SEATTLE – With the NFL scouting combine completed and the free -agent signing period on the horizon, teams around the league began to make personnel moves Monday.
The Seahawks did not.
That could change as early as Tuesday as the Seahawks have some work to do to get compliant with the salary cap by the time the league year begins on March 12.
Seattle entered Monday a little more than $6.8 million over the cap, one of six teams still in the red according to Overthecap.com.
The Seahawks, though, don’t need to just get compliant with the cap but also create space to make some other moves to re-sign some of their own free agents as well as sign some new players.
Here are some of the moves that could begin happening as early as Tuesday:
Re-signing linebacker Ernest Jones IV. Jones is the most pivotal of the 10 players on the Seahawks roster who can become an unrestricted free agent next week.
Teams have until 1 p.m. Tuesday Seattle time to use the franchise tag on pending free agents.
The Seahawks, though, are again not expected to use it.
Jones loomed as the only possible candidate, though always regarded as remote.
The price to tag a linebacker was set last week at $25.4 million for the 2025 season.
Jones is not expected to command that large of a salary. Pro Football Focus estimated Jones might get a three-year deal worth up to $36 million with $22.5 million guaranteed.
Seattle has used the franchise tag only twice since John Schneider took over as general manager in 2010 – on kicker Olindo Mare in 2010 and defensive end Frank Clark in 2019.
Clark, though, was then traded the next month to Kansas City for a package that included a 2019 first-round pick.
Extending quarterback Geno Smith. Schneider was expected to meet with Smith’s agents on Friday to begin more formal negotiations.
That came after both Schneider and head coach Mike Macdonald made clear during multiple interviews at the combine that the team plans on Smith being their QB in 2025, and indicating it’s only a matter of when – not if – an extension gets done.
That Smith remains under contract for 2025 means neither side has to rush into a deal.
But given that Smith has the highest cap hit on the team for 2025 at $44.5 million, and would also likely command the biggest signing bonus of anyone the team might sign or re-sign, the Seahawks might hope to get something done sooner rather than later and make it clearer what the team’s salary cap landscape looks like entering the rest of the offseason.
Any extension would undoubtedly be structured to bring down Smith’s cap hit.
Releasing receiver Tyler Lockett. It has seemed a sad inevitability for a while now that the team is likely to release Lockett, who turns 33 in September and has a $30.895 million cap hit for 2025. Seattle can save $17 million both in cap space and cash if Lockett is released.
If the Seahawks release Lockett, they would seem likely to do so this week and make him a street free agent, which would allow him to sign with a new team immediately instead of having to wait until next Wednesday, when players whose contracts run out and become unrestricted free agents. That would give Lockett – who said several times late last season he plans to play in 2025 – a head start on finding a new team.
Re-signing veteran defensive tackle Jarran Reed. Aside from Jones, Reed may be the team’s most pressing player to re-sign ahead of the new league year.
Reed, 32, has said often he hopes to end his career in Seattle and Macdonald said last week he also hopes Reed stays with the Seahawks.
Reed is ranked as the number 74 pending free agent by Pro Football Focus, which estimated his worth as a one-year deal up to $6 million.
Extending/restructuring the contract of rush end Uchenna Nwosu.
Schneider confirmed at the NFL combine last week that the team extended a Feb. 14 deadline in Nwosu’s contract when $6 million of his $14.48 million base salary for 2025 would have become guaranteed.
Schneider declined to go into more detail, saying only that moving back the date was part of a negotiation with Nwosu.
Nwosu has a cap hit of $21.168 million for 2025, a number the Seahawks undoubtedly want to bring down.
Doing something with Dre’Mont Jones’ deal. Jones is entering the final year of his contract, due a nonguaranteed $16 million base salary in 2025 with a cap hit of $25.645 million.
According to Overthecap.com, cutting Jones would save $11.5 million against the cap while incurring a dead cap hit of over $14 million.
A restructure, though, could save more than $9 million while keeping Jones with the team. Either way, Jones’ cap hit is another the team would seem motivated to want to bring down.
Cutting safety Rayshawn Jenkins. A source confirmed that the Seahawks last week gave Jenkins permission to seek a trade.
That might not happen, though, and if not, the Seahawks seem likely to release Jenkins before the new league year and save $5.28 million against the cap.
Jenkins is entering the final season of a two-year deal signed last spring. But after suffering a hand injury early last year he lost his starting job to Coby Bryant and never got it back and from the minute last season ended seemed a likely candidate to be a cap casualty.
Releasing veteran defensive lineman Roy Robertson-Harris. Robertson-Harris saw his playing time decrease down the stretch after being acquired in a trade with Jacksonville early in the season and seems unlikely to return on his current deal, which is due to pay him $6.6 million in 2025 – none of it guaranteed. As is the case with any released players, the Seahawks could look to re-sign Robertson-Harris to a less-expensive deal.
Doing something with tight end Noah Fant. Some observers have also pointed to the contract of Fant as one the Seahawks could look to alter in some way. He has one year remaining on his deal, with a non-guaranteed base salary of $8.49 million and a cap hit of $13.41 million that is the ninth-highest of any tight end for 2025. New offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, though, has spoken of the value of tight ends in his offense and if Fant was released or otherwise departed, it would leave AJ Barner as the only tight end under contract.
Making qualifying offers to restricted and exclusive rights free agents. Seattle has two restricted free agents (cornerback Josh Jobe, receiver/returner Jaelon Darden) and four exclusive rights free agents (linebackers Joshua Onujiogu and Josh Ross, receiver Cody White and tight end Brady Russell). Players not given qualifying offers by March 12 become unrestricted free agents.