Category Archives: Free agency

Coaches, Free agency, The roster

Kubiak ties to Darnold & MVS countered losses of Geno & Metcalf

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Relationships make the NFL go round – and that was never more obvious than in all of the Seahawks’ dealings over the past week.

The franchise’s relationship with DK Metcalf soured to the point that he simply wanted to go play elsewhere. John Schneider said he could not work it out with Metcalf, so he traded him to Pittsburgh.

Then Geno Smith forced a trade when he and his agent refused to respond to Seattle’s fair contract offer – $40 million in 2025, per Brady Henderson. Whether Smith intended it or not, he got a reunion with his favorite coach, Pete Carroll, back in the NFL with the Raiders.

That might have left the Seahawks in a bind if not for Mike Macdonald’s preemptive move to hire Klint Kubiak as offensive coordinator. Kubiak’s previous relationship with Sam Darnold made it easy for the Hawks to quickly replace Smith with Darnold.

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Free agency, On the air

Hasselbeck: If Darnold finds ‘clutch gene,’ he can be a franchise QB

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The big question about new Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold is very simple: Will he
continue to play like he did in Minnesota last season?

Matt Hasselbeck and others are confident he will.

Darnold struggled early in his career because he had really bad coaching with the Jets and Panthers. To his credit, he got out of that cycle and intentionally took a step back so he could learn how to play quarterback in the NFL.

Now he just needs to find that “clutch gene” to become Seattle’s franchise quarterback, Hasselbeck said.

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Free agency, The roster

Free agency Day 3: Hawks apparently gave it a good shot for Fries

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The Seahawks apparently were willing to pay $17 million a year for guard Will Fries but got beat out on guaranteed money.

The Vikings reportedly guaranteed $34 million in a five-year, $88 million deal. The Hawks reportedly were offering a three-year contract similar to what they gave Dre Jones in 2023.

The Hawks also reportedly wanted Fries to take a physical so they could check his broken tibia (suffered in Week 5 last year). But he apparently did not want to wait until today when he had other good offers.

So the Hawks are on to cheaper options. The top guys available all have flaws, but most of them likely would be upgrades over what Seattle has at guard right now.

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Free agency, The roster

Free agency Day 2: Vikings strike back

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The disappointment continues for Seahawks fans who hold out hope every year that John Schneider will pay for a quality offensive lineman or two.

While Schneider did well to quickly sign Sam Darnold on Monday, he has yet to find a starting left guard — and the best options are dwindling.

In a small twist of irony that Darnold is probably chuckling over after he endured so much pressure in the playoff loss to the Rams, the Vikings actually have signed two linemen that Seahawks fans were hoping Schneider would get: center Ryan Kelly and guard Will Fries.

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Contracts, Free agency

Free agency Day 1: Hawks get a good deal on Darnold

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As expected, the Seahawks quickly agreed to a deal with Sam Darnold.

It was reported as $100.5 million over three years, with $37.5 million in Year 1 and $55 million total guaranteed. So essentially that is a two-year deal worth $55 million — $27.5 million a year. And then they will revisit in 2027.

If he continues to ascend his play under Klint Kubiak, he will merit a new deal. Otherwise, the Hawks set it up as a two-year trial — with many thinking (hoping) they will draft a QB this year or next.

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Free agency, The roster

Would Darnold be only a ‘bridge’ quarterback?

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If Sam Darnold does indeed sign with the Seahawks, would he be the next Russell Wilson or just the next Geno Smith – a long-term answer or another so-called placeholder?

National media is abuzz with the projection that Darnold and the Seahawks are headed for a quick marriage – as soon as Monday, when teams can agree to deals with outside free agents.

Along with that informed speculation comes plenty of this: “Darnold would replace Smith as the bridge quarterback while Seattle looks to draft a potential franchise QB in 2025 or 2026.”

But why couldn’t the not-yet 28-year-old Darnold be the longish-term answer for Seattle?

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Coaches, Free agency, Trades

Carroll joining Raiders spices up offseason possibilities

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It is a surprise that some team wanted to hire a 73-year-old coach who fizzled out over his final three years in Seattle, but kudos to Pete Carroll for making an unexpected return to the NFL.

That now leads to natural questions about whether he might want to bring any of his former Seahawks players to Las Vegas. New Raiders GM John Spyvek, hired from Tampa Bay, will have a lot to say about that, of course.

The Raiders have plenty of roster needs, including quarterback, wide receiver and cornerback. The Hawks have three players at those spots whose names have been bandied about in trade speculation. Would Carroll have any interest in a reunion with Geno Smith, DK Metcalf or Riq Woolen?

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Coaches, Free agency, The roster

Macdonald: ‘We want to set the standard in Seattle’

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In Pete Carroll’s last
season in Seattle, his
platitudes and vague
descriptors about what needed to be fixed on the defense had worn super thin and it was so obvious that he really had no idea how he was going to fix the weakest part of his team after years of failing.

That’s why it is so refreshing to hear Mike Macdonald
quietly but confidently talk about how elite his defense is going to be. He outlines it so clearly that you can just see it happening — and not taking long either.

Whether he is talking about how expectations lead to Super Bowl wins, about his motto of Chasing Edges or about “building a wall up the middle” of his defense, he sounds assured that all of these things will happen.

His resume supports his words, which is why he evokes such confidence from so much of the fan base – a huge turnaround from the last couple years of the fading Carroll era.

Here are some of the encouraging things Macdonald said at the NFL owners meetings in Orlando this week, as reported by Michael-Shawn Dugar of The Athletic and John Boyle of Seahawks.com.

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Free agency, The roster

The roster so far: ‘So much work still to do’

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“We’re trying to obviously get big up front and get really strong down the middle of our defense and then try to build from there.” – John Schneider on Seattle Sports 710

The Seahawks entered the offseason needing to fill six positions before they got to the draft. They have gone 5 for 6, re-signing Leonard Williams and Noah Fant, trading for Sam Howell and swapping out their linebackers and safeties.

Player for player, they made these swaps:

They also retained Michael Jackson, Darrell Taylor, Artie Burns, Jon Rhattigan and Myles Adams (ERFA). They brought back former UDFA George Fant, who will start at right tackle if Abe Lucas can’t and will play sixth man/super tight end and swing tackle if Lucas is healthy. They also added another backup guard, Tremayne Anchrum Jr.

They still have no left guard as John Schneider notably continues to avoid spending any money on interior linemen, but they otherwise have addressed all of their needs.

As Mike Macdonald told NFL Network at the league meetings in Orlando, “We have a plan in place, but you’re just trying to do your best day by day and stack days. And now we look back five or six weeks, I feel like we’ve made a lot of progress. But there’s just so much work still to do.”

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Free agency, NFL draft, The roster

March Madness: Schneider never invests much in O-line

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“Guys get overdrafted at (guard) and, in my opinion, they get overpaid.” – John Schneider on Seattle Sports 710

The NCAA tournament begins this week, and Seahawks fans are enduring their annual March madness over John Schneider’s disinterest in building a strong offensive line.

Schneider just doesn’t like to spend on the unit. In eight of the last 10 years, the Hawks have ranked 26th or worse in money paid along the line, according to OverTheCap. This year, just like 2016, the Seahawks have the cheapest offensive line in the NFL. And it very likely will remain that way.

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