Skipping Early Free Agency

[Rat]

Same JPat. Wonder if we’re looking at Bowers?
I wouldn’t be disappointed if we are.

I hope we are even with Fant back in the fold. I'd even consider a small trade-up if he falls to around 10-12.

 

[GemCity]

I hope we are even with Fant back in the fold. I'd even consider a small trade-up if he falls to around 10-12.

I’ve been watching a lot of film on him as of late.

I see what the hype’s all about. A dominant TE can really solidify an offense.

Cliche examples but…Kittles and Kelce are X-factors for sure

 

[12forlife]

With resigning Fant, Bowers becomes a luxury pick? The way FA is shaping up, assuming we sign Queen, its probably best to trade down gain draft capital, and sure up our interior Oline, Safties & LB. I just hope everyone is realistic, and understands this is not going to be a SB contender next year. SF, DET, and GB all have us covered in the NFC. So this FA & Draft should just be about burning of dead cap money, while filling holes we are capable of in FA, and without reaching in the draft, or signing players to atrocious contracts that hamstring the team for multiple years. The Hawks new motto should be after the Johny Cash song "one piece at a time".

 

[Scout]

The NFC is still wide open because the QB play isn't dominant enough for any team to run away from the pack. When Goff and Mayfield are duking it out in the playoffs it means any team with competent QB play and moderate defense has a shot.

That is what Mac is here for. Competent defensive play to make it easier on the Hawks offense.

 

[Chawker]

Mac and John are making the moves that need to be made for the success of the Seahawks. No flamboyant throwing money around, remember this team will be built though the draft.

Cheers

 

[Kinger95]

Our coaching and scheme was so bad the last couple years there’s just no way we were gonna be elite no matter what players we had. I’m interested to see how that all shifts this year. Realistically o line and linebacker are 2 areas that need some big time attention so I definitely wouldn’t worry about a pass catcher like bowers especially when we have 4 super capable receivers already on the roster.

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

for Parkinson, absolutely. Fair deal for Uncle Will, imo.

That's the kind of money we should have paying Dissley in the first place.

 

[nanomoz]

I don't see many real difference makers worth top dollar in this free agent class. They'll find value. Look at what Baltimore did with Clowney Mo Moses, and Van Noy.

 

[Maelstrom787]

 

[Chapow]

Weird. It's almost like maybe JS might have some idea what he's doing.

 

[Rat]

I'm not sure how to interpret that chart. Bad teams are more likely to need free agency, so it's not surprising to see teams in constant flux near the top in spending. Are the Jaguars and Jets bad BECAUSE they spend more in free agency? Doubtful. Stable franchises like the Steelers and Packers have seen little turnover in their coaching and managerial ranks, and are more likely to just tweak their roster every year.

Good teams are smart with their money. That doesn't necessarily mean abstaining from free agency out of principle. Our best team wasn't 100% home-grown: Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril, Steven Hauschka, Jon Ryan, Michael Robinson, Brandon Browner, Zach Miller, Tony McDaniel, Breno Giacomini were all key free agent signings. Marshawn Lynch and Chris Clemons were added in cunning trades. Percy Harvin was... on the team in some capacity...

 

[Chapow]

Good teams are smart with their money. That doesn't necessarily mean abstaining from free agency out of principle. Our best team wasn't 100% home-grown: Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril, Steven Hauschka, Jon Ryan, Michael Robinson, Brandon Browner, Zach Miller, Tony McDaniel, Breno Giacomini were all key free agent signings. Marshawn Lynch and Chris Clemons were added in cunning trades. Percy Harvin was... on the team in some capacity...

Were any of those guys big name, high priced, first wave free agent signings though? I could be misremembering, but outside of maybe Zach Miller, I don't think so.

 

[Scout]

I like to think the Seahawks are eventually going to use an approach somewhere between the Rams and the Bucs. The Bucs have focused exclusively re-signing their core free agents while the Rams are aggressive with some outside pickups but still keeping their core players they wanted to keep.

There are teams that finished with a worse record and more cap space that have been very quiet and just re-signing their own players up to this point as well like Mayo's Patriots.

The official start of free agency is tomorrow which is where you might see more one year deals of players start to trickle in.

 

[CPHawk]

Weird. It's almost like maybe JS might have some idea what he's doing.

If being a one and done franchise is the goal, then he’s awesome. I’m still not sold on if the issue was the cook, or the person handing the ingredients to the cook.

 

[Chapow]

If being a one and done franchise is the goal, then he’s awesome. I’m still not sold on if the issue was the cook, or the person handing the ingredients to the cook.

I believe that Pete and John worked closely together (obviously), but I also believe that Pete had the final say and was ultimately the architect of the team much more so than John.

Remember, Pete was hired first. He was hired as head coach and vice president of football operations, and it was essentially Pete that hired John to be his GM. Pretty sure that Pete was the head honcho for all intents and purposes.

I think John deserves a shot to be the GM of this team without his HC essentially being his boss.

 

[Maelstrom787]

I'm not sure how to interpret that chart. Bad teams are more likely to need free agency, so it's not surprising to see teams in constant flux near the top in spending. Are the Jaguars and Jets bad BECAUSE they spend more in free agency? Doubtful. Stable franchises like the Steelers and Packers have seen little turnover in their coaching and managerial ranks, and are more likely to just tweak their roster every year.

Good teams are smart with their money. That doesn't necessarily mean abstaining from free agency out of principle. Our best team wasn't 100% home-grown: Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril, Steven Hauschka, Jon Ryan, Michael Robinson, Brandon Browner, Zach Miller, Tony McDaniel, Breno Giacomini were all key free agent signings. Marshawn Lynch and Chris Clemons were added in cunning trades. Percy Harvin was... on the team in some capacity...

This is somewhat solved for by going back 12 years on the chart to show more overall philosophical tendencies.

As for your second paragraph, I think the point to take away here is that those key free agent signings were actually mostly pretty cheap signings that ended up overperforming. They weren't bona fide market topping first-wave dudes, they were value guys we didn't overpay for that we acquired for specific roles. That's the difference, for me.

Free agency, for good franchises, is a period in which you acquire complementary pieces to fill gaps. Your maximization needs to come from the draft, and subsequently from plus development.

Very few, if any, first wave signings provide value commensurate with their contracts that are inflated by the market. Bad teams keep making them to try to get off the ground, and those bad teams mostly stay bad.

 

[Maelstrom787]

Were any of those guys big name, high priced, first wave free agent signings though? I could be misremembering, but outside of maybe Zach Miller, I don't think so.

Bennett signed a 1 year deal for $4.8m, about $10m in today's cap numbers.
Avril signed a 2 year deal for $13m, about $26m ($13m APY) in today's cap numbers.
Ryan and Hauschka are just special teamers. Wasn't expensive, obviously.
Mike Rob signed for vet minimum, 49ers castoff.
Browner was an NFL flameout who went on to be an all-star in the CFL. Signed for under half a million per year.
Zach Miller signed for almost $14m per year in 2024 cap dollars. He was a legit first-wave acquisition.
Tony McDaniel signed for 1 year, sub-1-million.
Breno signed for 2 years, $6.5m. This equates to about $6.5m APY in today's money.

Only Miller can be remotely considered the type of signing that the fanbase is mad about missing out on so far. Maybe kinda Avril?

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Good breakdown, thx ^

 

[Lagartixa]

Yow.

I am going to put a copy of the image from that tweet here because I think the functionality for displaying tweets doesn't work with current Xitter xits (the entities formerly known as tweets) anymore.

It's the definitive answer to all the folks around here who complain about the Seahawks not making headline-grabbing, record-breaking "splash" free-agent signings.



The horizontal axis is how many wins the team has since 2012. The vertical axis is how much the team has spent on free agents. There is a clear negative relationship between the two.

 

[DirectMessage]

So Nick Harris to the Hawks? Would he be a fullback or C? . That's an intriguing signing.