Before we get into what Seattle still needs to check off its offseason to-do list, a quick recap of the moves the Seahawks have made since the start of free agency:
Offensive guard Gabe Jackson was acquired in a trade from Las Vegas, a league source confirmed to The Athletic. Seattle is reportedly sending the Raiders a fifth-round pick. Jackson, 29, has two non-guaranteed years remaining on his contract and is scheduled to carry a $9.6 million cap hit the next two seasons, unless Seattle re-works his deal via restructure or extension. Jackson spent the past five seasons playing right guard but he was on the left side of the line in 2014 and ’15. Either Jackson or second-year right guard Damien Lewis will likely be asked to switch spots in 2021. Jackson allowed 26 pressures, two QB hits and zero sacks in 595 pass blocking snaps, per TruMedia. His 4.4 pressure percentage matches left guard Mike Iupati’s rate from last season, though Iupati did allow a sack, per TruMedia.
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Elsewhere on the offensive line, Seattle agreed to terms with Ethan Pocic, a league source confirmed. The team’s starting center last season comes back on a one-year, $3 million deal, according to NFL Network. Pocic, a second-round pick in 2017, had his first full season as a starter in 2020 and that awarded him a shot to prove himself again in 2021. Pocic probably has a ceiling as a decent-but-not-great center. That won’t excite anyone, especially not the franchise QB, but unless Seattle planned to cash out on Corey Linsley in free agency, re-signing Pocic was always on the table.
Fullback Nick Bellore re-signed with the Seahawks on a two-year deal, a league source confirmed. The terms were not disclosed. Bellore played just 35 offensive snaps in 2020 but was named to the Pro Bowl as a special teams player, which is where he’s most valuable to the Seahawks.
After losing out on cornerback Shaquill Griffin, who received a three-year deal worth up to $44.5 million from Jacksonville, the Seahawks attempted to fill that void with Ahkello Witherspoon, a league source confirmed. The deal has not yet been announced. Formerly of the 49ers, Witherspoon was drafted ahead of Griffin in 2017 but has struggled with consistency and was twice benched during the 2019 season before closing out 2020 on a high note. He is expected to sign a one-year, $4 million deal with Seattle.
Seattle signed restricted free-agent defensive tackle Poona Ford to a two-year extension that is worth more than $13.5 million. He’ll receive a $3.5 million signing bonus and carry a 2021 cap hit of $2.6 million. Had Ford signed a second-round tender he would have played this season on a $3.3 million salary. This deal offers more up-front money — $7.5 million guaranteed — with a chance to boost his pay with high sack totals and play-time numbers before hitting the open market at 27 after the 2022 season. For the Seahawks, the extension saves them a tiny bit of cap space this year and locks up one of their best young defenders for an additional season.
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Tight end Gerald Everett, formerly of the Rams, is coming to Seattle to reunite with his old passing game coordinator, Shane Waldron, who is now the Seahawks’ offensive coordinator. Everett is reportedly on a one-year deal worth up to $7 million, with $6 million guaranteed. Everett announced his intention to sign with Seattle on social media. He joins a tight end room with Will Dissly, Colby Parkinson and Tyler Mabry.
The following exclusive-rights free agents were given minimum deals: defensive tackle Bryan Mone, safety Ryan Neal and center Kyle Fuller.
Now, here’s what needs to happen next:
1. The Seahawks need to make the math work on all of these deals. Cutting defensive end Carlos Dunlap pushed Seattle’s total cap space north of $18 million. But when you factor in all of the recent moves, plus an additional $850,000 from the re-signing of running back Alex Collins, the team is operating in the red. That’s unless salary-cap specialist Matt Thomas has some contract restructures and extensions in the works. Re-working or extending quarterback Russell Wilson, linebacker Bobby Wagner, receiver Tyler Lockett, strong safety Jamal Adams and free safety Quandre Diggs can free up more than $41 million, which is more than enough money to complete their reported transactions and add more talent. The Seahawks could have opted to tweak contracts before the start of free agency but it wasn’t a necessity because they weren’t over the salary cap when the new league year started on Wednesday. Seattle in 2017 restructured receiver Doug Baldwin’s contract, then traded for defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson not long after; Wilson’s previous contract was re-worked that season after the trade for left tackle Duane Brown. This may mean that Seattle will start re-working deals, now that it knows exactly how much cash it needs to meet the terms of the free-agent deals to which it has agreed.
The team may run into issues. Moving money around in Wilson’s deal will raise his dead-money hits the next few years. That means if Seattle were to trade him next offseason, it could be even more costly than it would be now. But if the plan is to build the strongest roster possible this season, the team may not have much of a choice. Diggs just made the Pro Bowl and would be unwise to sign an extension that doesn’t at least make him one of the top-10 highest paid players at his position by average annual salary, which would be at least $10 million. Lockett will be just 29 in September; he’s coming off of consecutive 1,000-yard seasons and ranks fifth among receivers in touchdown catches since 2018. He too will likely want a lucrative extension (Lockett and Diggs are both repped by Athletes First). Finding common ground with Adams’ representation could delay the extension process as well. Making him the highest-paid safety at $15 million per year likely wouldn’t be an issue for Seattle, but Adams considers himself a “weapon,” and his pass-rush contribution may prompt his agent to chase a deal worth $20 million per year. That would both reset the safety market and pay Adams like a top-10 edge rusher.
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2. The next step is calling Wilson to see how he feels about the transactions thus far. This assumes Seattle didn’t involve Wilson before making any moves this week, but from my understanding, it is safe to make that assumption. One of Wilson’s primary gripes with management is its inability to put a competent offensive line in front of him. Unless Wilson felt Iupati was primarily at fault last season, it’s unlikely the quarterback is singing a different tune now. But, Seattle won’t know until Pete Carroll calls to find out. If Wilson views swapping Iupati for Jackson as a sufficient upgrade – and to be clear, it is an upgrade – then that’s great news for the franchise. If Wilson is still not satisfied, and perhaps even more frustrated by the fact he wasn’t consulted during the talent-acquisition process, then the organization needs to consider this is a championship-or-bust season, with “bust” defined as no longer having Wilson on the roster in 2022.
3. Running back Chris Carson and linebacker K.J. Wright are up next. Both are still free agents. The running back market, as expected, hasn’t really been kind to players looking to switch teams. Aaron Jones re-upped with the Packers on a four-year, $48 million contract but the richest deal beyond that belongs to Kenyan Drake, who inked a two-year deal worth up to $14.5 million with Las Vegas ($11 million guaranteed). Carson will certainly want more than Drake on a per-year basis but at this point in free agency he’s likely running out of suitors. Wright is a 31-year-old off-ball linebacker so his market is hard to gauge. I predicated a two-year, $13.5 million contract for him to return to Seattle, and while that may still be on the table, the longer players are on the market, the fewer dollars they receive. Losing Griffin is already a hit to Seattle’s defense and losing Wright would be another huge blow, even with 2020 first-round pick Jordyn Brooks waiting in the wings.
4. Receiver David Moore is headed to Carolina and receiver Phillip Dorsett is reportedly headed to Jacksonville, so there’s a void that needs to be filled unless the Seahawks are confident with 2020 sixth-round pick Freddie Swain, the youngsters on reserve/futures deals and whatever they can find with their three 2021 draft picks. In this piece I recommended receivers like Antonio Brown, Adam Humphries and Willie Snead. They’re all still in play to be signed on team-friendly deals, especially after Keelan Cole got $5.5 million for one year with the Jets and the Jaguars gave Moore $4.7 million over two years. T.Y. Hilton, Sammy Watkins and Josh Reynolds are additional receiver options.
5. The pass rush is still a problem. The top five best available players in my eyes (in no particular order) are: Everson Griffen, Melvin Ingram, Jadeveon Clowney, Aldon Smith and Dunlap. The Seahawks can feel a lot better about their defense heading into the draft if they sign one of those edge rushers and bring back defensive end Benson Mayowa.
6. Adding Witherspoon doesn’t erase Seattle’s need for another cornerback but it does impact how much it can spend on the market, so Xavier Rhodes, Richard Sherman and perhaps even Adoree’ Jackson can likely be scratched from the wish list. The same goes for Kyle Fuller, who was released by Chicago. One option Seattle may explore is restricted free agent J.C. Jackson, who received a second-round tender from New England worth $3.3 million. Acquiring Jackson would require offering him a multiyear extension that the Patriots wouldn’t match and giving up a second-round pick. Surrendering a draft pick is what makes this idea incredibly dangerous, as it would leave Seattle with just two draft picks — a fourth and a seventh — with no means of trading back to add more.
But allow me to offer a counterpoint: If this is indeed a championship-or-bust season, punting on this upcoming draft in favor of Jackson puts Seattle much closer to a title than relying on a rookie would. Jackson is 25 and ranks second in the NFL with 17 interceptions since he entered the league in 2018.
(Photo: Joe Nicholson / USA Today)
