Just a few days after Geno Smith’s 2024 salary became guaranteed, the Seahawks made a mildly surprising move to give him even more guaranteed money, converting his March roster bonus into a pay-now bonus to add $4.8 million in cap space.
Why did they decide to pay the $9.6 million now, three weeks before the league year begins and 25 days before it was technically due?
Continue reading Why pay Geno now? The Combine is comingNow that the Seahawks have proven how far they are from contending, with another double-digit loss to the 49ers, attention for most is turning to the future of this franchise. How do they get where the 49ers are?
Pete Carroll’s team is technically still in the playoff chase, but the odds are against the Hawks making it. They are 6-7 with four straight losses – something Carroll hasn’t been a part of for at least a couple of decades — and probably will go 2-2 in the final four to finish 8-9.
The Hawks are among the league’s many mediocre teams: 13 are 6-7 or 7-6. The 49ers are the clear class of the NFC, if not the NFL, and Seattle has been beaten by that Super Bowl contender by an aggregate score of 59-29 (average of about 30-15) twice over the past three weeks. So we know the gap between the Hawks and Super Bowl contention: two touchdowns.
But no one really knows what the solution for this team is. Many want Carroll gone (whether he is fired or retires). Others want coordinators ousted. Others want better players at key spots. Some people want all of the above.
One thing’s for sure: Something has to change.
Continue reading More ‘bad ball’ from the defense means it’s time to look aheadThe Seahawks were expected to have a top-10 offense in 2023, but here we are in Week 12 and they rank 21st overall, 19th in scoring.
They have not had an offense rank this poorly since 2011, the year before Russell Wilson arrived.
After a predictable 31-13 blowout by the 49ers on Thanksgiving night, the Hawks have lost three of four games to drop to 6-5. And they are staring at an upcoming gantlet of Dallas, San Francisco again and Philadelphia that seems very likely to drop them to 6-8.
Continue reading Hawks must get ground game going if they want to make a runUpon 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?
Continue reading How will Hawks make cap room for rookies and the rest?
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.
Continue reading After Wagner’s return, Hawks ‘pretty tapped out’ but still have work to doQ&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.
Continue reading 2023 is make-or-break for $70M man Adams
In the wake of a surprising (to most) playoff appearance, there is a lot of optimism about the immediate future of the Seahawks. Many seem to think it’s automatic that the team will take the next step and contend next season.
But John Schneider and Pete Carroll have a lot of work to do to convert those positive vibes into a team that can yield positive results in the playoffs. As Carroll said, “It’s nothing unless we do something with it.”
There are two main things to do: Secure the quarterback position and remake the defensive front seven.
Continue reading Lots of optimism, but Hawks have to ‘do something with it’
It has become obvious over the last month: The Seahawks simply do not have the horses up front to make the playoffs. If they get in, it will be because Washington or New York stumbled worse in the final month.
The Seahawks’ defensive front seven continues to be a major problem. Their big men are not good enough to beat five-on-three blocking in the running game, and their linebackers are not savvy enough to position themselves properly or big enough to shed blocks against the run.
Carolina ran for 223 yards, and Seattle now has given up 209.5 rushing yards per game over the past four – losing three of them and falling back out of the playoff race with this loss.
Continue reading Miscast front seven fails again — and there is no fix this season
When the Seahawks were considered annual contenders, from 2012 to 2017, they had a core of 9-10 stars. Seven of them were on defense.
As they embark on a rebuild, the big question is: How far away from that kind of nucleus are they right now? And how much closer can they get through the upcoming draft?
Continue reading Can Hawks finally recharge power core?While the spotlight on the first day of the league year understandably was on Russell Wilson’s official departure from Seattle and arrival in Denver, the Seahawks were busy building back their roster.
By the end of the first day, they had seen five players depart, five return and six newly arrive (including the three they got in the Wilson trade) — leaving them with just four positions to fill (QB, LT, RT, RB).
They are focused on their typical traits: familiarity, scheme fit, rehabilitating former high picks.
Continue reading Hawks focus on familiarity, fit
CHAWK TALK: Everything being said about the Seahawks 