Seahawks free agent targets: Connecting new coaches to old players
Dozens of NFL free agents who have recent connections to 12 Seahawks coaches: 3/5/2024
Scratch Justin Madubuike’s name off of Mike Macdonald’s requested free agents list, if it was even on there to begin with. The Baltimore Ravens gave Madubuike the franchise tag, all but guaranteeing his stay after a breakout season with Macdonald as the defensive coordinator in 2023. What the tag for Madubuike does for the Seahawks instead is open up Baltimore’s other free agents for a potential reunion with Macdonald, a consideration that Seattle fans have to take seriously when the market is open next week.
Something interesting that I heard former Raiders GM Mike Mayock say in an interview this week was that Tom Cable had significant control over which offensive linemen Las Vegas was able to sign during that era. Mayock wanted to sign Kyle Long, but Cable overruled him because he had more familiarity and a higher comfort level with a different offensive lineman who was available. Or at least, that’s what Mayock says…He’s in a very uncomfortable position having to tell Kyle Long’s BROTHER Chris Long on a podcast why he didn’t sign his family member.
But that idea of coaches having that much influence over free agent signings because of “comfort” and a history with the player stood out to me, especially since the Seattle Seahawks have so many new coaches and a plan to rebuild the roster in the visions of John Schneider and Macdonald.
These are 2024 free agents who have a connection to a new Seahawks coach. This is a LONG article with many names and could go past the e-mail length limit, so you may want to click the Seaside Joe banner on the top of the e-mail to make sure it doesn’t get cut off as you’re reading it!
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I do not spend much time talking about outside free agents who the Seahawks “should” or “could” sign for two reasons: a) I think free agency is a foolish distraction and rarely pans out like you think it will and b) It’s too hard to predict which of the hundreds of available players Seattle would actually be interested in. Hard, but not impossible…
Last year, one of the few articles I did write about outside free agents was looking for one player on each team that would make sense for the Seahawks and Seattle signed two of those guys: Dre’Mont Jones and Evan Brown. I even noted that Jones was outside of the Seahawks typical budget but thought maybe if Pete Carroll was willing to spend, he’d be one of the few that Seattle would target and they did. A third name, Zach Allen, came very close to signing with the Seahawks.
So far this year, I’ve written one article about six potential targets on The Athletic’s top-150, a John Schneider trade proposal for every team he has a connection with, and a pre-free agency offseason budget plan that included the three releases Seattle went through with on Tuesday, those being Quandre Diggs, Jamal Adams, and Will Dissly.
We are one week away from free agency and I promise you that Schneider has already had important conversations with agents regarding targets that might make sense for the Seahawks; all that the “legal tampering period” means when it starts next week is “we’re ignoring the illegal tampering that happened at the combine!” In addition, Schneider has had conversations with Mike Macdonald and Macdonald has had conversations with his many new assitant coaches regarding those pending free agents that Seattle’s staff has prior experience coaching.
It would be a minor but still significant shock if the Seahawks signed zero outside free agents who had past connections to current Seattle coaches.
As in the case of Tom Cable, coaches endorse players and players follow coaches. It happens every year on many teams, especially teams with new coaches and plenty of cap space and competition for the next iteration of the roster. The Seahawks will not sign Madubuike—and I never expected them to—but he was one of only many pending free agents who have a past connection to a new Seattle coach. Today’s list is the rest of those names.
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Mike Macdonald, Head coach (Ravens)
Ravens free agents: LB Patrick Queen, OLB Kyle Van Noy, OLB Jadeveon Clowney, CB Ronald Darby, CB Arthur Maulet, CB Rock Ya-Sin, CB Trayvon Mullen, S Geno Stone, CB Daryl Worley, DE Brent Urban, LB Malik Harrison
To start, a couple of notes about how I’m making this list: For the most part, I’m connecting coaches to players on their side of the ball, if they have one, and not listing out literally every free agent from their former teams. There is some discretion being used here, so it’s not comprehensive but I would also say that it’s over the top. I’m naming more names than I should for the sake of casting a wide net.
Second, these names are not endorsements. These are not “This is such a good idea!” It’s just casting a wide net and admitting that I can’t get in the head of these coaches and tell you how they feel about a player or vice versa. In fact, some coaches will scratch OFF a name because of their past experiences of coaching them. Third, I’m not doing college connections for Ryan Grubb, Jay Harbaugh, or Macdonald. That’s a different article!
Now to the Ravens and I’d be a little surprised if the Seahawks signed zero Baltimore free agents.
Patrick Queen is the name that gets talked about the most and I can understand why because he’s a good player and Seattle doesn’t have a true starting inside linebacker signed for 2024. In addition, I have said that I don’t expect Jordyn Brooks to be re-signed, although for me that mostly comes down to the likelihood that he will test the free agent market. The numbers I see thrown around for Brooks in the $10-$12 million AAV range, which are the same numbers he’s presumably seeing, I haven’t seen that level of linebacker play from him in four years. Maybe you have, you could be right and I could be wrong, but with a new coaching staff in place there is no real loyalty to the players already on the roster and Macdonald may want his own guy.
Also, I don’t think the fact that the Seahawks drafted Brooks in the first round should play any part in the decision to re-sign him. It happen, it is in the past, time to only look to the future.
Plus what you will find on this list and the general free agent market is a long list of available linebackers who could fill the role for a lot less than $10 million. Maybe some of them wouldn’t be the starter for more than one or two years, but I think it’s fine to have a stopgap at the position until you draft a day two or day three steal, of which there are a lot at linebacker. In fact, most of the great linebackers were draft or free agency steals. Back to Queen…
The nice thing about Queen and why he’s not totally off the board is that he’s 24, turning 25 in August, an exceptionally young age for a first wave free agent. Theoretically, the team that signs Queen could actually have their inside linebacker set for the next 6-8 years. Now, where I get a little lost on Queen is that he wasn’t considered a good first round pick until the Ravens traded for Roquan Smith, arguably the top linebacker in the NFL. Is he capable of being a top tier linebacker on his own?
His 9.5% missed tackle rate in 2023 was also a little bit too high for a player at his position and it was even worse in 2022. There are two ways to interpret the Patrick Queen free agency for me: If the Seahawks show interest, he must have something because Macdonald knows him better than any coach besides John Harbaugh. If the Seahawks show no interest, that’s the only red flag I need to see.
Now, I’ll pop off a couple of other interesting names here: I wrote about Mike Macdonald’s defensive scheme and why a reunion with Jadeveon Clowney is not out of the question. The only concern I have is “What is Clowney worth now?” He has signed one-year contracts for four consecutive offseasons and he won’t be nearly as cheap as he was in 2023. Does he want a longer commitment now? I wrote about Geno Stone as a legitimate free agent target to watch, which becomes even more relevant with Diggs and Adams gone now.
It is not at all disrespectful to Diggs to say that the $11 million in cap savings is more than enough to replace him with a player of similar, equal, or even more value. This is what happens to players who earn and want big NFL contracts: Eventually almost all of them reach the expected stage of the deals they signed where they aren’t worth the big cap numbers at the end of the contract. He earned $40 million in Seattle! He’ll be fine!
As for the other Ravens free agents I’d say it is safe to keep an eye on any of them. The chatter is all on Queen and Stone but at the end of the day it could be Malik Harrison or Ronald Darby going to the Seahawks. Low-key, low-risk additions who already know Mike Macdonald’s system and style. I expect some of these names to be linked to Seattle next week but if you keep reading past the paywall, you’ll see a lot more!
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