Seahawks have $120 million in salary cap decisions next offseason
Seahawks seem tight on cap space now, but they'll actually have a lot to spend: Seaside Joe 1911
As of Saturday, the Seattle Seahawks have $278 million in active cap spending scheduled for the 2025 season, which ranks as the fourth most in the NFL behind the Saints ($328), Browns ($302), and 49ers ($283).
Given that the 2024 salary cap is $255.4 million after a historic rise in spending limit that is not expected to repeat in 2025, next season’s salary cap has been projected at roughly $260 million. That would put the Seahawks $18 million over the cap with their current contracts. As such, Seattle won’t be keeping all of their current contracts and John Schneider has decisions to make with nearly every notable veteran on the team.
QB Geno Smith - $38.5m (cap hit), $10.2 million (bonuses), $25 million (cap savings if released or traded), $13.5 million (dead money)
I wrote about Geno Smith’s 2025 contract decision on episode 1,900. It’s so hard for Geno to be a “great” value at $38.5 million when he’ll be carrying a higher percentage of Seattle’s salary cap than Justin Herbert does in L.A., or Jared Goff does in Detroit, or Trevor Lawrence does in Jacksonville, or Aaron Rodgers does in New York, or Jalen Hurts does in Philadelphia—that his only real leverage to stick around is “you could do worse”.
Fair point. Just keep in mind that his 2025 cap hit is almost twice as much as Rodgers and Hurts. Can the Seahawks keep up with the Eagles and Packers and 49ers when their quarterbacks cost much less than Seattle’s quarterback? That may only be a temporary problem—Hurts, Love, and Brock Purdy will make more in the future—but then they will be replaced by other cheaper quarterbacks such as J.J. McCarthy, Bryce Young, and Michael Penix.
The Seahawks have a “QB value opportunity” with Sam Howell, but that only matters if he plays a lot better than he did for the Moons.
Just to reiterate, I’m saying that Geno needs to be All-Pro caliber to be a great VALUE with his upcoming contract numbers, not that he can’t be a good enough player. This is just about value and his contract is a memo to John Schneider that simply reads: “Can you resist having an extra $25 million to spend?”
WR DK Metcalf - $29.5m (cap hit), $4 million (bonuses), $22 million (cap savings if released or traded), $7.5 million (dead money)
There’ve been a few articles in the past 6-8 months on DK Metcalf’s contract terms and trade value. Seahawks fans would normally never entertain trading a 26-year-old player of Metcalf’s caliber, but for some reason he hasn’t developed that sort of bond with everyone. I get way more questions and queries on what Seattle could get by trading Metcalf than I would have ever seen in the duration of Tyler Lockett or Doug Baldwin’s entire careers. Why do you think that is?
Is it the era we live in with so many exciting receivers entering the draft every year, is it the penalties, or the residue of skepticism that Metcalf doesn’t have a complete route tree?