The NFL offseason is underway for all but two teams. Sadly for fans, the Seahawks are not one of the two teams still concentrating on the 2024 season.
Here are some key dates to watch for the Hawks over the next few months:
Feb. 14: Salary guarantees kick in for DL Leonard Williams and OLB Uchenna Nwosu.
Contracts of a few players have dates when guarantees or bonuses take effect. There are two key ones for the Seahawks on this day as $17.7 million of Williams’ $20 million salary for 2025 becomes fully guaranteed, and $6 million of Nwosu’s $14.48 million salary becomes guaranteed.
There’s zero intrigue into Williams’ place on the 2025 roster. But there could be with Nwosu, who played just 12 games the past two seasons because of injuries. He has a cap hit of just over $21 million for 2025 but with no guaranteed salary until this date passes. If they are inclined to make any changes to Nwosu’s contract, which goes through 2026, this date could spur some movement.
Feb. 24-March 3: NFL combine, Indianapolis.
On-field drills will be held Feb. 27 to March 2, but coaches and team execs will gather earlier for interviews with players and all the usual business that takes place here.
As important as anything are meetings between teams and agents, when each gets a sense of what the market will be heading into the free agency period. That could be pivotal for the Seahawks in assessing the landscape for QB Geno Smith and WR DK Metcalf — in terms of contract value and trade value.
March 4: Deadline to use franchise tag.
The Seahawks have used the tag — a mechanism to keep a pending free agent under contract for the upcoming season but at a premium price — just twice since 2010.
The Seahawks won’t use it this year either with no pending FA a real candidate for it.
Still, the tag deadline is worth paying attention to since other teams could use it and keep other potential FAs off the market — two who could be tagged are Minnesota QB Sam Darnold and Kansas City right guard Trey Smith.
March 10: Beginning of negotiating period for pending unrestricted free agents.
At 9 a.m., any potential UFAs — such as Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV — can begin talking to other teams. Generally, highly sought players agree to terms quickly, one reason teams try to sign their own free agents before this period begins.
Other times, each side likes to get to this date and see what the market really is before coming to an agreement. Williams agreed to his deal to stay with the Seahawks around 6 p.m. on the first day of the negotiating period last year.
Jones almost certainly won’t get the tag — which is just over $27 million for linebackers. Whether he hits the market is another matter.
March 12: Beginning of new league year and free agent signing period.
At 1 p.m., UFAs can begin signing contracts with other teams. That’s when the new league year begins and teams have to be in compliance with the salary cap for 2025.
The Seahawks are just over $30 million over the cap in terms of effective cap space, according to OvertheCap.com. So some work will need to be done before March 12.
March 17: Smith, Lockett, Love roster bonuses come due.
This is another key date specific to the Seahawks as three key players earn bonuses if they are still on the roster — Smith, receiver Tyler Lockett and safety Julian Love.
Smith’s bonus equals $16 million — it was $10 million before he achieved three $2 million escalators during the 2024 season that bumped it to $16 million. Lockett’s is $5.3 million. Love has what is technically an option bonus of $1.61 million.
There seems no question Love will be on the roster in 2025. It’s widely expected Lockett may not be, and any move will come by this date.
As for Smith, it’s expected he and the team will work toward a new contract this offseason.
This date figures to serve as a deadline, though each side may want it done by the start of free agency. Smith’s last deal with the Seahawks was agreed to on March 6, 2023 just before the free-agent signing period.
April 21: Beginning of offseason program.
The Seahawks and other teams with a returning head coach can gather their entire rosters for the first time on this date to begin the offseason program.
The nine-week program opens with two weeks of strength and conditioning and gradually ramps up to the final three weeks of OTAs, or Organized Team Activities in which full 11-on-11 offense vs. defense workouts are allowed, as well as a one-week mandatory minicamp. None of the workouts can feature contact.
April 24-26: NFL draft.
This year’s event is held in Green Bay, Wis. The Seahawks are expected to have eight picks (the final order will be confirmed in a few months), including the 18th in the first round, 50 in the second and 82 in the third. An offensive lineman or two anyone?
May 1: Deadline for teams to exercise fifth-year option on 2022 first-round draft picks.
This window for exercising an option for the 2026 season on 2022 first-round picks opened on Jan. 6 and closes on this date. This applies to one player — left tackle Charles Cross, who was taken with the ninth overall pick in 2022. According to OvertheCap.com, if the Seahawks were to use this option on Cross it would fully guarantee him a salary of $18.427 million for 2026, which is also the salary-cap hit.
Both are big numbers, and that’s one reason teams usually try to work out a long-term extension instead. The Seahawks have never used the fifth-year option on one of their own first-round picks since it was enacted in 2011 (the Seahawks did use it on tight end Noah Fant in 2022, after he was acquired from Denver).