Seahawks restricted free agents
Which restricted free agents will the Seahawks keep and which have played their last down for Seattle?
Whereas an exclusive rights free agent (as detailed yesterday) is a player with fewer than 3 accrued seasons and no contract, a restricted free agent is one who has hit three accrued seasons. The NFL describes the rules of the RFA tender process as such:
RFAs are free to negotiate and sign with any team, but their original team can offer them one of various qualifying offers ("tenders") that come with the Right of First Refusal and/or draft-pick compensation. If the tender is withdrawn by a team, the RFA becomes an unrestricted free agent. Teams must submit these tenders before the start of the 2025 League Year (4 p.m. ET on March 12).
Those tenders include:
First round ($7.5m)
Second round ($5.3m)
Original round ($3.4m)
Right of first refusal ($3.2m)
If a team signed a player who had the first round tender, the Seahawks could either match the contract or receive the other team’s first round pick. And a second round=a second rounder. An “original round” means the round that the player was drafted in. And right of first refusal means that Seattle wouldn’t get a pick but they’d get a chance to match.
So why don’t teams just give everyone a first round tender? Because if no other team signs the player, then they’ve committed a rather large $7.5 million salary to that player.
This all becomes a rather long moot point: Restricted free agents almost never leave their original teams and therefore they can barely be called “free agents” and that’s why the NFL makes it so costly to sign one but also so affordable to keep one.
The Seahawks would probably rather go extension than RFA tender with some of these players, as to lower the cap hit and not delay the inevitable.
LB Drake Thomas
Thomas had a fantastic season (96 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 1 INT, 8 PDs, 10 TFL, 6 QB hits) and the Seahawks are going to keep him. Thomas just barely crossed the accrued threshold in 2023, giving him three accrued seasons and he will be an unrestricted free agent in 2027.
Seattle could go with the second round tender, set a floor of $5.3 million, and know that it’s very unlikely any team is going to give up a second round pick + contract for Drake Thomas. In the off-ball linebacker market, that’s very unlikely.
From that point, it wouldn’t be surprising if John Schneider tried to lock Thomas down for three more years.
When I look at the linebacker salaries at OvertheCap.com, I see a lot of really good veterans who are making $4-$7 million per season. (Ernest Jones is a bargain at $9.5m AAV.) So given that Thomas has no long-term security after 2026, and he’s going to probably get at least $5 million next season, why not offer him a three-year, $18 million contract?
That’s my line of thinking for how to handle Drake Thomas as a RFA.
WR Jake Bobo
Bobo is listed as a wide receiver and sure that’s the position he plays, but he was targeted five times all year. More than half of those were in the playoffs!
So his real position is “special teamer” and there’s also a list of special teamer salaries at OTC. (Which I think is very cool!)
Most of us probably haven’t heard the name Mike Ford, but he’s a cornerback on the Falcons who is also one of the highest-paid special teamers in the league: $2 million AAV. Oren Burks, Nick Bellore, and Reggie Gilliam are also around $2 million.
Slightly more concerning news for Bobo is that he only played in 45% of the special teams snaps in 2025 (compared to 67% in 2024) and the names I just mentioned play in over 75% of the snaps. Brady Russell is Seattle’s top special teamer (we’ll get to him) and he plays 87%.
An original round tender for Bobo would be a little surprising. $3 million for a part-time special teamer who hasn’t grabbed a hold of an offensive role through three seasons?
This is a situation that I would think Schneider tries to revolve with a contract instead of a tender. A two-year, $4 million contract with incentives that could take it up to $6 million would make sense to me.
LS Chris Stoll
The highest-paid longsnapper makes $1.6 million per year. I would think that Seattle attempts to keep Stoll on a contract that comes in around $1.6 million per year.
WR Cody White
It was a year of many firsts for Cody White (first time making the roster out of camp, first career touchdown) but will the season be his last? White ends up appearing in 10 games and catching three passes for 90 yards. He finished the year on injured reserve and missed the playoffs with a groin injury.
White turns 28 in November, which would be rather old even for a Pro Bowl receiver, let alone one who has only been targeted 14 times since he was a rookie.
Cody White won’t be getting a tender but he could still be back in Seahawks training camp this year.
DT Brandon Pili
One of the more pressing offseason needs in 2025 was a “big boy” in the middle of the defense and Pili sort of ended up winning by default.
He played 152 snaps and made 12 tackles, but by the Super Bowl he was a healthy scratch and replaced by the overpowering Rylie Mills.
That seems to be the direction the team is headed in now and even if they’re separated by 40 lbs, the Seahawks are running out of room for Pili on the defensive line. Even if that feels totally wrong, does it seem logical to pay Pili $3.5 million? I think they don’t tender him and I think Pili goes looking for a team that doesn’t have the best defensive line in football where he can maybe get some snaps next year.
S A.J. Finley
I’m going with OvertheCap’s list but is this for real? Finley did not accrue a season in 2025 because he never played. Finley is only 24 and could be back with the team in camp in 2026. He’s not going to get a tender or a contract of any consequence, but Seattle also needs players to practice.
TE Brady Russell
Not just the special teams captain (or “rotating captain” I guess you could say in Seattle’s case), Russell is one of the top special teamers in the entire league.
In fact, Russell is so visible in an “invisible role” that you might be shocked to find out that through three seasons he has only been targeted one time (not a catch) and rushed the ball zero times. Brady Russell has zero career touches and one target in 46 games.
BUT EVERY SEAHAWKS FAN KNOWS BRADY RUSSELL.
The guy ran out with the damn flag in the Super Bowl.
Russell has played tight end, he’s played fullback, and he had 58 offensive snaps in 2025.
As I said before, an elite special teams player might get $2.5 million if he’s extremely lucky. That’s lower than the worst possible restricted free agent tender.
The Seahawks aren’t going to lose Brady Russell and they also probably aren’t going to pay him $3.5 million next season. For some context, even that “small” amount is more than Eric Saubert (who played 276 snaps) and Drew Lock and almost as much as Michael Dickson.
You take Russell and you give him a three-year, $9 million contract with $5 million guaranteed and you tell me, “who’s mad?”
Hopefully nobody.
In a realm where being a “free agent” is anything but being free to test free agency, at least we can find something that seems fair.