Hawks get rare third-round comp pick

March 11, 2016 cc Leave a comment

As expected, the Seahawks will have three compensatory draft picks this year — including a third-rounder for losing Byron Maxwell last offseason.

Adding a fifth-rounder for losing James Carpenter and a sixth for Malcolm Smith, the Seahawks now have nine picks: a first, a second, two thirds, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth and two sevenths. They have four picks in the top 97.

Last summer, they traded their fifth to Kansas City for safety Kelcie McCray and their sixth to Detroit for cornerback Mohammed Seisay. They acquired the other seventh from Dallas for running back Christine Michael.

This will be just the second time the Seahawks have ever had a third-round comp pick. In 2005, they pulled a third-rounder for losing Shawn Springs that they used on Leroy Hill.

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Contracts, Free agency, State of the team

Hawks at 3-3 in free agency, with Okung remaining

March 10, 2016 cc Leave a comment

Russell Okung talks with GM John Schneider during minicamp in June (AP) The Seahawks went 3-3 with their top free agents in the first two days of free agency, and Russell Okung will be the tiebreaker — perhaps on Day 3.

The Hawks gave very good deals to Jeremy Lane ($23 million over four years) and Jermaine Kearse ($13.5 million over three years), which is in line with reports that the Hawks have made competitive offers to their free agents (Bruce Irvin and Brandon Mebane being exceptions). J.R. Sweezy, who signed for $6.5 million a year, said they were in the running, and Seattle reportedly has made a “strong” offer to Okung.

Of course, it might not be strong enough. Okung is off to visit the New York Giants and Detroit Lions. The Giants have spent heavily this week and still have around $20 million in salary cap space left. Detroit has $25 million (numbers via OTC).

The San Francisco 49ers also reportedly are interested, which would seem to indicate they are ready to move on from Joe Staley.

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Contracts, Free agency

2012 picks get paid; Mebane’s tenure ends

March 10, 2016 cc 1 Comment

The Seahawks had a busy first day of free agency, saying goodbye to three Super Bowl stalwarts, watching their 2012 draft class continue to get paid, retaining another starting defender and celebrating their first Super Bowl quarterback as he retired.

It was no surprise that Bruce Irvin, J.R. Sweezy and Brandon Mebane signed elsewhere (even though we expected Mebane to be back). In fact, the Seahawks already were busy trying to replace Irvin and Mebane as former Hawk Chris Clemons reportedly was coming for a visit and Seattle reportedly showed interest in the Eagles’ Cedric Thornton and the Steelers’ Cam Thomas.

A return by the 34-year-old Clemons would be poetic, since he mentored Irvin through his first two NFL seasons. Clemons played with Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril in 2013, when the Seahawks won the Super Bowl.

The Seahawks didn’t try very hard to keep Irvin or Mebane, knowing Irvin would be too expensive and declining to pay Mebane as much as they gave Ahtyba Rubin ($4 million a year) the other day. Irvin ended up getting $9 million a year from Oakland, while Mebane also headed to the AFC West, getting $4.5 million a year from San Diego. Sweezy received a $6.5 million average from Tampa Bay.

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Contracts, Free agency

Big-spending Raiders, Jags make it tougher on Hawks, Bennett

March 9, 2016 cc 2 Comments

A month ago, the NFLPA called out the Raiders and Jaguars for falling behind the CBA’s minimum-spend requirement; so, with a combined $140 million in cap space, it was obvious those teams were going to come out spending this week.

While that is good news for Bruce Irvin, who reportedly will sign a big deal with the Raiders, it might not be a great development for the relationship between Michael Bennett and the Seahawks.

Bennett obviously will take notice of Malik Jackson’s $90 million deal with Jacksonville and feel even more underpaid than he already does. At $15 million a year, Jackson is blowing away the market for defensive ends. And you have to wonder if that will scuttle any chance of Seattle working something out with Bennett.

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Contracts, Free agency

No surprises: Rubin’s back; Irvin, Sweezy in high demand

March 8, 2016 cc Leave a comment

As the free agency negotiating period began Monday, two days ahead of the new league year, the Seahawks were at the center of a lot of expected news.

As expected, they managed to re-sign Ahtyba Rubin, one of their excellent veteran defensive tackles. As expected, Bruce Irvin and J.R. Sweezy received a lot of interest. And, as expected, former Seahawk Byron Maxwell did not last long in Philadelphia.

Rubin agreed on a three-year deal. The value was unknown Monday, but expect it to be around $4 million a year. Also expect the Seahawks to keep Brandon Mebane on a cheaper deal.

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Contracts, Free agency

Lewis valued enough for lowest tender

March 5, 2016 cc 2 Comments

Patrick Lewis Over the past couple of years, the Seahawks have used second-round tenders on three restricted free agents (RFAs) — valuing Doug Baldwin, Jeron Johnson and Jermaine Kearse at over $2 million each.

This year they have no RFAs worth that, so it’s no surprise the Seahawks didn’t use a second-round tender.

It wouldn’t have been a surprise if they hadn’t used any tenders, but they apparently want Patrick Lewis back enough that they gave him the lowest offer — $1.67 million. That means the Hawks can match an offer he might sign with another team by the April 22 deadline, but it also means they would get no draft compensation for not matching (he was undrafted when he entered the NFL with Green Bay in 2013).

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Contracts, Free agency

As league year nears, UFA picture clears

March 4, 2016 cc 4 Comments

UFA projections As the start of the league year fast approaches, we are starting to get an idea of how it is going to play out for Seattle’s top free agents.

Reports over the past two days indicate that Bruce Irvin and Jermaine Kearse aren’t going to be back. Irvin is expected to get around $10 million a year, with Jacksonville and Atlanta among the expected top suitors.

On Wednesday, Irvin told 710 ESPN, “If the money was close, I would definitely consider” signing with the Seahawks. But it won’t be close — Seattle can’t afford more than perhaps $6 million a year.

Meanwhile, Kearse reportedly is planning to sign elsewhere — a sign that the Seahawks have told him their limit (likely $3 million a year) and he knows he can get more elsewhere (maybe $6 million). Speculation has him replacing Roddy White in Atlanta, where former Seattle DC Dan Quinn is entering his second year as coach.

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CHAWK LINES, Free agency, NFL Combine

March 1, 2016 cc Leave a comment

chawk lines -- Combine

You know that meeting between the Seahawks and Doug Hendrickson? It wasn’t really about Michael Bennett’s contract, per Gregg Bell.

Brandon Mebane, the longest-tenured Seahawk at nine seasons, would love to finish his career in Seattle. Seems like it should get done.

At the Combine, Pete Carroll talked about the process of learning about draft prospects.

Hilarious: Marshawn Lynch was rappin’ while “ghost-ridin'” a camel in Egypt.

Russell Wilson debuted his new clothing line at Nordstrom.
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It's bigger than football, NFL Combine, NFL draft

Carroll: Clark ‘a great kid in the program’

March 1, 2016 cc 1 Comment

A year ago at this time, the Seahawks were in the process of vetting Frank Clark — the controversial pass rusher they were targeting at the bottom of the second round.

They were ripped for the pick by almost every mainstream media outlet, and The Seattle Times did its own reverse investigation into Clark’s domestic incident and criticized the Seahawks’ background research into Clark. (For the record, we told everyone to lay off and trust the judgment of Pete Carroll and John Schneider.)

Not surprisingly (to us), Clark made it through his first season without drawing another bad word from anyone, and Carroll said Monday that the team monitored Clark closely — he reportedly continued counseling that he had started in Michigan — and “he was a great kid in the program.”

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CHAWK LINES, Free agency, NFL Combine

February 26, 2016 cc Leave a comment

chawk lines -- Combine

Asked about Michael Bennett and Kam Chancellor, Pete Carroll said, “Really, the guys who are under contract can’t be the first-priority guys right now, in any order. We are really digging in, trying to keep our team together. And that will always be the way we go about it. We love Kam and Mike … and we are going to do all we can to make sure they can stay with us.”