Category Archives: Free agency

Free agency, NFL draft

Hawks won’t get four 3s; here’s how comp game likely plays out

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With the Seahawks expected to lose as many as five top free agents, we said earlier this week that it looked like John Schneider seemed prepared to play the comp game.

Fans have started dreaming about having a basket of third-round picks in 2027, while others (us included) point out that Schneider has never done well with comp picks.

Let’s take a look at what the comp options might be and then how Schneider has used them in the past and how he might be able to use them this year (despite not getting them until next year).

Continue reading Hawks won’t get four 3s; here’s how comp game likely plays out →
Free agency

Shaheed testing market; Greenard an edge option?

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As free agency looms ever closer, the scuttlebutt is heating up and the drama is building.

The latest for the Seahawks, based on various reputable reports:

  • Rashid Shaheed is their top priority, but they have not offered enough to keep him from testing the market.
  • Kenneth Walker III could get as much as $16 million a year.
  • Tyler Allgeier is indeed on Seattle’s radar as a possible replacement for Walker and the injured Zach Charbonnet.
  • At pass rusher, a cheaper option than Maxx Crosby may have emerged.

Let’s break it down.

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Contracts, Free agency, Trades

The expected plan: Shaheed, trades, comp picks, extensions

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With more intel and scuttlebutt emerging from the Combine, we think we have a good idea how John Schneider and the Seahawks are going to approach the new league year next week.

All signs point to Kenneth Walker III leaving Seattle along with Riq Woolen, Coby Bryant and Boye Mafe. Some fans are wondering why the team would not want to pay them top dollar when the Seahawks have the sixth-most salary cap space in the NFL: “Why not pay them all and run it back with the same crew?”

It is simple: The Seahawks have to plan beyond 2026, and they have better needs and desires for that cap space.

In a nutshell, here’s how we think it is going to play out:

Continue reading The expected plan: Shaheed, trades, comp picks, extensions →
Contracts, Free agency

Hawks saved $30M in 2025 swapping out QB and receivers

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Ever since the Seahawks
essentially swapped Geno Smith, DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett for Sam Darnold, Cooper Kupp and Marques Valdes-Scantling, plus a couple of Day 2 picks, fans have debated whether the Hawks made a good aggregate deal.

Now that we have numbers on all of Seattle’s contracts, we can compare the money (pending Smith’s new deal with the Raiders).

Continue reading Hawks saved $30M in 2025 swapping out QB and receivers →
Free agency, NFL draft

OL: After free agency whiff, it is all on the draft now

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It is no big surprise that the Seahawks once again missed out on adding a
notable veteran lineman.

It has been apparent since Teven Jenkins — an injury risk — left the VMAC without a deal that the Hawks likely were going to end up settling on a middling one-year vet again – a la Laken Tomlinson in 2024.

But John Schneider needs to get serious about the offensive line in this draft.

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Free agency, The roster

After a week of free agency, a look at the roster

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John Schneider’s Seahawks had a stunning first week of free agency, unexpectedly trading both Geno Smith and DK Metcalf and then quickly replacing Smith with Sam Darnold.

They also re-signed two big pieces of their defense, Ernest Jones IV and Jarran Reed. And they brought in Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Cooper Kupp to help replace Metcalf and the released Tyler Lockett. DeMarcus Lawrence was added to beef up their front seven (especially in the run game).

They bid big ($17 million a year) but missed out on the top free-agent guard, Will Fries. But they still might end up with one of the top guards; Teven Jenkins (Chicago) is due in for a visit to the VMAC on Monday.

After a week of free agency, the defense – already on schedule to be a top-five unit in 2025 — is a bit better, and the offense is still rebuilding after the surprising mini-teardown.

Let’s take a look at the roster.

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Coaches, Free agency, X's & O's

Macdonald, Kubiak are building an offense that can hit the ground running

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Mike Macdonald intends to win playoff games in 2025 – and he has a pretty clever plan for making sure it happens.

It’s called familiarity. He is returning nearly his entire 10th-ranked defense from 2024 (and making it better), and he his putting together an offense that he expects to literally hit the ground running.

It started with bringing in a veteran offensive staff full of guys who had worked together before. Macdonald knew Klint Kubiak would bring run game coordinator Rick Dennison, offensive line coach John Benton and quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko. All have worked with him in the past.

Then, when free agency began this week, Kubiak was key in the Seahawks recruiting both Sam Darnold and Marquez Valdes-Scantling – who both know Kubiak and the offense.

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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.

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