Quandre Diggs announces important change in his contract

Seahawks add a lot of salary cap space this week, what's it for? Seaside Joe 1606

For basically the entire offseason, Seaside Joe has been addressing the Seattle Seahawks 2023 salary cap situation and ways that the team could choose to find space that they desperately needed. Dating back as far as February, I’ve wondered if the Seahawks would be willing to commit even harder to Quandre Diggs through a restructure in order to save salary cap space in 2023 while losing leverage in 2024. In May, we looked at Seattle’s future salary cap situations and weighed different options ahead, including cuts and restructures. A few days later, the team restructured Tyler Lockett.

On Monday, the Seahawks extended Uchenna Nwosu in order to get enough salary cap space to sign their last two remaining rookies (as of this newsletter reaching you on Tuesday morning, Devon Witherspoon and Zach Charbonnet remain unsigned…).

On Tuesday, Diggs announced that he has restructured his contract. Is this money saved meant for something else?

More News: Seahawks sign track star cornerback on Tuesday to complete roster

Even More News: Seahawks release Alton Robinson, two others, and sign another nose tackle

According to OvertheCap.com, the Seahawks can save up to $6.152 million by restructuring Diggs contract: This means that Seattle takes his $13.49 million base salary (which is massive, by the way, it is the highest base salary left on the team) and converts most of it into a signing bonus. A signing bonus can be prorated over several years (up to five) so that means that teams are able to spread out their commitment into the future to save money against the cap in the present.

Yes, the Seahawks save up to $6.1 million this year, but they would be losing between $6-$7 million in cap space in 2024. That’s if they did the most they could do. Furthermore, Seattle would lose leverage with Diggs: They could save $11 million by releasing him in 2024, but a full restructure leave over $10 million in dead money if the Seahawks did have to move on.

2024 is the final year of Diggs’ contract with Seattle.

OtC has not yet updated the Seahawks current 2023 cap space following the Nwosu restructure, and we don’t have final details on these moves yet, so I can’t say exactly how much cap space the Seahawks have now. They had $7.1 million prior to this, but we know from my “Do Seahawks need money to sign Devon and Zach?” article last month that all of that money goes to those two rookies.

Keep scrolling and reading to find out what the Seahawks may want this extra cap space for.

Want to be informed when Devon Witherspoon and Zach Charbonnet sign? Want immediate updates on the Seattle Seahawks? Want comprehensive coverage of the team and breaking news? Then make sure you ARE SIGNED UP for our newsletter! Enter your email in the box below to be added to our mailing list as a Seahawks community reaches for #1 on Substack:

How much cap space do they have now?

Let’s say that the Seahawks got $4 million in space from Nwosu’s extension and $6 million from Diggs’ restructure. That’s about $10 million, which is more than enough to finalize their current contracts and to field a practice squad and to prepare for injuries.

The first name to pop up would be Shelby Harris. Released by the Seahawks earlier this offseason, Harris remains a free agent and Seattle has an open roster spot with training camp starting on Tuesday. What is Harris worth on the open market right now? I wouldn’t even bother guessing.

Harris had 44 tackles, four batted passes, two sacks, but only eight pressures in 15 games with the Seahawks last season. Yes, the team needs big men and Harris is familiar with the team and the coaching staff. However, does he give the team an extraordinarily different look than what they’ve already got at the position with his former Denver teammate Dre’Mont Jones and offseason signees Mario Edwards and Jarran Reed? Harris isn’t a 3-tech or a nose tackle.

It would be the most shocking move of the NFL offseason if the Seahawks traded for Chris Jones, so I’m not suggesting that they will. I’m only suggesting that you join Regular Joes and find out what it would cost for them to do something like trading for an All-Pro nose tackle. It was the most popular article of the last seven days after all, and that’s in spite of it being a bonus Joe.

Among other free agents currently still unsigned are RB Dalvin Cook, EDGE Yannick Ngakoue, EDGE Jadeveon Clowney, RB Ezekiel Elliott, RB Kareem Hunt, RB Leonard Fournette (I wonder if these guys are like, “Hey, y’all keep talking about the running backs who actually HAVE jobs! What about us???”), G Dalton Risner, S John Johnson, DL Chris Wormley, DL Matt Ioannadis, EDGE Kyle Van Noy, EDGE Justin Houston, C Ben Jones, EDGE Carlos Dunlap….Actually, it’s quite a few names beyond that.

So Shelby Harris is an option, he’s hardly the only option.

The Seahawks also don’t have to be in a rush to add the 90th player, but restructuring Diggs at this stage in the process would suggest that another move could follow soon because they already did enough to get Witherspoon and Charbonnet by extending Nwosu.

When that news drops, check your e-mail. If you want to help support us through a premium subscription and also getting over 100 bonus articles in the next year, consider upgrading to premium on the first week of training camp!

More News: Seahawks sign track star cornerback on Tuesday to complete roster

Even More News: Seahawks release Alton Robinson, two others, and sign another nose tackle