ESPN - Five Moves The Seahawks Should Make This Offseason

Seattle Seahawks

1. Free up cap space. General manager John Schneider is facing the most difficult offseason of his tenure with the Seahawks, and he needs to start by creating some cap room. The Seahawks have approximately $13.1 million in space, but they'll need more. Seattle will likely cut Cliff Avril, whose NFL future is in question thanks to a neck injury. That will free up $7.1 million. Likewise, Jeremy Lane is probably not sticking around after nearly being traded for Duane Brown last year, and the Seahawks can clear $5 million more by moving on from their backup cornerback.

Schneider's decision to re-sign Kam Chancellor before the 2017 season might prove to be costly. He couldn't have known what might happen, but the three-year, $36 million deal Chancellor signed included a $6.8 million base salary that was guaranteed for injury this year. The star safety subsequently suffered a neck injury that could end his career; at the very least, Chancellor's 2018 season is in major jeopardy. Seattle is locked into paying Chancellor that money for 2018 and will owe $5 million in dead money if it cuts Chancellor or the safety retires after the season.

The Seahawks could have moved on from Chancellor after 2017 without any further obligations without the extension, and they appeared prepared to do so after investing in safeties during last year's draft. By rewarding one of its most talented players, though, Seattle ended up getting itself into a difficult situation as it tries to compete in 2018.

2. Work on re-signing Sheldon Richardson, but be prepared to let him leave. The Seahawks traded a second-round pick to acquire Richardson before the season, in part thanks to the mysterious injury suffered by top selection Malik McDowell. It's still unclear whether the 35th selection in last year's draft will ever suit up as a pro.

Richardson delivered an excellent season as a run defender but didn't deliver much as a pass-rusher, racking up one sack and seven quarterback knockdowns in 15 games. The Seahawks probably hoped for more interior pressure from Richardson as part of the trade, given that the 27-year-old racked up 16.5 sacks in three seasons with the Jets. Richardson might have contributed more than the numbers suggest, and it's extremely difficult to isolate individual players within a pass rush, but the Seahawks actually posted a higher pressure rate with Richardson off the field (31.3 percent) than on it (25.5 percent).

Valuing Richardson heading into free agency, then, will be difficult. History tells us that Richardson is capable of getting after the quarterback, but defensive linemen who haven't been significant pass-rush threats on the interior have generally been disappointed with their hauls. Look at interior linemen such as Dontari Poe and Bennie Logan, who had to settle for one-year deals last offseason. Brandon Williams came away with a five-year, $52.5 million contract, but the Ravens might even look at that deal as an overpay, given where the market went.

It was only a year ago that teams -- including the Seahawks -- wanted Richardson to take a pay cut from the $8.1 million salary he was due in 2017 as part of a trade. Have the circumstances changed so dramatically for the Seahawks to hand Richardson $10 million per year on a long-term extension? He is a valuable player, and the Seahawks should want to keep him around, but the price has to be right.


3. Re-sign their Hall of Famers. This is a good problem for the Seahawks to have. Let's start with Earl Thomas, who looked like his old self this season and was the only member of the Legion of Boom standing by the end of the year. The 28-year-old is entering the final year of the four-year extension he signed before 2014, and unless Thomas is seriously entertaining notions of retirement, the Seahawks should be locking up the Texas product for another four seasons. Given the deals handed out to Eric Berry and Reshad Jones, the Seahawks probably are looking at four years and $55 million on Thomas' next deal.

Schneider generally hands out deals with one year left to go on a player's contract, but it wouldn't be crazy to think about extending Russell Wilson this offseason. The superstar quarterback's cap hit jumped from $14.6 million to $23.8 million this year, which is the seventh-largest figure in football. Wilson has two years and $32.5 million left on his current deal, and while the Seahawks restructured Wilson's base salary last year to create cap room, that's going to be tougher to pull off with one year remaining on Wilson's contract.

Wilson isn't going anywhere outside of Seattle to play football (or baseball), so the question is simply whether it makes sense for the Seahawks to re-sign Wilson now or next offseason. With the quarterback market about to be reset again by Aaron Rodgers' extension and whatever deal Kirk Cousins finds in free agency, the Seahawks can get ahead of the deals to come and create cap room for all the moves they have to make this spring.

Duane Brown isn't a Hall of Famer, but it also seems likely that the Seahawks will hand the longtime Texans left tackle an extension as he enters the final year of his deal. Brown was only traded after a lengthy holdout related to a new deal, so we know he's looking for more money. The Seahawks probably can't reduce his $9.8 million cap hold by much, but they should be able to lock in Brown with a four-year deal in the $50 million range.

As for Richard Sherman, it's probably too early to re-sign him, given that the franchise cornerback is coming off an Achilles tear suffered in mid-November. We're not even sure Sherman will be ready for training camp. I don't think the Seahawks should move on from Sherman, given that he was still playing at an All-Pro level before the injury, but this might be a situation in which the Seahawks have to evaluate Sherman on the field before they can really think about an extension. Simultaneously, given the reports of discord in the Seattle locker room before last season, a clean break after 2018 might end up being the preferred option for all parties involved.

4. Wait to re-sign Frank Clark. The 24-year-old Clark has generated 19 sacks and 39 quarterback knockdowns over the past two seasons, both of which rank among the top 16 in the league over that stretch. The Seahawks are unlikely to get much of a discount in signing Clark this year, though, given that the vast majority of edge-rusher contract extensions either come before a fifth-year option plays out or after a player is slapped with the franchise tag. The Seahawks owe Clark only $1.2 million for 2018 and frankly need the cap space, so they're probably better off waiting for next offseason, when they can franchise Clark in advance of an extension.

5. Acquire a tight end to replace Jimmy Graham. Graham had one of the weirder seasons you'll see in 2017, as the Pro Bowler was unstoppable in the red zone and was simultaneously otherwise anonymous within the Seattle offense. Once a devastating weapon going up the seam, Graham averaged 9.1 yards per reception and finished with 10 touchdowns. The touchdown rate is unlikely to recur, and Graham has lost a step or two of athleticism since tearing his patellar tendon in 2015.

Some team is going to pay a luxury price to bring in Graham, and truthfully, the Seahawks can't afford to get in that market. Backup Luke Willson is also a free agent, leaving the Seahawks down to 2016 third-rounder Nick Vannett as their primary option at tight end. The offense might shift some under new coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, but Seattle needs to add at least one tight end to its roster before the season.

The Seahawks are missing their second- and third-round picks as a result of the Richardson and Brown trades, although they do have three fifth-round selections to work with as part of any trade. They could use their first-round pick on a tight end, but I think Seattle will look for a veteran. I wonder if they'll take a flier on Tyler Eifert, who would represent a similar red zone threat as Graham, albeit with major questions about his availability.

Schneider is one of the most aggressive general managers in the league when it comes to trades, and I wonder if he could find a possible fit in Buccaneers tight end Cameron Brate, who is a restricted free agent this offseason and should cede more of his role to O.J. Howard in 2018. If the Seahawks can find a reasonable return -- perhaps defensive end Dion Jordan -- and sign Brate to an extension, the Harvard product could be Seattle's next tight end. http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/page/Ba ... l-barnwell

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mistaowen":258phyoe said:

Frank Clark is going to get a massive contract soon, hopefully with us.

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2_0_6":3p9gza8b said:

This is the offseason to set up for the next 3. I really would be surprised if we see any of these guys back here next season.

Avril
Bennett
Sherm
Earl
Sheldon

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original poster":2dvbp08p said:

It concerns me that ESPN can't even get the correct cap amounts for cutting players.

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adeltaY":1hxdtodd said:

Wouldn't re signing Clark this season preclude a bidding war in FA? I really don't think we could get him at as good of a price of we wait another year.

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2_0_6":3r2qzz0y said:

This is the offseason to set up for the next 3. I really would be surprised if we see any of these guys back here next season.

Avril
Bennett
Sherm
Earl
Sheldon

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2_0_6":32izsmzo said:

This is the offseason to set up for the next 3. I really would be surprised if we see any of these guys back here next season.

Avril
Bennett
Sherm
Earl
Sheldon

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Popeyejones":2wo6z66f said:

The hawks don’t have a lot of cap room and I suspect Richardson is still over-estimating his value, meaning I’d be kinda surprised if he was resigned before FA. And once FA starts, a guy going back to his team is really rare.

Happy to bet an avatar if anyone wants to: Earl, Sherman, and Bennett will be in the Seattle next year, Avril and Richardson won’t.

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