This is a guest article written by Curtis Allen…
A discussion is warranted about the state of the salary cap next year and how the Seahawks can start looking at shaping the future of this team.
Why now? Why not wait until the offseason to discuss this?
There are things the Seahawks can do right now to strengthen their roster for 2023 and given the state of the team they need to start incorporating some of these decisions into their current game day roster and snap count allotments sooner rather than later.
We will dive into that in a moment. Let’s start by looking at what they have to work with on the salary cap in 2023.
Where the Seahawks stand
According to Overthecap.com, the Seahawks currently have 33 players contracted on their roster and $34.037 million of effective cap space available for 2023.
What is “effective cap space”? That is a projection OTC has done – they take the projected salary cap, considered the players the team has under contract and then add in the projected rookie pool cost based on the team’s current draft picks (the Seahawks have nine picks – a total of about $13.9 million of rookie salary) and then fill the rest of the 51-man roster with minimum-salary player slots as a placeholder exercise. That number will fluctuate as the team’s 2023 draft picks change with their record (and Denver’s) as well as any personnel moves the Seahawks make.
We need to factor in a chunk of money for an injured reserve cushion, practice squad players and the Seahawks tend to carry a little free money to cover any players acquired after the bulk of the summer is over. Call that about $6 million.
That brings us to about $28.037 million of “spendable” money for 2023.
That is an alarmingly low number for a team that does not have a quarterback under contract. The expectation last offseason was the Seahawks would have nearly all of Wilson’s cap money set aside for 2023 to go shopping with. Maybe more. In fact, they have a very modest amount to spend and several needs to address.
Where has the money gone? That was Rob’s question this summer. I recommend you have a look at the piece, as this article is a companion of sorts to that one and builds on the concerns Rob raised.
What will they need in 2023?
The Seahawks will need to fill these spots on their roster:
- A starting quarterback and a backup
- Replace or re-sign Rashaad Penny at running back
- Replace or re-sign Austin Blythe at center
- Replace or re-sign Poona Ford on the defensive line
- Replace or re-sign Jason Myers at kicker
- A linebacker to replace Cody Barton
- Pass rush help is always a need
That is by no means an exhaustive list. Those are the key needs.
They will also need some important reserve pieces, such as a guard who can start at a moment’s notice, a third safety to plug into packages and a Travis Homer third down and special teams type. Not to mention a veteran cornerback and perhaps a veteran wide receiver for depth.
So overall, $28 million of room is nowhere near the slush-fund that most of us envisioned when the Seahawks freed themselves of Russell Wilson’s big contract. They will need to tread very carefully and spend wisely this offseason, something that has been a real challenge in recent years.
There is some good news to be had. Of that list of starters they need to plug in, they can fill some of that with 2023 draft picks and keep that $28 million intact.
A future quarterback from the draft is a must have. Even if he does not start Week One.
It would also be hugely beneficial to once again have a very good draft and walk out with – at the very minimum – a starting center and a starting linebacker plus a running back and a defensive lineman you could work into the lineup. They could look at drafting a kicker.
How they can help their future cap this season
The Seahawks should be applauded for making liberal use of their rookie class this season. Charles Cross, Abe Lucas and Tariq Woolen are locked in as starters for the foreseeable future and are developing nicely. Boye Mafe’s role on the defense is growing by the week.
But this team needs to keep pushing more of their young, cost-controlled players into the forefront of their lineup.
Pete Carroll must invest snaps in the back end of the roster on players that have a future with this team.
This is an area where the Seahawks have not exploited their cap assets for maximum benefit in the last few seasons. The roster has been littered with cheap talent that was sat on the sidelines in favor of vastly more expensive veteran signings that provided only marginally greater value.
For instance, last season the Seahawks frequently played Benson Mayowa ($4.6m cap hit) in favor of Alton Robinson ($0.867m cap hit) and yet they produced nearly the same results.
Marquise Blair was limited to a very spotty role in favor of Jamal Adams.
Colby Parkinson’s post-injury rookie year was practically non-existent due to Luke Willson being active for a few snaps on gameday in 2020. He was then only targeted eight times last year.
Cody Barton was drafted to ease the workload of Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright. That never materialized.
We are seeing the impact of these choices now.
Robinson is still not fully known as a player in his third year, Blair tried and failed to convert into a nickel corner, Parkinson is just now displaying his skillset and has been a very nice addition to the tight end group in his third season and the team is discovering that Barton is a disaster in a role that requires much, much more than the spot start and mop-up duty they have given him in prior seasons.
It is up to this organization to commit to the future right now. They have several players on the roster who could develop into real 2023 contributors given some snaps this year:
On offense: Colby Parkinson, Phil Haynes, Dee Eskridge, Ken Walker
2023 is Parkinson’s last year of his rookie contract. What a blessing that could be to the team if he could keep expanding his role and then give them 30-40 catches and 4-7 touchdowns at $1.17 million in 2023.
Haynes is an unrestricted free agent next year. The Seahawks thought enough of him to tender him at $2.5 million and he has some potential at both guard spots. The obvious expensive veteran blocking him is Gabe Jackson. Why not put Damien Lewis in Jackson’s spot and give Phil Haynes the left guard job and see what they can do with that setup? Are they really getting so much more bang for their buck with Jackson in? He does not have a future with Seattle beyond 2023, probably not even beyond 2022.
Eskridge has the same number of touches as Marquise Goodwin so far this year. Why? He is under contract through 2024 and Goodwin is not. There is no argument – Eskridge should be getting more touches right now. Yes, he appears brittle but that is exactly why you have Goodwin on the roster – to cover that possibility, not to block Eskridge’s development.
Ken Walker has 21 touches through 3 games. Seven touches per game is not nearly enough for this team to make a confident decision about his impact and whether they should invest significant money in the 27-year-old Rashaad Penny in 2023. I know it is early. But given this team’s track record, time’s a-wasting.
On defense: Ryan Neal, Coby Bryant at outside CB, Tre Brown and Alton Robinson
Ryan Neal has been a great utility player at the defensive back position and on special teams for the Seahawks. They now have 13 games to see what he can do at the starting strong safety spot. He is a Restricted Free Agent in 2023, so the team has control of him. However, as an undrafted player, they get no compensation if another team offers Neal a contract the Seahawks do not want to match. If they want to retain him, they may have to offer him enough money to scare other teams off. Therefore, they need to determine right now if he can be worth it as more than a rotational player. Why would they need to consider using him as a starter at strong safety in 2023? You know why.
Coby Bryant has worked at nickel with Justin Coleman injured. If they get Coleman back soon, could they get a look at Bryant at his natural LCB spot? They might be hindering his development by trying him out at nickel after featuring mostly at LCB in his college career and working at his natural position extensively in training camp.
Brown and Robinson will need looks this year if and when they come off injured reserve. The Seahawks will no doubt be cautious with them but they need to get on the field and show what they can do.
Imagine the Seahawks going into 2023 with full confidence in Woolen, Brown, and Bryant? Maybe Michael Jackson too.
Or having Robinson, Mafe, Taylor and Nwosu up to speed on the edges so they can focus precious resources on acquiring an inside pass rusher.
None of these players are being blocked by outstanding talents ahead of them on the roster. They all have skills and traits the Seahawks like.
They are going to have to make some hard decisions this offseason. Would it not be far easier to make some of those decisions if you have tried out your young players with enough actual game snaps to make the best evaluation you can?
This may require Pete Carroll to consider pausing his ‘Always Compete’ philosophy and giving players he might deem not immediately worthy more snaps and opportunities. But there is a very strong argument to be made that a slight drop-off in quality temporarily could greatly benefit the team in the long run. Like when they have a franchise quarterback on a rookie contract and have $60-80 million to spend in 2024 and will not need to flesh out the roster with expensive role players.
Areas where the Seahawks can pick up some cap space next year
There are some expensive veterans the Seahawks will need to take a hard look at and make some business decisions on this coming offseason.
The caveat being the team will take on some dead money for most and for all will need to replace that player on the roster.
Gabe Jackson has a $9.5 million cap hit. $3 million of that is hitting their cap no matter what they do. Picking up $6.5 million of cap room by cutting him seems a foregone conclusion given his age in 2023 (32), his play last year and so far this year and the fact that the Seahawks have options at his position between Damien Lewis, Jake Curhan and potentially Phil Haynes. There is no deadline that would force a move before the league year starts. They could assess their options in the free agent market and the draft and then decide.
Shelby Harris has a $12.27 milllion cap hit. $3.27 million of that is hitting the cap no matter what they do. There is $9 million of cap room available by cutting him. They do have a bit of a deadline with Harris, as he has a $2 million roster bonus due March 22 – a week into free agency. The Seahawks have options here. They can make some other moves and see where they stand in the market before deciding on Harris. Or they could negotiate him down.
Al Woods and Quinton Jefferson are in the same boat. They would each cost the Seahawks about $2 million in dead cap to cut and would bring just under $4 million of cap room each. Bryan Mone would bring about $2.79 million if cut with a $1 million cap hit.
Uchenna Nwosu is an interesting one to consider. He has a big cap hit of $12.76 million next year. They could cut or trade him and pick up $8.01 million of room but that seems unlikely given his excellent play so far. They could go the other way and work out an extension if they see him as part of their long-term plans for the team. There could be the opportunity to save say $2-4 million by spreading out the 2023 cap hit on such an extension.
Noah Fant has a $6.85 million cap hit as the Seahawks picked up his fifth-year option earlier this year. It is all guaranteed salary – no dead cap money if they were to trade him. If the Seahawks get a good look at Parkinson and Dissly continues his steadfast play, they could possibly deem Fant expendable and see what he could fetch in the trade market. That would be a win-win as they could make fine use of the draft pick they get back and find all kinds of utility for that $6.85 million. Or again, they could go the other way and extend him and realize some 2023 cap savings.
Quandre Diggs ($9.9 million savings / $8.2 million dead cap) and Will Dissly ($3.05 million savings / $6.2 million dead cap) seem like moot points at the moment, as they are firmly entrenched as part of the organization and culture in Seattle and would cost as much or more as they save. Diggs will need to play much better to keep that conversation at bay though.
There is one more player we need to discuss in greater detail. The elephant in the room.
We need to talk about Jamal Adams
How many times have we said or thought that in the past 2+ years? This trade has been a pox on the franchise since it was announced.
Where do the Seahawks currently stand on his contract?
He will have a cap hit of $18.11 million in 2023 between salary and accrued bonuses if they keep him on the roster with his contract intact.
There is $21.33 million of prorated bonus money that still needs to be accounted for if he is cut or traded this coming offseason. On top of that, Adams has $2.56 million of salary that will guarantee on February 4, 2023. It is guaranteed for injury, so unless Adams comes back from a torn quad this season (extremely unlikely), that money will be owed.
So that is a total of $23.89 million that would hit the cap if they cut him loose.
It is time to have the conversation. The Seahawks need to be ready to move on from Jamal Adams.
He is incapable of staying healthy. The last three seasons have ended prematurely due to serious injuries. It appears to be getting worse. This year, he could not get through one day of training camp before breaking his finger. He could not get through one regular season game before tearing his quad.
What are the chances he stays healthy all year in 2023? Very, very unlikely. Will he even be fully recovered from his current injuries in time to play?
Cutting him with a $23.89 million dead cap next year is a painful hit. Particularly when you consider they just swallowed $26 million on Russell Wilson this year. With Wilson, they got a significant return in trade to soften the blow. The only joy they would receive from cutting Adams is cleaning up their 2024 cap number.
But consider for a moment what is at stake if the Seahawks do not address his situation this coming offseason. As a vested veteran, his $11 million salary for 2023 becomes guaranteed in Week One. He could get injured again, spend most of the year in the trainer’s room, collecting his full salary and accruing that $18 million cap hit — and then the Seahawks would still have a remaining dead cap hit of $14.2 million in 2024 if they wanted to cut him then – making it a total sunk cost of $32.2 million.
Swallow $23.89 million now on your terms or take a chance you will need to swallow $32.2 million.
What is clear — the Seahawks need to address Adams’ contract before the start of the league year so they know what kind of space they have to work with.
The options…
- Cut Adams outright. That means all $23.89 million hits their cap in 2023 and they are clean going forward. There is no cap saving in 2023. In fact, that is about a $5.8 million extra hit on the cap, taking them to under $23 million of free spending room. Doable — but that restricts your available room.
- Cut Adams with a June 1st designation. This would split the dead cap between the next two years, with approximately $9.69 million hitting in 2023 and $14.2 million hitting in 2024. This would open up $8.42 million for the team to spend in 2023 after June 1st. They could use that money to better their 2023 team, or roll it into 2024 and use it to mitigate the damage of the $14.2 million dead cap.
- Contact Adams and initiate talks to renegotiate his contract. Three seasons and three season-ending injuries at the very least warrants this approach. The Seahawks would be foolhardy not to see the necessity of having the discussion. They need to be prepared to part ways with Adams if they cannot get an equitable reduction in pay.
There is no way to really know how receptive Adams’ team would be to that discussion but there should be a fair possibility they can come to a compromise and reduce his 2023 cap hit sizably, which opens up more room to supplement the current roster and offers them protection in the high likelihood of another serious injury.
A trade is not a realistic option. Adams will not be able to pass a physical until well into the summer and no team would want to give the Seahawks a draft pick for the privilege of taking on that massive contract for a player with his injury history.
Again, why are we talking about this now?
Adams is done for the season. Only 15 snaps into his big extension. It will be a hard pill to swallow, particularly when you consider the Seahawks could have had at least two or three rising young talents on the roster right now when they badly need them instead of a broken player who has provided very little benefit to the team in three seasons relative to the cost.
But laying out the options helps us to understand now – the Seahawks have some real decisions to make with this player. The sooner we all grasp that, the better equipped we will be to understand the issues this team is facing in 2023.
Louis Vitton coffee cup will probably not renegotiate his contract.
Posted this on the last thread right before this was uploaded.
Here’s a well made and very balanced approach on what’s going right about Seattle’s offense and what it means for the future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSMn9XrbwBg&ab_channel=TheRinger
Geno has been pretty fun to watch. Coming around the bend looking at the next four games hopefully we get an even clearer picture. The saints and giants have been stout against the pass. The chargers kind of meh. And the cardinals could be a fun day at work for him.
This was a good video to watch.
Really well written and thought-out article, CHA. I wonder if there are any hawks players that are viable trade candidates this year, that might serve several purposes such as clear up additional cap space and bring back a draft pick, without sacrificing building blocks for the future. Any thoughts?
Don’t know Cha’s thoughts but feels like Nwossu is the only one where the vent diagram of: saving money, getting a decent pick back, and not being completely crippled at the position afterward.
I can’t see them trading Nwosu. He’s the only player on defense playing at a good level right now. To sign him and then turn around and eat the entire $9.5m signing bonus and then turn your edges completely over to Mafe and Taylor just won’t work. Nwosu’s snap percentages the first 4 games: 89,72,72,81. There isn’t anyone to replace that and they’re overworking him as it is.
You’d have to get a pretty big draft pick in return to make that happen.
Erik: I think Sidney Jones would be an option. They gave a 6th for him, they’d pick up $2.2m of room if they trade him. At the moment they’d be lucky to get a 6th back. Maybe two weeks from now after he’s had a couple good games starting, there’d be value there.
Gabe Jackson’s $6m salary (proportional to the games) is guaranteed. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to give up a draft pick for the right to pay him that much money.
I don’t think they’d trade him.
My rational was who would bring in overall value. Even that is speculative. A third at best but more like a 4th at best. Plus the signing bonus.
But like you said he’s playing pretty well and an extension seems more likely. Would love to see mafe more and get everyone closer to 60% of snaps or lower.
Anyone else in a trade is minimal savings for a for low draft pick…
I know this site has explored the idea of trading Metcalf or Locket in the past, but I wonder if the hawks might receive any offers this year (now that both are expensive). It seems like it’s easier to find receivers in the draft than impact defensive players, which the team really needs.
Nope they cannot trade either. The cap hit would be astronomical. It’s out of the question.
I thought it was more about Nwosu can play well and walk for a comp pick
I asked this question of Mike-Shawn Dugar of the Athletic recently and he didn’t think they’d move any vets unless the team was really bad. Since they haven’t been that (collectively) so far, I don’t think they will – and honestly they don’t really have any obvious options since no one would want Gabe Jackson.
Great stuff.
An actual complaint I have with “always compete,” for perceived though totally unknown drop off in play is that it’s just that, unknown.
It seems that has been abandoned for the updated “let’s try as best as we can.” Instead of getting those snaps and seeing what can be done for years I’ve watched the paid player get theirs with seemingly no real delineation that they are better off.
Hopefully this off-season they make the better choices like saying goodbye to Jackson. Possibly saying goodbye to Harris. Of course just pull the band aid on Adams.
Come around to Nwossu. Not sure what they do if anything. Probably keep him around though and go the extension route.
Noah Fant? I think he ends up a forgotten player who they just keep. He plays next year, and then he walks after 2023.
I cannot imagine Pete swallowing his pride and cutting Adams loose. I just can’t.
Guess we’ll see if John’s really more in charge like some commenters think or if they are both stuck in a different reality like I tend think.
Jody’s purgatory
I can.
Three years of not having your biggest defensive piece reliably on the field. That’ll break any coach.
I could be totally misreading – but PC was asked how Adams was doing and just shrugged. Talked like he was in Texas doing his thing. When asked if it was officially a torn quad, Pete shrugged again and said ‘Yeah, sure, sounds good.’
He sounded frustrated/checked out.
If Adams is ignoring the staff and not keeping in touch with the franchise, then, yes, I can get on board with Pete cutting him.
Yeah, the injuries give him an easy out on what would have previously been “unthinkable” due to wanting to prove the desperation trade and subsequent extension were a win.
💯
cha, what would be the situation if Adams simply retired? Would his contract be fully paid up & how would that affect the cap?
Great question.
His salary comes off the books. So the $11million salary gets added back and the Seahawks can spend it as soon as the retirement paperwork is filed.
The $2.56m salary that becomes guaranteed Feb 4 would likely also just evaporate.
The hard part is the bonus money. The $21.33m proration for 2023/2024/2025 is not black and white. It is typically an area where a team can move to get that money back, but might choose not to.
The team could look to recover some or all of that money, and my understanding is, when it is repaid, that paperwork is filed to get that cap space back.
But would they? Hard to say. I do not have a copy of the contract, and obviously don’t know the feeling in the building between Adams and the team. A lot of factors would come down to why the Seahawks think Adams is retiring. If it’s purely a function of the injuries, they might not pursue the bonus. If it is an attempt to get out of the contract, etc they might want to in order to protect their interests.
Cool.Although my question was triggered by the cap conversation, I was also thinking of it just in terms of being a human being. Adams’ body is clearly beaking down & he might be in the same situation as Andrew Luck. It just hurts too much to keep on going.
If the Seahawks want to draw a line under things then maybe they can get together with him. Agree for him to retire & they will not reclaim the bonus but they can take the salary saving & roll it forward to take a lot of the sting out of the cap hit. Would that be a reasonable scenario?
Obviously the organisation would be out of pocket for the cash but the accounting entries look a lot more tolerable to me.
The org has been pretty generous over the years. Ex: They let Garrett Scott keep his rookie signing bonus after they waived him due to discovering his heart condition.
That’s probably what they’d do.
I’d vote for: “Cut Adams with a June 1st designation”. just do it and don’t look back (and hopefully learn from that mistake, the worst trade in Seahawks history).
If it was even possible to renegotiate his contract (doubtful) he would just under-perform and get hurt again in future games. The best ability being availability doesn’t apply to him so dump the overpriced bum and move forward.
That Adams contract and trade should be a fireable offense.
Well, we’ve been saying that for a couple of years now…
I’m not sure what was worse the initial trade or doubling down and paying him this ridiculous contract.
After year one we could have probably got a decent draft pick back for him and cut our losses.
The fact they then paid Diggs this whopping contract too is mind boggling
And SDB probably the only place arguing they should cut their losses, while everyone raved about his ‘sack record’ on specifically designed setting-the-table blitzes
Absolutely, once again SDB spot on.
Poona has been one of my favorite draft hits in a while. It seems like Ford has been limited by whatever changes have been made by Clint Hurtt, along with the overall defense underperforming in stopping the run.
Do you think they go after a different Coordinator for 2023 too?
Probably easier to question why Pete Carroll wants a 3-4 defense? He doesn’t have the personnel for a 3-4 defense and it’s not going to improve the linemen pass rush. For starters he needs larger defensive tackles to handle the double teams. Also you can’t expect them to rush, most of that will occur from blitzing a linebacker.
The biggest advantage of the 3-4 is to have more secondary to cover receivers and tight ends. That isn’t working either because – they need different personnel. These linebackers are lucky if they make a tackle.
Meantime their highest paid safety is always injured.
Anyway, I find the whole defensive plan confusing.
No. But I would like to know what Desai’s role is.
Great question on Desai.
In other news, Russ just threw a horrible pick
I really don’t think the Seahawks work the cap very well I look at the Phillidephia Eagles and say to myself they have a better roster then Seattle, they have more cap space then Seattle, and yes they meaning Philly has more dead cap then then the Seahawks. I wonder why sometimes why the Seahawks don’t add void years to contracts is it a John policy or maybe an ownership policy who knows.it seems like every year the saints they are in cap hell and somehow figure it out.its really mind boggling . My last thought is the Seahawks spends way too much of there cap on the safety position.where most teams in the NFL really don’t.
As I understand it, when we are talking about the salary cap, we are only talking about accounting entries not about actual cash. When you give someone a big contract with added voidable years, that just makes the accounting entries line up with your cap limit but, in the real world, you still have to pay out all that extra cash. The Seahawks seem to take a more prudent business approach where they don’t ‘massage’ the accounting for the sake of getting under the cap limit & the cash going out of the business is much more transparent & controlled.
I think that a lot of the voidable years stuff is predicated on the cap limit continuing to rise, which is not unreasonable but comes with a risk. If the cap limit were to start reducing for some reason, then the Seahawks would be in a more stable & manageable position than the teams that have kicked their cap problems down the road by adding all those voidable years. You saw some of this in what has happened to the Saints. They seem to have got themselves into a right mess, accounting-wise, & had to gut their team in order to get back on the straight & narrow. So you could see this week’s game as the battle of the accounting methods! 😀
I’ll take that sweet, sweet draft position, please and thank you.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/34734431/saints-alvin-kamara-rib-expects-play-seahawks
He probably figures that the way Seattle plays D no one will tackle him and further injure the ribs. He’s probably right.
A “get right,” game for him.
Ok that’s funny Group Captain M
Will be interesting to see how Seattle does after getting hammered by tge niners and then battling two soft defenses against a more stout unit again. The saints run defense is not great, bit not as bad as ours, and the pass defense has been pretty solid thus far.
Excellent write-up Cha. The clarity you provided for Adams is gold (and was very painful but true). Just cut Adams and move on now.
Please!
Pretty please
With cream and sugar on top
Announcers last week: Penny a leader now, taking Walker under his wing and showing him how to rehab and what to expect.
This week: 😳
Um, what is up with Geno’s shin…?
https://twitter.com/Seahawks/status/1578083016827875329/photo/1
Rare Lions’ win and, as usual, it didn’t come on the football field… 😂🤣
Ok, this reply got me. LOL.
https://twitter.com/timrfaulkner/status/1578048235813441538
Bernhard Raiman starting for the Colts tonight. Max Mitchell starting for the Jets. Abe Lucas starting for the Seahawks. It looks like the sweet spot for the OT position was right there in rounds three and four.
And Trevor Penning is out with a torn foot ligament until November.
Okay, he’s had four penalties, but I am seeing some good reps.
Quenton Nelson. Man, got paid and packed it in. Immovable contract.
Let’s go colt’s.
Hearing Broncos fans boo Russ is CRAZY!
This is a terrible football game. I can’t believe these were two Super Bowl quarterbacks.
Russ is so bad in this game, he missed most of his targets, I am surprised.
Yes and Matt Ryan is worse.
Let Russ be cooked by Colts.
imagine how terrible the seahawks have to be to pick before the colts. They are qb needy as well.
Possibly the worst trade in the history of the NFL?
No we still own that one with the adams trade
OT is like beating a dead Bronco.
Crazy to see Denver fans leaving as their team is going into OT.
Russell Wilson wasted so much of Pete Carroll’s prime.
LOL …
WOW! JUST WOW at that horrendous game
Sherm was right, what a flashback. We might traded Russ the right time, Russ was broken in 2020 Bills game and gone downhill since.
Or Pete’s coaching ruined Russ
💀
More like Rodgers propped up Hackett more than even Russ propped up Pete.
Bingo
Denver is a complete mess, will Hackett be fired by season end.
Make sure he gives us a top 5 pick before leaving.
Guess it’s all Rodgers at Packers…
By Thanksgiving.
Not by Halloween.
woo hoo broncos lose!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There is good chance Broncos pic is higher then Hawks.
The Hawks are a bad football team this year but the Broncos are worse. At this point it is looking like a lock that we end up with two top 10 picks.
Richard Sherman is losing his mind… “RUN THE BALL!!!” 🤣🤣🤣
Sherman is terrible, can’t move on from the past and acts like a child
That is a projection on your part. I met his Mom in Atlanta when we beat their ass in 2012. You know, the year we won the Super Bowl. That woman has a Tina Turner vibe to her. I know that his Dad was a sanitation worker (garbage man) in Compton, but his Mom is awesome. And when it all went wrong for him at the end of his career, I’m reasonably sure it was worse dealing with his Mom than it was being in court. I gave her skittles that day. I didn’t know who she was at the time.
Agree. He just can’t move on…sour grapes.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Sherm and all he did for the Hawks but man it’s tough to watch him every Thursday night, or anytime he talks about the SB loss. Wish we got to see more Bam Bam in the media, he seems like the only LOB member who didn’t lose their mind
Kam is the mam. Hopefuly his career keeps going upwards.
💯
I enjoyed that.
He wanted all the attention.
Well, buddy, you are now front and center of all things sports related in Denver, and they most certainly are not as forgiving as Seattle.
He looks like a backup QB, and they have yet to get to the tough part of their schedule.
100 % Agree. Grass isn’t always greener.
Sherm post game was the most entertaining thing I saw on TV the last 3 hours.
I’m starting to think our redone issues were RW and not our coaching staff
All these Rw commercials I’m seeing lately. I’m starting to wonder if football/winning isn’t becoming secondary to the brand.
his brand value dropping if he continues to play so poorly
Hes got the millions already. Still a SB winning future HOF qb, he will find plenty of suitors. Just not the top dollar stuff. I’m sure he has plenty of investments to play with too.
I have to admit, I wasn’t watching the game (I was playing Dragon Quest Builders 2 instead), but I had the ESPN gamecast on my computer screen, and Denver had a 99.1% chance to win the game on 1st and goal. Just wow.
Geno just a bit too competent to get us a top 5 pick, but Russ still has our back!
Plenty of time yet re Geno don’t panic.
I think you could make an argument the Adam’s trade is one of the worst all time trades across all of sports. 2 first round picks (one being #10 overall), a third, and paid a market setting contract, and got absolutely jack shit in return. Even if he was healthy they would never come out on top of the trade, but at least if he was healthy it wouldn’t be such an embarrassingly lopsided affair.
PC/JS should be embarrassed every time they think or look at Jamal. They paid the same price other teams have paid for elite QBs and Elite OTs and Elite DEs for a fucking strong safety.
Fuck man it’s just depressing, I would opt for th roost June 1 cut as it seems to give them the most flexibility. Fuck Jamal Adams and fuck Pete/John for trading and extending him.
To top it all off, they got a good look at him and still overpaid on a long term contract.
It’s like poker, you don’t throw more money into the pot when your holding a losing hand.
As a follow up…it appears we also completely fleeced the broncos, potentially two top 10 picks, 2 high second round picks, and they are saddled with a contract that will feature 55 mil plus cap hits and horrendously high amounts of dead money…it effectively I guess cancels out the Adam’s trade but man imagine if they never made the trade…oh well. Just do the right thing Pete/JS and cut Jamal’s ass
This, 100%
Great article, cha – the Adams discussion alone is lightyears ahead.
Adams is the cherry on top of the post-2017 mismanagement sundae.
Pete acting as if he could care less what Adams is doing, how it’s going, knowing or admitting what the injury is, or whether he is even concerned reeks of such condescension toward fans that it’s off-putting, at best. The player that we were told to celebrate in lieu of the guys available where the picks traded for him fell is now no longer worthy of discussion? Pete’s exponentially compounding the disaster.
I’m not going to discuss whether everyone involved with the trade should have been fired – they should have and they should have remained unemployable in the NFL forever and forced to take jobs at a local supermarket as those guys who go out and get the shopping carts in the parking lot and bring them back, although they would have traded the shopping carts for a pack of burros and a Mike and the Mechanics CD – but it’s hard to see anything getting better until the team is sold.
In the end it’s this.
Either we go 2-15 which we won’t or we sit and wait til the team is sold. Anywhere from 5 wins to 10 and a first round exit means we just hold on til new owners come.
Two high picks? Rad. In 2024-25 this team will most likely get sold and if we are real it’s going to be new coach and gm time and those high picks will be one-two years in and may not even be in the plans.
My take on Russell Wilson is that he should have changed teams when his old contract expired. He knew by then that he was in a dysfunctional relationship with Pete Carroll. The drafting had been poor for years by then. The only reason for him to stay was for the money. But he’s still in that bad relationship until everything got crazy and he was traded.
He could have looked for the money with a different team, sure it’s more work but someone would have taken him. Now he is battling through injuries and only looks good on half his throws. The only thing keeping Denver in games is their defense.
A lot of this Alaska.
Absolutely wild that we as fans get to live vicariously through Denver since our own team sucks so bad.
God I can’t wait til this season is over so I don’t need to read about what an almost HOF CB thinks.
Meanwhile we are the second worst defense in the league and haven’t even got to the chiefs, chargers, niners (again), possibly the rams….wow….we beat Detroit. Thank God the broncos suck to give us something to gather around the campfire.
I mean heck I was probably wrong about russ he might be cooked. But damn folks, them sucking doesn’t mean we aren’t treading water. High draft picks? For what? Lj collier is coming back soon. One good draft and this team is still miles off from being relevant.
Wow Peter I couldn’t agree more, this is exactly how I see it
Ditto. Good post as usual Peter.
Sherman was a great corner, redefined the game. But now he gives me the vibe of an old man with too much free time who can’t get past what he’s been through.
Every time he talks about the subject, all I can think about is — this destroyed a dynasty. It would’ve been amazing to come back in 2015, move past that horrible moment in the SB and go and get another ring. What a story that would’ve been. Instead, people became unhinged and couldn’t get over one play going wrong at a crucial moment. But that’s football, it happens sometimes. There was no guarantee Marshawn was running it in at the one yard line.
People acting now like ‘Sherman was right all along’. No. Nobody has come out of this well. All this bitterness about ‘the quarterback wasn’t treated the same as us in team meetings!’ is so childish. Internally they basically created a civil war and blew up a great team. They started referring to themselves as ‘the Titanic’.
It’s all so frustrating.
I can’t wait for this era to end so we can create new talking points.
Totally agree, at the end of the day, regardless of the decision to have Russ throw that ball vs run, get the hell over it, be a team and get back to work. You don’t have to like the people you work with, you don’t even necessarily need to respect them, but respect the job you are being paid to do. They all forgot that.
I watched plenty of games where Marshawn Lynch didn’t get a yard and they didn’t get a first down. Sometimes that happened multiple times. As good as Marshawn was, he needed good blocking as much as the next guy. Yes he was a tank moving forward, but that doesn’t help if your tackled in the backfield.
So well said Rob………
I only watched the “highlights” (if one can even call an all field goals game that) and it seems to me both teams’ OL was severely outmatched by the DL. That’s when you know it’s pretty much guaranteed to be ugly unless one of the teams steps up and coaches around that deficiency.
Ryan only seemed capable of throwing one intermediate crossing route after another. I thought Russ would eventually get one of his deep balls off and change the game, but no dice.
If Jonathan Taylor were healthy, it could have gotten ugly fast for the Broncos.
Either way, we got what we wanted in the end!
It’s the worst game of football I’ve watched possibly ever
Struggling to think of a worse one
Thankfully I only watched the condensed version and that was bad enough!
Only one I can think of is Seattle vs Cleveland can’t remember the score but I think we lost 6 – 3 or something like that it was bad
Also watched just the highlights but yes, one of the reasons Russ left was the bad protection he got from his OLine and he didn’t improve in that respect at all. He also seems to be missing the chemistry with his WRs, Lockett and Metcalf would have been able to get much more out of the throws that Russ had.
But I’m looking forward for the Saints game.
Tony Pauline (who hasn’t been high on Will Levis) reported this today:
Just saying… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Rob haven’t you been saying exactly this for 8 months now?
It is looking and more like the best chance the Hawks will have to get a potential franchise QB will be if Richardson declares and they can take him in the 5-10 range.
You might be right on that
Just think with so many QB needy teams one is sure to get the top pick and why would they trade with the Hawks if Levis is their guy and they believe he has Allen type upside. Hope I am wrong and he is wearing a Hawks uni next year but it seems unlikely given how many bad teams there are.
I suppose it depends how they rate Levis vs the others
I could imagine Seattle making a huge offer for Levis, rightly or wrongly
Just hope if they do it only involves picks this year. I can not stomach more future picks being used.
With the broncos falling off a cliff now is the time to use that capital make a big move for their guy and finally move to a new era where the team can build on a good foot.
Who are all the QB needy teams this draft?
it seems like as of recently most teams have their QB.
(I’ll admit i’m being a little lazy with this question, I could make a list on my own but don’t really have the time)
Carolina
Detroit
NYG
Houston possibly
Washington
Atlanta
Uh, Denver? Just kidding. Had to throw that in on the back of a truly awful contest between the Broncos and Colts.
Miami needs one if Tua doesn’t recover.
Tampa Bay – this has got to be Brady’s last year.
So that’s 9 teams that need quarterbacks if you include Seahawks. Youch!
They won’t pick early enough
Indy will likely need one
seems like you’ve been just sayin’ that a lot lately, rob 😉
as noted earlier in this thread, SDB is indeed light years ahead.
I really like Tony Pauline but it sounds like he’s grudgingly paying Levis these compliments through gritted teeth.
That’s EXACTLY what Josh Allen was. Not “in the sense” 🙄
And I’m not saying Levis is the next Allen. Just that they’re remarkably similar, with the glaring exception that Levis is way father along as a pro QB prospect than Allen was.
Rob on the plus side I am sure blog will be a lot more fun for you to write about options this year if the Hawks end up with two top 10 picks and four in the top 40.
The top 40 picks look more interesting than the top 10 picks right now.
I have faith/hope some blue chippers develop but right now its Levis, Stroud, and Will Anderson…..and anyone else for top ten?
Sadly I think that as of right now there is no one else we can throw out there for an early pick. I’m thinking/hoping that one or both of the firsts leads to Levis (hopefully we don’t need to include one of the 2 rounders), with the backup plan being Richardson and a riser once one finally shows up.
Wouldn’t mind a late round flyer on one or two of someone off of Iowa’s defense. They know the fundamentals and YOU DON’T PLAY IF YOU CAN’T TACKLE. To me, they are the fall-back depth that teams need if your higher picks don’t pan out.
I love when schools get known for something in this case Iowa being a corner back program.
Very high on richardson but hard to figure out if he would declare or stay. Definitely would consider him and at this rate I suppose pay Geno a good manageable chunk of cash to continue while richardson develops.
Iowa puts out offensive linemen, tight ends, and recently db’s. One thing that Ferentz does maybe as well as anyone else in the country: every senior has AT LEAST tried out for an NFL team. They aren’t the greatest athletes so they have to be smarter and more sound.
Same with Richardson. You tell a kid if he comes back he has a chance to go #1 in a year or two and that is a fairly easy sell.
Correct as well on olinemen, te’s.
Yeah, I don’t have a problem with Sherm. I don’t have a problem with Russ.
Earl Thomas? That dude is weird.
I’m just bored of it all
Sherman
Wilson
Seahawks fans now crowing ‘they knew for years’ about Wilson, despite saying sweet F.A. about it when he was playing in Seattle
100% agree – it is so boring to keep hearing about it. That is why I wanted both Russ and Pete to be gone to start this year. The Seahawks need a complete fresh start.
Looking forward to next year when I can go back to hoping the best for one of the greatest Seahawks of all time instead of the schadenfreude I get watching him struggle and lose and boost our draft pick.
The RW hate is way out of control and as you put it, it’s tired. It’s a horrible look for the fan base. Corny or not, dwindling talent or not, “Hollywood” or not, RW was easily the most important Seahawk of all-time and by all accounts, a good person. I don’t recall RW ever driving drunk through a construction site on his way to visit the children’s hospital.
On various facebook groups, posts about RW outnumber posts about the Seahawks by probably 3 to 1. Sadly, I think this is a clear and foreseeable consequence of the internet, which reduces almost all conversations into meaningless meme-based hate pile-on’s where everyone gets to be a keyboard warrior. (Tangent–I love a lot about the internet and what it enables, but I’m also 99% sure it bears the most responsibility for our quickly dissolving civil society.)
Well said
Great post Todd.
He didn’t get a DUI this past offseason like our present QB either.
Hah, good point. I was making a vague reference to Sherman (perhaps not vague for those who are particularly close to the Seahawks), but had forgotten about Geno. I don’t intend to be the morality police, but fans are celebrating RW’s struggles like he burned down the Space Needle or something.
It’s funny that after the RW trade, Sherm and others felt like they could finally air their dirty laundry and have this big reveal about Russ and the Hawks during their run. Yet it’s making Sherm look like a whining little brat. Of course they gave Russ special treatment, yes it sucked losing 49 like that. Put your big boy pants on and shut up. Russ is a total corn ball but at least publicly he always has his teams back. You don’t see Kam and Lynch running around talking a bunch of shit. Just so petty. Sorry for contributing to this zombie topic but I had to vent.
I want Denver to lose but I don’t want to see Russ spiral and get shart on. Come on Russ! Lose all your games 49-50 and ball out.
Love the game. I absolutely love the game. However, I didn’t care for Richard Sherman’s comments.
It’s starting to look more and more that Pete Carrol was right. Russell Wilson thinks he is Patrick Mahomes. Russell Wilson is NOT Patrick Mahomes. Russell Wilson NEEDS a running game.
Nathaniel Hackett: “We were given the go-ahead to go for it.” You were given the okay to go for it? You are the HEAD COACH. You tell the players what to do. The players don’t tell you what to do.
Russell Wilson wanted it his way. This is on him. Hackett will be fired(the sacrificial lamb). This is what happens when the inmates run the aslyum.
Maybe Hackett just really sucks?
Not every coordinator is HC material. Especially with the big decisions in big moments.
FWIW I think 2013-2016 Wilson makes that completion. Or doesn’t take that throw but gets the game winning TD another way.
SB49 still sticks in my craw. I can only imagine how much worse it must be for someone who played in the game. So I get Sherm’s anguish even if it is a bit tired already.
Sometimes the head coach needs to make the decision to win the game and override what the HOF QB wants to do. When Denver was up 9-6 and they had 3rd and goal in the red zone with time running out in the 4th, you run the ball and take what you can. If you don’t make it you kick a chip shot FG and make Indy go score a TD with little time and no time outs.
Instead, RW convinces Hackett to let him throw it to the end zone, the throw is late and the receiver doesn’t get inside position – interception! Just cannot make that throw right there…
At the end of the game in overtime, almost the same thing happens but the difference is they have a 3rd and 2 and can get a 1st down inside the 10 yard line with over 3 minutes left in OT. Yeah, go win the game, but get the 1st down so you can have 4 shots at the end zone! Instead RW tries to take 2 shots to the end zone and it’s game over…Bad coaching.
Does any one from the LOB ever talk about what it felt like to give up a lead in the fourth quarter?
I doubt it, but I kind of give them a pass on that game. Sherm had a bad arm from the NFC title game, ET was injured (can’t remember what it was), Kam hurt his knee the day before the game (I think it was an ACL), Jeremy Lane flew into bits and Pete elected not to have Marcus Burley active and he would have been a much better option at nickel than Tharold Simon. And once they lost Cliff there was no pass rush. That said, Sherm should shut the hell up about it all. He is just as much a part of that dynasty ending prematurely as anyone.
That’s a realist’s viewpoint. I think it’s well grounded. I’m mostly being facetious in regards to how little I want one guy to grind endlessly on about one era/moment of his life.
Also Sherman is actually kind of great at his new career and it’s a bit of a waste of his time to be the president/treasurer/secretary of the russ sucks fan club.
Totally get it and agree. That game was the perfect storm of Russ having a bad game and Sherm having a platform and microphone. I have not watched much Thursday night football, but what from I have seen he is generally insightful and has a good TV presence. The constant Russ bashing is old, and as Rob – and many others – has said, it’s time to just let it go. It’s tiresome and we all know how you feel.
It’s beyond anguish though
It’s aggressive and unhinged
Erin Andrews concurs.
I think Hackett is bad coach. Hugh Millen said awhile back that he thought the Denver receivers were so-so.
I’m tired of the rants about Russ. Sherman doesn’t have the best track record himself.
I’ll also defend the Superbowl call. I don’t think Lynch would have got it. One of the world poker champions talks about it (Annie Duke) in her book “Thinking in Bets”. She looked at the estimated odds for Lynch getting in, and they were low. We just don’t like the outcome. She said conversely everyone thought Doug Pederson was a genius in the Superbowl but he called some very high risk plays. He got lucky.
I wish Carroll would tell people to settle down. When he arrived in Seattle he had a very heart to heart talk with Golden Tate about taunting. He asked Tate if he wanted kids to act the way he did towards opponents (specifically a play against the Rams where tate waved at the defensive backs who missed him). Tate said he was moved by the talk. But now… what is going on?
5-12
ditto
Great article. I appreciate the time/effort put in and the breakdown of the $ situation.
J. Adams: I am a dollars and sense person and I do think cutting ties with Jamal Adams is probably the best thing for this team next year. I think this will go down is the worst trade possibly in Seahawks history regarding the outcome of it. Like Curtis mentioned, seeing what Ryan Neal is capable of this year and him being on a RFA contract next season could help lighten the blow. There does seem to be some safeties coming out this year and maybe we hit on one of them in the draft.
G. Jackson: If we could trade him for peanuts right now, I would be OK with Haynes finishing out at guard or even letting Curhan spend some time there. It looked like JC was getting some snaps at right guard in the preseason and to me, he kind of fits that mold that Waldron’s OL has looked like. In that sense, I guess that Lewis would stay on the left side for the season. Would Curhan be better suited at LG/RG? Jackson can’t be a Seahawk next season.
DL: I am still very perplexed by the contracts we handed out to Al Woods, Quinton Jefferson and Bryan Mone. I don’t personally think any of those contracts needed to be done that way and it just looks like they’ve dug us into further cap hell for next season.
CB: I think letting the young guys see the fire is the smart answer here. I know Jones has seen snaps, but Burns & Coleman… What is the point? Brown should be back in a few weeks and like Cha mentioned above; Woolen, Bryant, Brown and possibly Jackson could be our core, so let’s see what they got. I think the CB corps is the least messed up position group of the defense.
Darryl Johnson to the IR…
https://twitter.com/Curtis_Crabtree/status/1578467508369379328
Pretty crazy to think that if the front office cuts Gabe Jackson, Quandre Diggs, Shelby Harris, Quinton Jefferson, Al Woods, and Bryan Mone that’s 21 million in dead cap money just down the drain. The Seahawks are killing themselves with these short-term, mid-skill contracts. How many DTs do you need!?!?! Esp. if you can’t even stop the run!!
But are those 6 players worth 35 million dollars? Surely not!