Seahawks pay Leonard Williams

Running out of options, the Seahawks re-signed Leonard Williams on Monday, 3/11/2024

Though it seems like a lot of action was happening on Monday and that the Seattle Seahawks were the only team uninvolved, the reality of the first day of free agency is that 15 moves can feel like 1,500. The Seahawks weren’t doing anything unusual—it’s the spenders who are “unusual” if anything—but by Monday afternoon it is nonetheless true that Seattle had a lot of cap space and had yet to put a penny towards a new contract. That changed with the announcement that Noah Fant was returning on a two-year deal and now Leonard Williams has returned too.

The Seahawks are giving Williams a three-year, $64.5 million contract.

I was working on an upcoming article about “Where will the Seahawks remaining cap space go?” and the first bulletpoint was reserved for Williams. The $21.5 million AAV is in line with expectations and ranks right behind former Giants teammate Dexter Lawrence at $22.5 million. The highest-paid defensive tackle of the new free agency period was Christian Wilkins, who signed a four-year contract averaging $27.5 million per season with the Raiders.

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Though Seattle’s front office, specifically GM John Schneider, is called somewhat “safe” and “frugal” in free agency, let’s not mince words or confuse reality: The Seahawks traded for Leonard Williams, a former sixth overall pick, and then signed him to a top-10 defensive tackle contract. What’s the difference between that and signing Williams in free agency? Other than the fact that Schneider had to give up more to get him than he would have in free agency?

(It’s worth noting that while the Seahawks did give up a second and a fifth for Williams, re-signing him means that he won’t count in their compensatory pick formula for 2025, which you can read all about here. Had the Seahawks signed Williams in free agency, it could have cost them a mid-round pick that they might be getting back for Jordyn Brooks. So there is a minor offset there.)

The Seahawks didn’t add Williams in free agency but they did add him six months ago and then pay him after the market opened. Seattle also acquired Noah Fant, a former 20th overall pick, and paid him an eight-figure deal. I’d hardly call that “safe”.

I didn’t predict that the Seahawks would sign Williams and Fant, as I had incorrectly assumed that they’d be lost when the free agent market opened. But after Seattle saw Colby Parkinson sign with the Rams and Brooks sign with the Dolphins, there was a lump of over $50 million in cap space left for the team to spend. If Fant and Williams combine for about $15-$20 million of that in the first year of their new contracts, the Seahawks still have maybe $30-$35 million left to spend.

What’s next?

I’ll cover more of that in Tuesday’s morning’s aforementioned article, but the key free agents left from Seattle’s list are Damien Lewis, Evan Brown, Bobby Wagner, Drew Lock, DeeJay Dallas, Phil Haynes, and restricted free agents Darrell Taylor, Mike Jackson. We know that the team was vocal about wanting to retain Williams, they’ve been just as vocal about Lock.

There is a report that Bobby Wagner will not be retained, which is believable.

The price to keep Damien Lewis is the next domino to watch, as guards have been getting the most unexpectedly-high AAV on new contracts so far this week. If Lewis costs over $16 million per season, I would think that the Seahawks walk away. The fact that he hasn’t signed yet though tells me that he’s not getting as good of offers as the other free agent guards.