Category Archives: Contracts

How will Hawks make cap room for rookies and the rest?

May 2, 2023 cc 1 Comment

Upon completion of a draft that added 10 players to Seattle’s cap-strapped roster, John Schneider was asked whether he needed to make any contract-related moves to sign the rookies.

Schneider’s answer: “We’re OK right now.”

“Right now” is the operative phrase, as the Seahawks definitely will need to create about $4 million in space to sign the rookies before training camp. By the time the season starts, they also will need about $6 million for practice squad and injury moves. And they probably are budgeting about $2.5 million for Al Woods or another veteran D-lineman – which they need very much.

All told, the Hawks need about $12.5 million in added cap space.

So where do they get it?

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Contracts, Free agency

After Wagner’s return, Hawks ‘pretty tapped out’ but still have work to do

March 30, 2023 cc Leave a comment

After the Seahawks cut Al Woods last week, John Schneider told Seattle Sports 710 “… we needed to create some space to try to get something done.”

And then they got that “something done,” bringing back Bobby Wagner on a deal reportedly worth up to $7 million.

It put the cap on perhaps the most aggressive free agency period we have seen by Schneider and Co., who signed six projected starters – five of them on defense – and paid an aggregate annual average of $8.5 million, the most they have ever spent on outside free agents in an offseason. Most of that is thanks to paying $17 million per year to new star defensive lineman Dre Jones, but all except Evan Brown got more than $3.5 million per year.

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Contracts, Free agency

Hawks full of (good) surprises in first week of free agency

March 18, 2023 cc 1 Comment

John Schneider and Pete Carroll were not kidding when they declared they were going to get better on the defensive line this offseason.

They surprised everyone by breaking out of their frugal free agency routine when they gave Dre Jones the biggest deal they have ever given an outside free agent: $17 million per year over three years. It was a stunningly aggressive start to what has been a surprising free agency period in several ways.

Jarran Reed unexpectedly returned. The Hawks got a good veteran center for much cheaper than expected. Linebackers went fast, but the Hawks added Devin Bush — and Bobby Wagner remained unsigned through this publish, giving Quandre Diggs and many fans hope that he might yet return. The Hawks also added a good starting safety at a bargain, creating all kinds of questions and possibilities at that position.

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Contracts, The roster

2023 is make-or-break for $70M man Adams

February 20, 2023 cc Leave a comment

Q&A series: We take a look at some big questions about the Seahawks’ salary cap situation and roster.

Today’s question: Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs are the highest-paid safety tandem in the NFL and have the largest cap hits on the team in 2023. How is that hurting the team? And how long will that continue?

Recent salary guarantees for Seattle’s top-paid players served as the latest occasion for some fans to grouse about the team’s overinvestment in its safeties.

The Seahawks having the highest-paid safety duo in the NFL is nothing new. Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor once held that distinction, too.

But Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs are no Chancellor and Thomas, and plenty of fans are understandably irked over Seattle’s waste of resources at the position – they have the highest cap hits on the team in 2023 at $18.1 million each, ahead of star receivers Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf.

Some who don’t understand capology – or the way the Seahawks operate — want the rehabbing Adams to be cut. That won’t happen, especially after part of his salary was guaranteed on Feb. 17. But you can bet 2024 will be a different conversation, if he does not play up to his $70 million contract in 2023.

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Contracts, NFL draft

Smith a better value than top-five QB in 2023

February 4, 2023 cc Leave a comment

Q&A series: We take a look at some big questions about the Seahawks’ salary cap situation and roster.

Today’s question: Instead of paying big money to Geno Smith, should the Seahawks draft a QB or go with Drew Lock and use cap space on other positions?

There remains a subset of fans and media who think the formula for winning the Super Bowl is a quarterback on a rookie contract and a team built around that player.

The main data point for their argument is the fact that no team has won a Super Bowl with a QB who has taken up more than 13.1% of the team’s salary cap. Russell Wilson, a former third-round pick with a cap hit of $681,000 when the Seahawks won the Super Bowl, is the bellwether for that theory.

The fact is that, in the salary cap era (1994 to now), 75% of the time the Super Bowl-winning QB has been in the top three in team cap percentage, according to a 2022 study by Bookies.com. Three QBs on rookie deals have won it in the past 11 years, but most of the winners fell in the range of 10.6% to 12.3% of team cap.

In other words, there is no rhyme or reason to the trend.

If the Chiefs beat the Eagles in Super Bowl LVII, Patrick Mahomes will become the first QB over 13.1% (Steve Young in 1994) to win it. Mahomes took up 17.2% of the Chiefs’ cap this season.

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Contracts, Free agency

Cap situation makes franchise tag for Geno Smith unlikely

January 21, 2023 cc Leave a comment

While the franchise tag seems like an easy fallback option for the Seahawks to retain Geno Smith, a close look at their salary cap situation reveals that they probably are not going to use it – or, if they do, it won’t be for long.

If they do not use it by the March 7 deadline, they would have until March 13, when free agency discussions with other teams can begin, to get a deal with Smith.

Here’s why.

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Contracts, Free agency

‘So many decisions’: Diggs and other offseason priorities

February 23, 2022 cc Leave a comment

“We have so many decisions to make and so many things we have to handle.” – Pete Carroll.

As the franchise tag window opened this week, a report emerged that the Seahawks have begun negotiating a long-term deal with Quandre Diggs. Consider that the first step as Seattle’s offseason gets under way.

As the 2021 season ended, Pete Carroll said he wanted most of the roster from the 7-10 season back. Diggs is obviously the No. 1 free agent.

As the offseason revs up and the league year approaches, let’s look at Diggs and Seattle’s other priorities (we’ll avoid Russell Wilson trade talk here).

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Contracts

Diggs’ value is $14M; Hawks should pay it

January 27, 2022 cc 5 Comments

Quandre Diggs wants (and deserves) to be paid, and Pete Carroll already made it sound like he is going to be.

Diggs recently told Seahawks.com he would like to be back in Seattle but wants to “feel fairly compensated knowing that I’m a two-time Pro-Bowler (who received) All-Pro votes and (am) one of the best, if not the best, free safety in the NFL.”

“I feel like I did everything the right way to be compensated as well,” he said. “If it works out and they say they want to do it, let’s get it done.”

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Contracts, The roster, Week 18: At Arizona

Futures of Diggs, Penny are the focus after notable season finale

January 9, 2022 cc Leave a comment

Seattle’s 38-30 win in Arizona was meaningless to the franchise as far as this season is concerned, but it certainly meant a lot to the futures of Quandre Diggs and Rashaad Penny – for opposite reasons.

Poor Diggs suffered a broken fibula and dislocated ankle in the fourth quarter and left on a cart in tears as he surely considered the impact of the injury on his impending free agency.

Meanwhile, Penny had another big game, leading even more people to foolishly suggest the Seahawks pay him a bunch of money this year.

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Contracts, The roster

Hawks placate Diggs, Brown until 2022 becomes clearer

September 9, 2021 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks didn’t want to extend Duane Brown or Quandre Diggs before this season, but they did what they could by guaranteeing their 2021 salaries with signing bonuses. Now the team waits.

The Hawks also gave the players voidable years in 2022, which allow both to get injury protection for next year while also slicing the 2021 cap hits. Diggs already had reportedly taken out an insurance policy.

Brown, due $11 million in compensation, got a $7 million signing bonus and $4 million salary, which will be guaranteed after Week 1. Diggs, due $6 million, will get $5 million of it now.

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