5 Seahawks with immense value potential on the salary cap
5 Seahawks with immense value potential on the salary cap
Byron Murphy II and 4 other Seahawks who could give Seattle the most value at their positions: Seaside Joe 1969
Over the weekend, the Green Bay Packers signed defensive tackle Kenny Clark to a three-year, $64 million contract extension that assures him a raise from $17.5 million to $21.3 million per season. Clark became the eighth defensive tackle this year to sign a new contract that pays him at least $21 million per season, but he’s actually on the low end of those new deals:
Chris Jones ($31.75/yr), Christian Wilkins ($27.5), Justin Madubuike ($24.5), Derrick Brown ($24), and DeForest Buckner ($23) outpace him by at least $1 million, while Leonard Williams ($21.5) and Christian Barmore ($21) are in almost the exact same tier. This does not include deals signed prior to 2024, including Aaron Donald (still costing the Rams $25 million this season despite being retired), Quinnen Williams, Jeffery Simmons, Daron Payne, Dexter Lawrence, and Javon Hargrave.
Essentially what I’m getting at is that the going rate of a premium defensive tackle is between $21 million and $32 million per season.
And the going rate for a defensive tackle in Mike Macdonald’s defense who goes off for 13.5 sacks, that being Madubuike in 2023, is a four-year, $98 million deal with $48.5 million guaranteed. That’s $24.5 million per season, which is in fact $20.5 million more per year than what the Seahawks are going to pay first round pick Byron Murphy II between now and 2027.
Looking at just the short term numbers, Madubuike will make a little over $8 million more than Murphy in 2024 ($11 million cap hit) and $12 million more in 2025 ($15.5 million cap hit). If Madubuike is still playing with the Ravens in 2026, which is probable, his $30 million cap hit (if not restructured) is almost $26 million more than Murphy’s third year cost with Seattle.
In a way, this is a total cost difference of $46 million in the next three seasons between Murphy and Madubuike. What type of player can you get for $15 million per year?
Well, for one, only three players on the Seahawks current roster will make more than $11 million against the cap in 2024 (Geno Smith, DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett) and only six are slated to make at least $15 million in 2025. But of those six, we don’t know for sure how many will still be on the team, which will include Geno, DK, Lockett, Dre’Mont Jones, Uchenna Nwosu, and Leonard Williams.
A $15 million player could be a STAR tight end, linebacker, guard, safety, center, or running back. He could be a high end WR2, CB2, or a valuable member of your edge rusher rotation. Even in today’s world of bonkers contract numbers that are so large, I’m not sure we can even fully comprehend them anymore (Imagine someone saying that you “only” make $3 million this year), a $15 million player is often one of the three or four best veterans on your entire team. Not a single player on the New England Patriots will make $15 million this season.
And that is the difference between having Justin Madubuike or Byron Murphy II over the next three years: It’s enough to fit one more star, or potentially split between 3-5 really good players, on your roster.
All of which is super relevant information for Seahawks fans to have…If Byron Murphy II lives up to his draft status and excels as Macdonald’s nose tackle to a degree that is anywhere close to how Madubuike developed for the same defensive coordinator in Baltimore.
And this is part of the reason that Seattle drafted Murphy instead of…Cooper DeJean…instead of Graham Barton…instead of Edgerrin Cooper.
It’s not the only reason or even in the top-3 reasons, but a nose tackle who is a devastating interior defensive presence has proven to be hard to find and those that we know of (the previously listed highest-paid at the position) are among the most valuable players in the NFL. As opposed to a player who might be a safety, like DeJean; or who might be a center, like Barton; or who plays off-ball linebacker, like Cooper.
A $3 million off-ball linebacker might give his team $10 million of surplus value at his peak. A $3 million center is only making $10 million less than the highest-paid center in the league. (Remember, I’m comparing Murphy to Madbuike, and even Madubuike makes $7 million less per year than Chris Jones.) And at safety, perennial Pro Bowler Justin Simmons hasn’t even signed with a team yet.
Again, the Seattle Seahawks drafted Murphy at pick 16 because he was a wrecking ball at the University of Texas and viewed by many as the top defensive player in the entire class, worthy of a top-10 pick. Remember what I wrote about not long ago: “(Murphy) will dominate and he will dominate early” according to a former teammate of Warren Sapp’s.
But the cherry on top is that if Byron Murphy taps into his potential as a top-10 defensive tackle within the next three years, he will be one of the best values on defense in the entire NFL.
Though it would be a thrilling surprise for Murphy to be that good as a rookie (few players I’ve talked about today other than Aaron Donald were dominant within their first two seasons in the league), it would not be surprising for the Seahawks to see that value play out for them a little bit in 2024, a little more in 2025, and a lot in 2026. Again, the 2026 salary cap difference between Byron Murphy and Justin Madubuike is $26 million, which is more than Geno Smith makes per year!
By drafting a high-impact, high-value position in the first round this year, at a time when teams are highly paying often over-paying for defensive tackles, the Seahawks have opened themselves up to potentially have a great value in the middle of their defensive line. One who could really help Seattle add/keep other high-impact players at other positions in the next few years.
But he’s not the only one.
Today is Seaside Joe 1969. As we do every day now, shout yourself out in the comments if you were born in 1969!
In the rest of today’s Seaside Joe article for Regular Joes and Super Joes subscribers, I’ll cover the 4 other members of the Seahawks 2024 roster who could give Seattle the best values on their team and relative to the highest-paid players in the NFL at their same position.
You’ve been thinking about upgrading to Regular Joes or Super Joes for a while now. Isn’t today the best day to do it and lock yourself in for $55 per year for life? You’ll be paid up all the way through the entire 2025 offseason if you sign up today!
We’ll look at who the Seahawks potentially best players are, how much they’re set to be paid against the salary cap in the coming seasons, and compare that to other players at the same position who have already been paid. I think you know we’ll start with Devon Witherspoon, but can you guess where we will end up?