I had the Seahawks re-sign Lewis to a three-year, $24 million contract. With all the huge guard contracts handed out since then, I was clearly way off. And the Seahawks probably aren’t done watching their players leave in free agency on Monday.

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