Seahawks salary cap & contracts situation, 2024-2025
What contracts can the Seahawks get out of in the next 2 offseasons and how much is there to spend? Seaside Joe 1802
In the 2003 film Das Rüm (American title: The Room), antagonist “Chris-R” (for about a minute of the movie and then we never see him again) bullies the son brother neighbor adult-adoptee of protagonist “Johnny” with the classic line that will soon breakthrough to AFI’s top-100ish movie quotes of all-time:
“Where’s my f***ing money, Denny?”
If that scene scares you…Calm down, he’s going to jail.
The life of NFL player contracts is such that without a guaranteed base salary or a prorated bonus payment that makes your dead money cap hit outweigh the benefits to release you, basically every player becomes a “Chris-R” practically every offseason. Before writing this and therefore taking a moment to consider, I would have thought, “No, I mean, most players are safe from release” because it doesn’t seem like there is that much roster turnover every year…
But the reality is that few players are safe and it is only the value of rookie contracts for most that make them less expendable; for example, if the Seahawks could have saved anything resembling “beneficial” by releasing Dee Eskridge in 2023, wouldn’t they have taken that opportunity?
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Eskridge, similar to Rashaad Penny before him, stays because he’s a $1 million player and there’s little financial benefit to replacing him with a player who will cost roughly the same…although this year will be different and Seattle will absolutely consider parting ways (for $1.5 million in savings) ahead of Eskridge’s final rookie contract season.
Once an NFL player signs his second contract, and especially if he’s lucky enough to get a third, the clock immediately starts ticking on when the franchise will see an opportunity to replace him with someone cheaper.
Even Seahawks fans who consider themselves to be the most loyal to Seahawks players would have to admit that third contracts have almost universally been mistakes: Marshawn Lynch, Doug Baldwin, Kam Chancellor, Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman and Russell Wilson (lucky to escape with a trade that netted two first and two second round picks) are just a few examples that come to mind.
With rare exceptions, as players age their net value (how good they are/how much they are paid) shrinks relative to draft picks who are cheaper and oftentimes better. As unfair as that sounds…
Leading players to figuratively threaten a GM on certain cut days with, “Where’s my f***ing money, Johnny (Schneider)!”
This is the business that they signed up for and strived to be a part of and it has never been anything else. For as long as every athlete has been alive, the NFL has been a cutthroat business in which the franchises that win will take every competitive advantage possible regardless of abiding by loyalty that doesn’t really exist for either side: Sometimes you come to the table deserving a raise, sometimes you do everything in your power to avoid going to the table at all. Like, “If I hide in these bushes, maybe the Seahawks will forget about me until my guarantee kicks in.” (Geno Smith and February 16th.)
Even contracts signed last year are up for consideration (Geno), deals that were restructured to save money in 2023 could be terminated (Quandre Diggs, Tyler Lockett, Jamal Adams), and that life-changing amount you signed for is still a life-changing amount, it’s just not as much of a life-changing amount (Will Dissly).
Currently projected to be at least $5 million over the 2024 salary cap, the Seattle Seahawks have to make some cuts and tough decisions in the coming weeks and not all of these players will find salvation on a rooftop. No matter where you go, Chris-R will find you.
(“Hey Joe, I thought the player was Chris-R in this analogy.” Everybody thinks they’re the protagonist in the story…It depends on your perspective.)
Here’s your f***ing money, Denny:
2024 Salary Cap Considerations
Most Cap Savings (thanks OvertheCap): QB Geno Smith ($13.8 million), S Quandre Diggs ($11 million), WR Tyler Lockett ($7.1 million), TE Will Dissly ($6.97 million), S Jamal Adams ($6.08 million), DT Bryan Mone ($5.39 million), S Julian Love ($5.68 million), DE Dre’Mont Jones ($4.84 million), NT Jarran Reed ($4.44 million), ST Nick Bellore ($2.85 million)
I simply listed every player who has at least $2 million in cap savings if released this year without a post-June 1 designation.
That’s not even getting into the weeds of trades or post-June 1 designations (for what it’s worth, Geno can’t be a post-June 1 designation because he does have a $9.6 million roster bonus due in March, which is of course pre-June), and the likelihood of those happening are lower odds than a regular release.