I hope you enjoy the comp picks the Seahawks will receive in 2025, because that’s probably not happening in 2026.
When the Seattle Seahawks formally receive their compensatory picks later this offseason, it’ll mark the first time they’ll enter the NFL Draft with comp picks in hand since 2020. They’re projected to have fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-rounders for the departures of Damien Lewis, Jordyn Brooks, and Bobby Wagner.
The basic synopsis of the Seahawks’ lack of extra draft picks through the compensatory system: they’ve repeatedly signed as many or more CFA eligible players than they’ve lost. Seattle also hasn’t lost any minority assistant coaches or front office executives to head coach or general manager positions, which would’ve also netted them two third-round picks over two years.
Why the Seahawks will likely not have any compensatory picks in 2026
Here are Seattle’s unrestricted free agents for 2025:
- TE Pharaoh Brown
- LG Laken Tomlinson
- RT Stone Forsythe
- NT Jarran Reed
- NT Johnathan Hankins
- OLB Trevis Gipson
- LB Ernest Jones
- S K’Von Wallace
- CB Tre Brown
- CB Artie Burns
Jones and Reed look like the most likely candidates for re-signing. Tre Brown is probably a distant third and he’d have to be on a very cheap deal given his injury history and removal from the starting lineup.
None of those other free agents is likely to sign a contract large enough to qualify for Compensatory Free Agent status. Wallace and Hankins in particular were UFAs who signed with Seattle on deals that didn’t meet the CFA threshold, and it’s almost a certainty neither one of them will suddenly be worth a comp pick if they leave.
Even if the Seahawks let go of Jones and Reed, whom I believe has played well enough to get an CFA-worthy contract even at 33 years old, the Seahawks would wipe out any comp pick possibility by just signing two CFAs. Do you know the last time Seattle only signed a maximum of one CFA who stayed on the roster? That would be 2015, when Ahtyba Rubin was added but the Seahawks lost Byron Maxwell, James Carpenter, Malcolm Smith, and O’Brien Schofield. Cary Williams lost his comp pick status when the Seahawks cut him.
Can released players who become unrestricted free agents become CFAs?
No. If Seattle were to cut Geno Smith or Tyler Lockett, they are not going to net draft compensation by signing elsewhere.
Can RFAs and ERFAs qualify for comp picks?
Restricted free agents and exclusive rights free agents who are not tendered become unrestricted free agents, but they are NOT comp pick eligible. Only players who were scheduled to enter the offseason as unrestricted free agents can qualify for CFA status.
The following offseason becomes a lot more interesting with the 2022 draft class eligible to hit the market (unless Charles Cross has his fifth-year option picked up), but we’ll cross that junction when the time comes. In the here and now, Seattle’s offseason is probably not going to yield anything in the way of additional draft capital.