The Seahawks’ cap problems and questionable safety splurge

Quandre Diggs is not playing well enough

After three weeks of the NFL season, there are 85 qualifying safeties graded by PFF. Quandre Diggs is currently graded 85th and last.

This is a problem for the Seahawks.

Diggs has to play a lot better than this. He has the second highest cap hit on the team this year at $12m. It’s even more concerning, though, when you consider next year.

The team re-worked Diggs’ deal before the start of the 2023 season to create extra cap space. It now means his cap hit for 2024 is an eye-watering $21.2m. By pushing 2023 money into 2024, they’ve also made it far more challenging to cut him.

If his performance doesn’t drastically improve in the coming weeks, the team will have little choice but to consider their options. However, the re-worked deal now means they’d take on $10.2m in dead money to part ways, while saving $11m in 2024. Per Over the Cap, there’s no financial difference if they designate Diggs as a post-June 1st cut or cut him outright.

Unfortunately it’s another example of the Seahawks not managing their cap well.

Among the other moves made recently to create space, they also re-worked Jamal Adams’ contract. He is now due a cap-hit of $26.9m in 2024.

Unbelievably, Diggs and Adams and currently on the books for a combined $48.1m next season. That’s staggering.

Like Diggs, they’ve also made it harder to cut Adams if things don’t go well as he prepares to return from injury to play against the Giants. It would cost the Seahawks $20m in dead money to cut him outright next year. A post-June 1st designation would spread this out over two years — but you would still be paying Adams a hefty sum to not be part of your roster.

Even Julian Love is expensive next year. He has an $8m cap hit with $2.4m in dead money attached.

There are a couple of key things to discuss here.

Firstly, the investment at safety. Why?

How is it that the Seahawks have got themselves into a situation where so much is invested in this position? Especially at a time when some teams have decided, much like the running back position, it’s a fungible part of the roster.

The Eagles allowed their safeties to walk in free agency this year and are currently starting Reed Blankenship ($871,667) and Justin Evans ($1.5m). They’re mixing in a third round rookie (Sydney Brown) and Terrell Edmunds ($1.9m). Their total cost on the position is $5.2m for four players.

The 49ers have Tashaun Gipson ($2.1m) playing next to Talanoa Hufanga ($1m). The backups are a third round rookie and Ambry Thomas ($1.3m). The total positional spend is $5.4m.

The Cowboys are starting Malik Hooker ($4.5m) and Donovan Wilson ($3.3m) with Jayron Kearse ($6.6m) and Juanyeh Thomas ($750,000) as backups. Combined, that’s a shade over $15m.

The Chiefs splashed out on Justin Reid ($12.7m) but they pair him with Bryan Cook ($1.3m). Their backups are a fourth round rookie and Mike Edwards ($2.8m).

The Bengals allowed Jessie Bates — a consistently high performer — to depart in free agency, having chosen to invest in their defensive line (Troy Hendrickson, D.J. Reader, Sam Hubbard) instead. They drafted Dax Hill a year in advance to replace him and he starts next to Nick Scott. They drafted Jordan Battle in round three this year. Their total spend on the position is $6.7m.

The Bills are one of the bigger spenders at the position, with Micah Hyde ($10.5m) and Jordan Poyer ($4.8m) listed as starters. Taylor Rapp ($1.7m) and Damar Hamlin ($980,000) are the backups for a total spend of $17.9m.

Here’s the spending comparison at safety in list form:

Seahawks — $28.3m
Eagles — $5.2m
49ers — $5.4m
Cowboys — $15m
Chiefs — $17m
Bengals — $6.7m
Bills — $17.9m

Not every team has to be built the same way and I’m not arguing that these teams are necessarily right and the Seahawks are wrong. Yet it’s difficult to work out why the Seahawks have lurched to such an extreme where Diggs, Adams and Love are all set to account for $56.2m in 2024 — more than ten times what the Eagles and 49ers are spending at safety in 2023. They’re set to take up nearly a quarter (22%) of Seattle’s entire cap next year.

This is a remarkable level of investment and what are they getting in return? As mentioned, Diggs’ 33.4 PFF grade is the lowest in the NFL at his position. Love’s 51.0 grade ranks him 75th out of 85 qualifying players. Adams is yet to play a down of football and is returning from a serious injury.

Even if all three were playing at a high level, you could still question the money being spent. The safety position is going through a market correction. Players are not re-setting the market any more. Jessie Bates — PFF’s second highest graded safety so far — became only the fourth highest paid safety when he joined the Falcons. His average salary is smaller than Adams’ despite being two years removed from that contract being penned.

Elsewhere, it seems teams are increasingly prepared to plug in cheaper role players or rookies — saving money for other positions.

Why have the Seahawks invested so much at safety? Why have they essentially doubled-down on that investment by pushing money into 2024? Why are the players they’ve spent money on performing so poorly?

The second issue to discuss is dead money.

This season, $18.7m of Seattle’s cap-space has been spent on players to play somewhere else. The Russell Wilson trade meant the Seahawks took on a large dead-cap hit. This was the first year they could get away from that and yet it’s still an issue because of poor decision making with other players.

Why did they sign or re-sign players a year ago with so much dead money attached? Was there really such a strong, competitive market to need to commit so much to Quinton Jefferson, for example, that he now has to cost $2m to not be part of the team? They re-worked Shelby Harris’ deal, only to cut him months later and waste $4.2m. They did the same with Gabe Jackson, who is costing them $4.7m. Carlos Dunlap, who they re-signed at a hefty price before deciding he wasn’t a fit after all, is still costing them $4.2m this year.

Imagine what an extra $18.7m could’ve done in free agency this year?

They face the same problems next year. They have less than a million dollars to spend in real cap space. They can roll-over whatever they have left this year — but that will diminish with any signings they make between now and the new year (eg if Jason Peters was signed to the full roster). Currently, they’ll roll over enough to have about $10m to spend in effective cap space.

Here’s a list of players who are out of contract in 2024 who would need to be re-signed or replaced:

Bobby Wagner
Damien Lewis
Noah Fant
Jordyn Brooks
Drew Lock
Phil Haynes
Devin Bush
Evan Brown
Mario Edwards Jr
Colby Parkinson
Deejay Dallas
Michael Jackson

Meanwhile, the likes of Darrell Taylor will be restricted free agents. There are a bunch of depth players reaching free agency too, you can see the full list here.

This is a long list of starters and contributors. They only have $10m and a draft class to make up the numbers.

Basically, cutting players and re-working contracts is inevitable.

I appreciate it’s part of football and all teams have to do a bit of this every year. However, the Seahawks are going to again have to take on dead money and lend on the credit card just to be able to put a roster together. That in turn will mean more wasted money for players to play elsewhere while making it harder to cut players in the future if you restructure contracts.

This is why I think it’s inevitable they will draft a quarterback in the first three rounds next year. They’ll be so strapped for cash, they’ll need their backup to be cheaper than a $4m Drew Lock. The reality is other players (starters) are going to need to be replaced by rookies too.

Cutting Bryan Mone will save $5.9m. This is an easy lever to pull and the Seahawks will only take on $500,000 in dead cap. Apart from that though, here’s the dead money attached to every player who can even be remotely considered a cost-saving, viable cut:

Quandre Diggs — $10.2m ($11m saving)
Jamal Adams — $20.1m ($6m saving)
Geno Smith — $17.4m ($13.8m saving)
Will Dissly — $3.1m ($7m saving)
Julian Love — $2.4m ($5.6m saving)
Nick Bellore — $1.15m ($2.85m saving)

All of these dead hits bar Quandre Diggs can be divided over two years by designating a post-June 1st cut — but you can only do that twice per year.

As you can see, there’s not really much to go at. It says it all that if they want to move on from Nick Bellore next year (he turns 35 in May) it will cost them over a million dollars in dead money. How? Why? How do you explain a contract structured that way? With the greatest respect to Bellore, was he seriously not going to re-sign without that level of commitment for 2024?

Biting the bullet at safety is going to cost the team a fortune. Given the current performance, it’s unavoidable without a serious and dramatic improvement. It begs the question why they didn’t get the pain out of the way this year? Just get cheaper at the position and then feel the benefit in the future?

For example, Ryan Neal is only costing Tampa Bay $1m. Imagine how much freedom they would’ve had for next year if they were committing to players like that, rather than splurging on Diggs and co.

Diggs, Adams and Love really have to step up to the plate now and deliver at a high level. The team has gone all-in at safety. Results are required. The Seahawks, at least according to the financial data, have banked on the safety position elevating this defense.

If Diggs and Love can’t improve dramatically and if Adams can’t stay healthy and/or return to his best, this will be a huge financial blunder by the Seahawks and it will threaten their ability to improve the roster in the future.

It also calls into question their approach to contracts, dead money, positional priorities and cap management.

It might be inconvenient to have this discussion now when many will prefer to focus on the next game. The future success of this team, however, is being jeopardised by decisions made on the cap.

Managing your cap is as important as drafting well and executing on the field. It’s not something talked about enough beyond the various Seahawks blogs and really, that has to change. The decisions being made need to be challenged.

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295 Comments

  1. ShowMeYourHawk

    Rob, an interesting and wholly sobering breakdown. Perhaps this season is the last push towards the division and more, knowing that the finances aren’t in place to attract any FA help (or even retain some quality pieces) next offseason. I don’t imagine the current ownership is going to want much in the way of dead money owed when trying to line up potential buyers.

    If you’d told me a year ago that it was more likely that Jamal Adams would be on the squad in 2024 than Quandre, I wouldn’t have believed you. We may now be stuck with both. Something’s gotta give, though. Maybe the next HC should have history as an OL or DL guy, to properly prioritize where the money for difference makers should be spent?

    • TwistedChopper

      A lot of this really does come down to just how you time everything. There is a cyclical nature to how you perform that aligns with the ages of players, how much they are paid, when they are due for a new contract, etc. But it’s also about the timing of other teams as well such as seeing San Fran currently in the peak of their open window and the Rams window having been shut the prior year.

      The Seahawks with their Pete Carroll mantra of “always compete” seem to always try to pretend that cycle doesn’t happen and even during their resets they didn’t really do a true reset. I think in this case it’s resulted in some many years of mediocre performance instead of biting the bullet for a few years to build things back up to peak again.

      Best analogy I can think of is a runner who’s training for a big race. If he’s constantly trying to set PR’s each time he goes out there. Sure he’ll do decently each time he goes out there, but he’s to ever going to put out that amazing performance once the actual race comes like the other races who properly spent time recovering and tapering before the race. In this case the big race is the Super Bowl, and we’ll never compete for it if we don’t properly time things properly to peak at the right time.

      • TwistedChopper

        and one thing to add to the comment because it’s frequently brought up: how the Patriots didn’t have a cycle and were always super good.

        Well they had the great NFL player of all time at the most important position who was willing to pay for below his worth, they had the greatest (or at least one of) Coach of all times, they managed their salary cap extremely well (very willing to lose good performers when the price wasn’t right anymore) and consistently drafted well. Unless you can recreate all of those things, then you can’t avoid the cyclical nature of the NFL.

  2. BK26

    Honestly, I’d rather there be more of a focus (and dare to dream…accountability) about this issue than the next game. Or the next 5.

    It’s the stupid things like this that cripples the team. Do you bite the giant bullet, replace the guys, and hope the new guys can be even FINE (which is still a big improvement)? Or do you just keep running the weakest links on the defense out on the field and try to justify keeping them? Pretend that your mistakes aren’t there?

    People are too caught up in “ooh we have won 2 in a row, we’re back!” The games are the gladiators and the emperor wants to distract us from watching Rome crumble.

    • LouCityHawk

      I’m team, bite the bullet in the off-season.

      PC won’t do it though.

      I’m a fan of enjoying success while also eyeing what can be improved, in sport, in business, in life. Complacency is the forerunner of failure.

      RW’s personality could not be managed-it sabotaged the team, and they have adjusted some. LJ Collier pick was a disaster (among others that seemed to bear the PC stamp) and we are finally seeing course correction. Malik McDowell was one of many character concern players brought in who PC was supposed to fix, now we pass on those. Bellore, Diggs, Prez, multiple of the examples Rob gave all have the same stamp – what is the course correction – and will PC allow it (I’ve always suspected he was the one who ultimately scuttled the rumored Bears trade for RW iprior to the 2017 draft).

      Seahawk fans need to start thinking about how they want the PC era to end. Do they want him to go out to standing ovations? A playoff run? A team that might be inspired to be better than it is to send Coach out on top?

      Or…

      PC packing up boxes as a new regime replaces Jodi, following years of mediocrity that fracture the fan base. Leading to questions of, who might come back first PC or RW to raise the 12th man flag?

      • BK26

        Exactly. Bite the bullet, get ahead of it all NOW. Fans need to think what is going to help us win. I don’t care about being nice or the feel-good stories.

    • Peter

      Nearly every evening when I’m making dinner I listen to sort of the antithetical SDB podcast. With Rang and Smith. I like their banter. And the news. I don’t agree often but since I’m a grown up I can take in ideas I differ with without having a meltdown.

      All this to say. There is big time “this is fine,” energy about our team.

      I truly and literally can not see what the value was/is in the Diggs and Adams contract redos. Am I stupid? What am I missing?

      Looking at Rob’s FA list I’d probably keep the following:

      Lewis
      Brown
      Parkinson
      Edwards Jr.

      That’s it. Brooks has really done nothing. Wagner. I don’t know. Not sure you need veteran leadership at every single position.

      And Geno is the wild card. A lot of us here want a QBOTF. But if he plays well it seems hard to move off him just for money. Unless in a strange twist they do a Lock vs. Rookie battle.

      • VanHawk

        Agree with your keep list but disagree with Brooks: I think he looks promising as future leader and playcaller for seahawks D.

        With Lock at 4 million, points to the team thinking they can possibly pull a GenoSmith with him and make him the cheaper QBOTF.

        • VanHawk

          To be clear, Lock as starter QB with rookie QB as back up.

        • Peter

          Brooks is a great athlete. Active. Maybe he’s a future leader. Has that dog in him to get back so fast. When I say done nothing I’m talking about a surprising lack of impact plays: forced fumbles, ints, sacks,.

          Probably not fair to him but it did not look great when he was manning the fort with Barton.

    • Jed Simon

      “The emperor wants to distract us from watching Rome crumble.” –BK26

      And yet Rome crumbling is arguably the most reliably productive source of entertainment in history. Dwayne Camacho in 2024!

  3. LouCityHawk

    It is starting to come down to this…

    2024 is going to have to be a transitional year. There are just too many factors pointing towards this.

    The salary cap situation needs to be changed up and fast – to a person who doesn’t really understand it, it appears the best way to do that is to stack up as much as possible in a 2024 campaign, giving flexibility to extend key pieces moving forward.

    Geno is proving to be limited, “Kirk Cousins Especial”, I’m sensitive to the points raised about Geno being a good mentor to a young QB, but he will be a costly one that needs to be in greener (or different) pastures come 2025.

    FA that would be nice to retain include Lewis and Parkinson (Brown, Haynes, Edwards, Adams, Bush for cheap only). I’m fine with the rest walking or being traded this season (yes, BWagz). Specifically Fant, Brooks, and Taylor would be ideal to move if there is any value. That means a lot of rookie starters, or bargain basement veterans.

    As noted by others, this is a sentimental fan base, they’d rather see Bobby get his send off at the cost of 1 million crossing routes for first downs; they’d rather see a plucky rookie get killed than see a veteran absorb the punishment to middling results. Moreso than other fan bases. A swath of cold, calculated cuts involving players and coaches won’t sit well with a large portion of this fan base.

    2023 should be Pete Carroll’s last season, it should be announced early so he gets all his ovations and flowers and such.

    A new coach – not from within the organization needs to be brought in.

    New Coach will largely get the benefit of being able to get ‘their guys’, that means cuts that fans may find painful will be tolerated, almost expected. New Coach can retain Geno in the Professor role for one year, a year when the coach will get some rope as “the new coach”. The FO may be the problem, but it isn’t clear that it is…so assume that moving forward the 2022 class is being treated as the foundation, and cap management is more in line with league norms.

    New Coach can make sure Geno gets the send off he deserves, and easily elevate the new QB in 2025. The 2025 team will be rolling out hopefully a 4th draft class that replicates what happened in 2022. The new QB (Rattler? But he is starting to look like a top 15 pick as his hype train builds) will still have multiple years of $$ control for the team to build around.

    Pairing a new offensive minded coach with a young QB, has the added bonus of allowing the team to get a D coordinator that has proven results. Get your Dan Quinn and pay them like a head coach – expect a top 10 (or 5) defense every year. Invest wisely and try to avoid paying RBs when no one else is, or Safeties, or going cheap on DL while those salaries are rising.

    Nothing makes a fan base happier than winning.

    This isn’t a negative idea, and I don’t know why any criticism is currently being taken as straight negativity. Tua could have played better against the Dolphins. I could have done better on my diet when traveling. The Seahawks are not in a terrible place, they are in a place where a transition needs to happen, and I’d rather see it happen smoothly. I don’t want to see PC dead enders fighting with JC dead enders, with Geno dead enders and constant bickering…part of life is learning how to move on, have we all forgotten that?

    Sorry for the novella …. I can’t think of a better ending to the PC era than sneaking into a SB by upsetting the 9ers in the NFC title game, and yeah, I can see a way that happens (not easy, but hopefully involves Char silencing Levi stadium with Beastquake type run).

    • Sea Mode

      🤔

      Tua could have played better against the Dolphins.

  4. BJ

    I think we have all seen enough to know that there’s definitely some questionable judgment being exercised at Seattle HQ and in the draft. This looks and feels like a specific someone interjecting himself in the team building process. If I was Schneider or any scout really, I’d want to decouple from Pete if that’s the problem. Otherwise the implication is that Schneider has lost it. I’d be surprised if that was the case. You don’t build Champs with weak offensive and defensive lines.

    • Peter

      This isn’t really a scouting issue. This is a contract issue. Not to say the scouting has been great all these years.

      Secondly in this endless go around with Pete and John, no one would argue that Adams was not Pete’s decision. No one. But every single bad contract and bad pick is not a “Pete move,” and all the good ones are a “John move.” I wish it were that binary.

      If John’s just going to be Pete’s water boy then can John and hire Tater or Pete’s kid for around 750k to be the gm.

  5. AlaskaHawk

    They are just making it hard on themselves, can’t afford a decent defensive veteran defensive line, linebacker corp will continue to change , this may be the last year for Brooks and Wagner. And all that money tied up in hurt safeties and weak performance.

    I’ve stopped worrying about cap as teams seem to find wiggle room every year. But still, cut the first 4 or all the players Rob listed. And live with it, the team will survive a year of cap hell. Just like it’s surviving cap hell now, basically by moving expenses out a year or two. It will just become worse.

    Nice article Rob.

  6. Sea Mode

    Should have been a convincing win had we been better in the red zone on offense.

    PFF SEA Seahawks
    @PFF_Seahawks
    ·Sep 26

    The Seattle Seahawks defense generated 36 total pressures vs the Carolina Panthers

    Most in NFL Week 3 💪

  7. Palatypus

    Does PFF give out a participation medal?

    • cha

      They don’t but they do have a secret calculation.

      When they give good scores out, it’s because our guy is awesome and here’s the proof he deserves a big contract extension.

      When they give poor scores out, it’s because their system is entirely subjective and there’s no way they could possibly know what that player is supposed to be doing on any given play and despite our own eyes seeing the guy play listless football and their general area of the field being tagged again and again and again by opponents, you can disregard PFF because they’re biased.

      Oh and they don’t count lockerrom leadership in the score. That’s worth 8 figures a year alone.

      • Sea Mode

        Hey, don’t give away all of Pete’s special formula in one go… 🤦‍♂️

      • Peter

        Saw a podcast that did just this tge other day and thought of your comment. Talking about grades this, grades that….

        But on Adams almost tapped their head like the more you know meme and said under rated coverage skills. I was dying laughing.

  8. cha

    Now imagine what the picture would be like if they had not knocked the last two draft classes out of the park.

    • geoff u

      We’d be drafting Caleb Williams and getting a new head coach?

      /bright side

    • Peter

      Truly not stirring crap here…but have they done that?

      Witherspoon. Exciting. Still going to need to see more than high energy guy that hits. Sorry. I love his play but top five CB is top five CB. High energy guy that hits and baits qbs for passes defended, Seattle has had those before later in the draft. Pedantic, tiring on my part? Sure, but I like to be believe that a top five pick gets to nearly the best at their position league wide. Can he do it? I think so? Will he? Remains to be seen.

      JSN. Injured? Scheme issues? Rookie struggles? Other? Cause right now Nacua is playing closer to what u think a lot of thought JSN was going to be.

      Hall. Stoked. But I think it was Rob who mentioned early on that it may take some time for him to be what he can be.

      Charbonnet. Now we’re really cooking hopefully with gas.

      Cam young and Bradford is where I actually think we are starting to point the bat at the far wall and hit it out if the park.

      • Peter

        Re: witherspoon

        He’s currently “on pace,” for 24 passes defended which would be amazing.

        He’s also on pace for a stat that certain seahawks mouthpieces will claim is amazing but is actually not…128 tackles from a corner.

      • cha

        I’ll take my chances with the 2023 class over Diggs/Adams for tens of millions every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

        • Peter

          If that’s the framing it’s not really a contest.

          I always hope everyone reaches their potential. That 2022 class killed it. I’d like to see even less of Taylor and much more Hall. And I’d love to see this vaunted offense use a third reciever instead of having him in the JAG role he’s currently in.

      • Blitzy the Clown

        PFF on Witherspoon Week 3

        Overall Rookie Grade: 65.7 (Rank 6/17)
        Principal Opponent: D.J. Chark Jr.
        Week 3 Snaps: 79
        Week 3 Grade: 70.0

        Witherspoon was targeted a whopping 13 times in Week 3 but allowed just five catches for 31 yards, collected two pass breakups and led the team with 11 tackles. He surrendered one first down, which was his only reception allowed that went for longer than 6 yards. Even more impressive is that Witherspoon was thrust into a CB1 role with Tariq Woolen sidelined. Witherspoon showed he can be half of what should be a fearsome duo once Woolen is healthy.

        Also this:

        Gregg Bell @gbellseattle

        No NFL DB is getting targeted more per game than #Seahawks’ Devon Witherspoon. In 2 starts he’s allowing a completion % lower than Sauce Gardner & Riq Woolen did in 2022.

        He looked ok against Detroit, very good against Carolina. Hoping for excellent vs the Giants.

        I think he’s the real deal.

        • Peter

          Most likely he is. His pass break ups are awesome and I hope they continue.

          I actually like him quite a bit and probably the best of the rookies.

          I’m just not ready to say they crushed back to back drafts week three when Hall is getting the rookie 34% of snaps and JSN is currently ‘a guy’ on the roster…to which I don’t think is his fault btw.

          • AlaskaHawk

            Witherspoon has the fire inside him, he’s a hard hitter and good defender. The question is the same as Adams, will his body hold up over full season?

            • Peter

              Alaska that’s literally only it. He’s already showing game is not too fast for him.

              And he seems like a future “energy,” player that hypes the team in a good way.

  9. Romeo A57

    The Seahawks are staring at a 9-10 win season and possible playoff birth. This team does not come close to matching up against the premier teams in the NFC the 49ers or the Eagles. The main problem is that most Seahawks fans and media don’t care that the Seahawks have no chance or pathway to be a legitimate Superbowl Contender with Pete and his personnel decisions. As long as the team wins around half the games many fans seem to be content. Discontent by fans and media is mostblikely the only way to push Jodi to make the necessary organizational changes. Some of us are hoping a new owner will arrive soon, but Jodi has said multiple times that isn’t happening any time soon.

  10. Mad Dog

    I think they moved money around this season with the safeties because they were the only contracts that had substantial money in them. They needed to free up cap space this year (of course largely because they’ve badly mismanaged the safety position).

    I think in the end they bite the bullet and cut both Diggs and Adams at the end of this year and take the cap hit. And I’ll hate it but understand it and I will hope they don’t ever do something this stupid again. But that’s football and so few FO’s can help themselves by staying out of bad deals.

    I guess the reason I’m willing to forgive is that we seem to have hit it out of the park with the last 2 drafts as far as building a talented team. I just need to see next year when we restock the DL, LB and safety spots with young cheap talent. And maybe just maybe get a damn QBOTF.

    • Rob Staton

      We can’t overlook terrible cap management because of good drafting, any more than we can overlook poor defensive performances to start the season every year despite good drafting

      • Elmer

        A couple of questions:

        Is the play at Safety the primary cause of poor pass defense this year or is it more of a LB/CB issue (or more of a scheme issue).

        I need to be reminded, Who were the personnel at safety when the decisions were made to acquire Diggs and Adams, and how bad was it.

        Thanks!!

        • Rob Staton

          I don’t know who is the primary cause but Diggs currently has the worst grade of any safety in the league and Love is the 10th worst. So whether it’s scheme letting them down, team-mates letting them down or they’re just playing like crap — something isn’t working.

          There were no issues with acquiring Diggs. It was a fantastic deal. A steal for a throwaway pick. Then paying him a kings ransom to stay isn’t the best idea though. And they acquired Adams to get a ‘star’ and a ‘tone setter’ rather than upgrade anything at safety, while overpaying in a hilariously ridiculous fashion.

        • Sean

          They had Bradley McDougall at safety. He was decent, and was sent to the Jets with those draft picks for Adams.

      • Mad Dog

        It’s more forgiving than overlooking.

        I expect to catch hell when I forget flowers on my anniversary but I don’t expect to be thrown out with the dishwater and that my many other good traits will buy me forgiveness.

        Humans make mistakes. If they can make up for them then I’m all about forgiveness.

  11. Gaux Hawks

    I think it’s fair to criticize the FO, but SDB being the only place doing all the “critiquing” is simply negligence.

    Hoping this article will help kickstart the conversation elsewhere.

    • Rob Staton

      This isn’t the only place doing it — but it is limited, it seems, to the Seahawks blog community to discuss this properly

  12. Gaux Hawks

    Take a look at the Seahawks X post of Jake Bobo’s first pitch…

    On the scoreboard they put “Jake Bilbo”

    : )

    • geoff u

      Jake Bilbo Baggins?

  13. Thomas

    I just wonder how much of this is John and how much of it is Pete.

    This has all the hallmarks of throwing good money after bad. They want to make the Adam’s trade work and it just won’t.

    The 49ers at least know when to admit a mistake.

    Based on how the handled Adams I just have a feeling they’re going to pass on a QB and we’ll be shelling out a ton for Geno. It just feels like that’s what’s going to happen. I know John said next year’s QB class looks good but maybe Pete said no to a QB this year and John is going to spend a year trying to convince him.

    It just feels like Cam Ward will be available in round 6 and we’ll pass on him for a special team player we cut after a few weeks on the practice squad.

  14. Spectator

    What about trading Geno? Unless he completely tanks the rest of the year, I can’t see them just cutting a solid QB. But we also clearly can’t even afford his contract next year. So I can’t see him being a Seahawk in 2024. I’m hoping a trade may be an option. Get something for him and maybe get the cap savings too.

    • Sea Mode

      Realistically, who’s ponying up anything for Geno though…?

      Yes, there are a handful of teams with worse QB situations, but I struggle to find a single one of them that might actually look to Geno as the answer.

      I guess maybe, MAYBE, as a bridge QB for a team that selects a QB in the draft and wants time to develop him. But then again, we’re right back to our own situation: why would any team pay that much for a bridge QB that is not going to take you to the promised land?

      Seahawks should put out their number and let his agent see if he can find anything better. (cause IMO it’s highly unlikely)

      • Romeo A57

        Fans that way overvalue thier own players makes me smile. Geno being solidly in his 30s and mediocre for most of his career, might be worth a Day 2 Pick now, but I would guess he returns a Day 3 Pick.

        The Seahawks have a lot of young and unproven talent. I can think of only 2 players that most likely could be traded for a First Round Pick by themselves DK and Woolen. Walker is real close. Tyler is too old.

        • Hawkcrazy

          Add Weatherspoon and Smith-Njiba to that list… also perhaps Mafe who was a high second and looks pretty good. I think the important thing is seattle would not trade any of these players for a first round pick (unless extremely high pick) as first rounders are often a crapshoot… ie Collier although he was overdrafted.

          • RomeoA57

            With Witherspoon’s injuries since he has been with the Seahawks and the fact JSN has shown little production on the field, I am not sure they could get a First Round pick for either. Eventfully I would expect both to be very solid and hopefully great players.

      • Kyle R

        The irony here is the best team that fits this scenario is the Jets lol.

    • David

      Interesting idea. I immediately had this crazy ironic dream about the Jets wanting Geno back to take Rogers’ place. Lol! What a story! Not sure how the prodigal son would perform under such intense pressure, but it would be a huge NYC feel good story! And if he succeeds, what redemption for Geno!

      Personally, if I’m JS/PC I’d consider it if the Jets would give us their 2024 1st round pick. That would be five Day 1 & 2 picks for us next year. The Hawks could then install Lock as a placeholder QB, draft their QB of the future and continue building a championship quality team around those QBs.

      Maybe (probably) Lock isn’t as good as Geno, but if the decision is that Geno isn’t enough to lead the Hawks to a Super Bowl, then why keep the situation as is? Obviously, the impact to the locker room would need to be considered as Geno is a popular player and emerging leader. And I don’t know how the team feels about Lock. But another 1st sure would help.

  15. Blitzy the Clown

    Well deserved

    Bob Condotta @bcondotta

    Walker wins NFC Offensive Player of Week honors.

    9:27 AM · Sep 27, 2023

    https://x.com/bcondotta/status/1707069348563820648?s=20

    • Hawkster

      Somehow the Phins hang 70 and don’t have a player bag OPOTW. That is kinda weird.

      • Sean

        Good point. Maybe they could not decide between Shane, Mostert, and Tyreke, so they compromised by giving it to Walker?

        • nano

          NFC / AFC dudes. There’s one for each conference.

      • Dancingeek

        Dolphins are AFC, this award was for NFC.

  16. Blitzy the Clown

    With respect to the safeties, it’s a two-part problem. The first part is the FO roster/cap mismanagement. That’s huge, and an in-depth discussion about how we got here is warranted.

    But the second part is the player, or players.

    Adams can’t stay healthy. That sucks but at least I get it.

    WTF happened to Quandre? This guy went from absolute steal by trade to the total dead weight in two seasons. Besides which, his off-field antics wear thin and do nothing for his public image.

    Seriously though, what happened to them as players? I ask because I think that even if Adams was still recovering from significant injury, if Diggs was still balling out like he did in 2020-21, we wouldn’t be so legitimately concerned.

    • cha

      Diggs is an enduring mystery.

      It’s a chicken and egg problem.

      He’s supposed to be the captain, the catch-all the stabilizing force. But he can’t make any plays because he’s supposedly watching out for everyone else.

      He’s supposed to have the middle locked down but if the pass rush doesn’t get home he gets tagged mercilessly.

      He’s supposed to play better when Jamal Adams is on the field, yet he disappeared in 2020 when Adams was blitzing 10 times a game.

      He’s supposed to be the one guy who is playing good when everyone else around him is flailing, and it is the other way around.

      • Hawkster

        Ahhh … the Middle.

        Wagz and Diggs.

  17. Palatypus

    Here’s Athlon’s QB rankings article for you all to slice and dice.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/college-football-s-top-25-quarterbacks-after-week-4/ar-AA1hiu2K?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=91102879fcfd4f4087130828d104fce5&ei=16

    1. Caleb Williams, USC
    2. Michael Penix Jr., University of Washington
    3. Drake Maye NC (*cough*)
    4. Jordan Travis, FSU
    5. Bo Nix, Oregon
    6. Shedeur Sanders, Colorado
    7. Cameron Ward, Washington State
    8. Sam Hartman, Notre Dame
    9. Quinn Ewers, Texas
    10. Dillon Gabriel, Oklahoma
    11. Jayden Daniels, LSU
    12. Spencer Rattler, South Carolina
    13. J.J. McCarthy, Michigan
    14. Tyler Van Dyke, Miami
    15. K.J. Jefferson, Arkansas
    16. Drew Allar, Pen State
    17. Jaxon Dart, Ole Miss
    18. Jalon Daniels, Kansas
    19. Connor Weigman, Texas A&M
    20. Riley Leonard, Duke (There is no way Jaxon Dart is three spots better than Riley Leonard.)
    21. Michael Pratt, Tulane
    22. Austin Reed, Western Kentucky
    23. Garrett Shrader, Syracuse
    24. Jack Plummer, Louisville
    25. Tualia Tagavailoa (What does it say about me that I can spell this correctly without looking?)

    • Rob Staton

      LOFL

    • BK26

      I know better, but man I hope Rattler is this undervalued. Might be the only way he lasts until wherever we are picking.

      Then the more I look at the list, the more unrealistic it is.

      • Peter

        Since I like a funny conspiracy…..one qb transferred from a school in the Carolinas and was forgotten about….a decade later another qb transfers TO a school in the Carolinas and is forgotten about….it’s all coming together.

      • Palatypus

        What if Duke upsets Notre Dame next week?

    • Hawkster

      That you are strong with vowels?

    • Miguel

      If this listed was based on throws behind the scrimmage, Bo Nix would be Tom Brady status

  18. Ben M

    Good piece Rob and more media folks should be asking these questions. I liked this part a lot:

    “Not every team has to be built the same way and I’m not arguing that these teams are necessarily right and the Seahawks are wrong.”

    The Seahawks are wrong. It makes zero sense to not have (at minimum) competent line play but invest nearly $60M for three safeties. Especially ones who are chronically injured and/or playing well below their value.

    • cha

      JAMAL ADAMS ISN’T A SAFETY HE IS A WEAPON

      (yesh because he can destroy the cap with one swipe…Heyoooo)

      • Palatypus

        Jamal Adams is a weapon in the way I cracked myself in the nuts while learning to use nunchaku.

        • Gross MaToast

          Exactly. He brings the pain.

          • Palatypus

            End the suffrage.

            Use the disenfranchise tag.

            • Jed Simon

              I like that.

      • Ben M

        “Best in the nation!!”

        SMDH

  19. nfendall

    Part of me thinks Pete is too attached to the LOB when he had 2 all-world safeties in ET and Kam and believes that Diggs and Adams are comparable to them (at least by their salaries). Diggs is the deep safety that can cover the entire field and limit explosive plays while Adams is the “enforcer” that plays near the line of scrimmage.

    In his first couple of years, Diggs looked to be able to fill this role at a quality level but has since fallen off a cliff. He seems much more concerned with his social media presence than his effort and play on the field.

    They have no idea how to maximize Adams’ abilities other than as a blitzing safety (even that was overblown) and the guy can’t stay healthy to boot.

    The last 2 drafts have shown they have the capability to change their processes, but the way they manage the salary cap has not followed suit. These contracts along with the Dissly and Bellore contracts are glaring examples of this.

    Hopefully they can pivot their salary management processes, but I am afraid this won’t happen under the current regime.

    • 509 Chris

      I’ve wondered this too. Pete really sees the defense running from the back and not the front maybe?

  20. 509 Chris

    Some people are saying the way forward is to bite the bullet next year and roll w draft picks on a lot of these over pruced veterans. How can they draft qb, dl, 2 safties, and probably 2 lb without forcing picks and getting a bunch of lj colliers? This is a problem that plagues this team well into 2025, maybe longer if they don’t make the right moves.

    Also a side note people have talked about dead cap and how it relates to a sale. I think thats irrelevant. You dont spend 5 billion or more on a team and worry about 20 million dollars here or there in old contracts. Pro sports franchises print money.

    • Peter

      Agreed. Anything short of a quarter billion in escrow for a qb I don’t think prevents a sale of a team. And even that….maybe not.

      Unless all this contract reworking is part of John’s master plan to stay forever by creating contracts that are too onerous for Bezos or other to wrap their minds around causing confusion come sale time.

    • Mad Dog

      Rd 1: DL or safety
      Rd 2: DL or safety (Whichever you didn’t get)
      Rd 3: LB
      Rd 3: Flier on a QB
      Rd 4-7: BPA’s

      We don’t really need 2 safeties as we have Love and Reed. We aren’t getting a top QB so we will need to take a flier on someone anyway. There should be DL and safeties that aren’t reaches in Rds 1 and 2.

      • Rob Staton

        I wouldn’t be so hasty to write off QB to merely round three

  21. Gross MaToast

    Really good piece here. It’s all of this *waving hands wildly* that strongly suggests to me that perhaps JS isn’t the guru braingenius that we make him out to be from time to time. As a scout? Fine. GM? We’re still not sure, some 13 years into his tenure, that he either is now or has ever been the actual GM in anything other than title. When Pete goes, JS should follow.

    30% of the Seahawks’ salary cap this season is either dead money or tied up in 2 safeties, about whom the less said the better. A QB you can’t afford to keep. A grand total of about $1m to replace a dozen players… it all seems like a ticking time bomb set to go off on whoever has the misfortune of following Pete and then a slew of, “see, you guys didn’t know how good you had it” columns from the locals when it does.

    The problems are obvious for anyone willing to look. Thanks for spotlighting it, Rob.

    • Hawkster

      Do the Seahawks have a great draft the McCloughan wasn’t involved in?

    • Sean

      Yes. This is not competent contract management. If the Seahawks had pro-bowl safeties and a top 10 defense, then we should seriously consider that they’ve found a different way to win, are ahead of their time, etc. But being a lousy defense year after year and paying outrageous money, and then doubling down on it is just bad news.

      And I agree, it seems like JS has got to be the problem here. We can’t blame everything we don’t like on PC and assume JS is doing everything right.

      Rob asked what the team could do if they had another 18M this year. Great question. Maybe they’d spend it on another safety

    • Chris

      This.

      It’s fairly obvious by now what John is. An above-average drafter (with high variance) and a below-average cap manager/negotiator (with an overall philosophy that can repeatedly create moves of outright incompetence). His best teams were the early ones, where a streak of brilliant drafts and initial player acquisitions was not yet counter-balanced by his penchant for creating cap hells over time. Unfortunately, it does not seem this recent streak of drafts will be so lucky. The longer he’s had the team, the worse the overall cap management and resource use situation has become, making excellent drafting necessary just to be “good” at this point.

  22. Blitzy the Clown

    GOAT knows there are no shortcuts to GOATness

    GOAT knows there’s no bolloxing to GOATness

    Deion is different y’all

    https://x.com/CharlesRobinson/status/1706813334127772121?s=20

    • BK26

      And yet, people have a problem with him. It’s frustrating seeing some of the dumb push back he’s gotten. Especially when something like this comes out.

      • Jed Simon

        “People have a problem with him.”

        Well, they enjoy rooting against him at any rate. Can’t imagine why.

    • Palatypus

      You have to love him.

  23. Romeo A57

    The Milwaukee Bucks mortgaged their future today to trade for Damian Lillard in an attempt to win a title or two in the next few years.

    The Seahawks have mortgaged their cap space for the next few years in a hope to end up with a winning record this year.

    • BK26

      As a Bucks fan, I am ECSTATIC. Losing Jrue is like losing Bobby (except if he was still in his prime). They are going to be getting nailed in luxury tax. But the window is very, very open. They went all in.

      As a Seahawks fan at the same time, handicapping the team themselves is like watching a train crash. Slowly.

      Bucks want to win it all, Seahawks don’t want to lose.

      • GoHawks5151

        Be good to Dame. Hope y’all get a ring. People try to compare him to Russ I guess because both teams have the same owner but they are not alike. Dame is a dawg

        • BK26

          I appreciate getting him. He is loyal. I saw that he wanted to go back once he was told it was a “no” for Miami, but team said that he wasn’t coming back. I’ve seen a lot of Portland fans that are happy that he is getting such a good chance.

          Hurts losing Jrue. Wouldn’t have won without him, and he is a genuinely great human being.

    • Big Mike

      Agree

    • Troy

      This is painful and accurate, thanks i hate it

  24. cha

    WR Cody Thompson waived so there’s an open spot on the 53.

    I’d guess LB John Rhattigan or OT Jason Peters, not one of the guys they’ve worked out this week.

  25. Big Mike

    Thanks for a succinct summation of the cap issues with this team Rob. And thanks to cha for always keeping us abreast of this tuff. Most of us are not “hip” to cap machinations.

    I wonder about something……..Pete claimed about a year ago that Safety was not a prime position anymore yet he continues to spend like a drunken sailor on leave for the position. I have this feeling he was actually mocking the league for considering it a low priority position and is paying for the 3 guys because he still believes building from the back forward is the way to construct a defense.
    This is a crappy situation and it would appear it won’t change next season either. The extension of the Diggs and Adams contracts point in this direction.

    • Brodie

      Technically they weren’t extensions. They converted salary to bonus money to push the cap hit out. If they don’t spend it, nothing will happen (cap rolls forward).

      So if the cap next year is $256M next year and we roll $7M forward – the Hawks effective cap will be $263M. If we then do something to incur $7M in dead money, we’re back where we started.

      Converting the contracts for Adams and Diggs doesn’t adversely affect the team from an accounting/cap standpoint. It hurts the owner – who had to pay that money when it was converted. The ‘cost of doing business’ was writing those checks to create wiggle room in case an opportunity comes up.

      The real travesty wasn’t in the conversion, but in inking those deals in the first place. They are so disproportionately bad – relative to the market and performance – that they have to rate as two of the worst deals in the NFL.

      • Brodie

        Cha can correct me if I’m wrong, but that is my understanding of it anyway.

        • cha

          You got it.

          The biggest thing is if any of the salary was non-guaranteed (like Adams’ $8.44m was), it becomes guaranteed with the restructure. We all talked about the $23m dead to cut him? Now they’re on the hook for $32m.

          And as far as the owner paying the cash out, that’s not necessarily the case. Some teams spread it out, they just call it a bonus instead of salary. Making me feel even more like it’s all a shell game.

          Restructuring is a good strategy if 1) the player you’re restructuring is a solid locked-on rock of production – like Tyler Lockett and 2) if you use any cap you gain wisely.

          Neither of those reasons are relevant to the Seahawks’ spending and their safeties.

          • Big Mike

            Thanks for the explanation guys. Like I said, I’m not hip to this stuff. I am smart enough to see spending what the team is spending on the 3 Safeties is nuts considering the crap performance we’re seeing (as cha mentioned).

            • Big Mike

              The rest of my post stands

          • Brodie

            “The biggest thing is if any of the salary was non-guaranteed (like Adams’ $8.44m was), it becomes guaranteed with the restructure. We all talked about the $23m dead to cut him? Now they’re on the hook for $32m.”

            Just malpractice. We can’t even move on from him at that cost. I mean, you can… but even trading him next year ends up with us eating $20M+ in dead cap.

            I hadn’t considered that some of that was NG money that became guaranteed with the re-work. So deflating to think about.

  26. geoff u

    Money well spent, if you like throwing money away. 17 explosive pass plays given up thus far, tied for league worst. 7th worst in passer rating.

    Week 1: 6
    Week 2: 6
    Week 3: 5

    But hey, we’re trending in the right direction!

    And for the record, our run defense has not been great, it has been league average in both total yards and ypc.

    • geoff u

      My bad, looking at the wrong sides. We have 7th best passer rating on offense and middling run game.

      Our defense has given up the 2nd most passing yards and 9th worst passer rating.

      Our run defense is 6th in yards and 3rd in ypc. So definite improvement there. The plan was definitely to stop the run, at the cost of a Thanos meme.

  27. CHaquesFan

    Might get cap from a possible Lockett retirement if he goes the Baldwin route even if it is doubtful with 2y left at 16m on his contract

    • Chris

      He’s actually good though …

      Some money on good players isn’t really the problem. It’s all the over-paying for mediocrity and low value positions.

      • Tien

        When I hear this talk about dumping Lockett’s contract, it makes no sense to me. We want good players on the team so unless Lockett really plays terrible this year, why even discuss it? JSN may/hopefully will be a really good player but until he shows it, why risk creating another weakness on the team by getting rid of Lockett and counting on JSN producing at the same level?

  28. Palatypus

    Exciting news, Rob! I found a way for you to watch all the games. You just have to bet on every play.

    https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/low-latency-video-stream-and-betting-app-has-arrived

    As recently explained by Joe Lemire of Sports Business Journal, Genius Sports has created a new product that allows the streaming of NFL games and the placement of bets within the video player.

    It’s called BetVision. The app will first be used by Caesars and Fanatics sports books. BetRivers will have the technology later this year.

  29. Gaux Hawks

    Waiving Cody Thompson gives me hope that Dareke Young is coming back in two weeks…

  30. Rb

    Rob’s gotta be like “go fund me”. Lol. What’s the min bet per play.? Rob watches a lot of tape. How much cap space does Rob have for this?

  31. Romeo A57

    Rob could make millions just by betting that the Quarterback will complete the pass on every play against the Seahawks Defense.

    He could then fly a private jet to college football games instead of searching for the games online:)

  32. MJ

    Love the analysis on the Hawks puzzling use of cap space. In a salary cap league, these decisions can be the difference in what separates elite franchises. Where’s the accountability?!

  33. UkAlex6674

    Rob Palatypus just gave me ad idea.

    Try Bet365. As long as you deposit a minimum 5 quid then you have access to an absolute world wide plethora of live sport.

    I’m pretty sure college ball will be available also.

    • Palatypus

      Gambling and liquor are always the solution.

    • Romeo A57

      I have no idea how much 5 quid is compared to US Dollars, but I might be able to increase my contribution to the blog by a Franc or a Peso.

  34. L80

    The Hawks F.O. has made a sizable amount of solid moves over this regime, however, there are the head scratchers as well…..The thing is , even with all their wisdome and savvy, they did and still do, moves like these.

    Percy Harvin???…Did they F**king forget about that?

    Even Bradley McDougald, who was playing well AND reasonably priced, they did a worse than Percy Harvin move for Adams when they didn’t even need him BECAUSE the decided to not pay Clark…Really STUPID moves by intelligent people.

    • Peter

      Years later I’m hearing still about Adams as a weapon.

      Hope he balls out. I know it’s low hanging fruit to dog on him and part of that is him, part is his fashion team + seahawks social media team, and part of it is his weird fans….

      I just don’t know if Seattle knows how to use gadget type players. It’s been a lot of years and they haven’t yet done it.

      • Palatypus

        I suppose a Louis Vuitton coffee mug could be used as a weapon, too.

  35. Peanut

    Since discovering this blog, i think i’ve yet to read here that the franchise has handled cap or contracts well. Either overpaying, or paying the wrong people.

    • Rob Staton

      It has been a consistent issue.

      They have signed some good contracts too and found some value over the years but too often their decision making with the cap and contracts handed out have been majorly head scratching.

    • Peter

      The contracts have long been an issue for quite a few years. It’s an important part of team building that many outlets don’t acknowledge.

      2022 draft ruled.

      Probably 2023 draft will be considered a great success.

      However when we look at total expenditures it’s not hard to see just how good Seattle could be if money was spent better in positions that matter. Notably Dline.

      Since this is a draft blog bringing it to 2024 by spending so much in some areas it might, might, cause the team to draft more towards need than best player available: examples TE. They will need TE’s unless parkinson and fant return for very little money.

      Or alternately reverse need where Seattle should seriously consider drafting new, young safeties but can’t/won’t because they have serious cash tied up in that position.

      Or the QB position. I’m currently unsure how they pay Geno if he plays well. Or how they pay a back up unless they finally draft a guy. Unless Drew Lock is fine taking maybe less money and just hanging around.

      • Peter

        Again I ask….

        They are going to move on from a guy who will most likely have good numbers, probably won’t be the reason we lose many if any games, and importantly is a BIG time fan favorite for money reasons?

        I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that happen in this league. How does the PR team go about this: you know how y’all love Geno and chant his name? That feel good story of the underdog triumphing when our first love broke our hearts and he was there for us? Those were great times, right? Yeah….we’re not gonna pay a probowl qb. Why? Oh, we’re broke.

        All so they can pay two plus safeties. One who is clearly declining and the other who is a big time question mark and has never been worth his compensation.

        I’m not saying the math doesn’t point to it. I am saying that I can’t see “vibes f.c.” doing that.

        • Big Mike

          💯 Peter

    • Dancingeek

      When the Geno contract was originally signed this site lauded it as a fantastic “prove it” deal, so not everything is criticism.

      • Peter

        Jones has not been the hit we’d hoped for but at the time it was seen as a good contract move.

  36. no frickin clue

    Question for Cha: I think I already know the answer to this, but is there any way that the cap rises enough for 2024 such that the dead money associated with moving on from Adams and/or Love is not especially onerous? Although I guess if it rises for the Hawks, it rises for everyone, and probably makes free agents even more expensive than usual.

    Maybe another way of asking this: what is the typical increase in cap per year, and if we get that amount in 2024, how bad is our cap situation assuming nothing else changes?

    • Sea Mode

      Not Cha, but anytime you are staring at taking on $30m in dead money just from two players (and there will be several more who need to be cut along with them), whether spread over two years or not, does not make for a healthy cap situation no matter how much the cap goes up.

      I’m starting to think just about the ONLY way they can get out of this jam is to move on from Geno and roll with Lock and a rookie QB next year. I’m starting to wonder if they might have even been planning on it regardless of how Geno plays this season.

      • Rokas

        They can not be planning to me from Geno no matter what. If Geno balls out, a 73 year old coach won’t say, ok, next man up in our quest.

        • Rokas

          *to move

      • Jabroni-DC

        I’ve thought about that too regarding Geno. Sign Lock to a 2 year contract at low backup pay, draft your QB & cut Geno loose out of cap necessity. But for F’s sake don’t stop there. Cut Adams, cut Diggs, take the pain in one season & then build it right with a clean start.

        $11M from Diggs
        $6M from Adams
        $14M from Geno

        $29M in cap space is chump change in reality but we’ve got to right the damn ship at some point & admit the gross over valuation of the safetys.

    • cha

      I think I already know the answer to this, but is there any way that the cap rises enough for 2024 such that the dead money associated with moving on from Adams and/or Love is not especially onerous?

      That’s a great question. The answer is ‘maybe.’ Sorry if that isn’t satisfying.

      The league finishes its year and figures out all the revenue gained from all the good stuff, ticket sales, TV, fan gear, etc and then releases the salary cap number per team usually around the end of January for the new year that starts in March.

      OTC projects a 2024 cap number of $256m, which is a whopping 13.8% increase from 2023. There’s a lot of reasons for that, some of which includes some COVID recovery.

      Is it possible that it could be even more than $256m? Sure. It’s going to rise even more as gambling revenue starts really coming online. You know teams are counting on that when they are giving out 5y $250m contracts.

      There is a benefit to restructuring and that is – it’s like taking out a loan that is not only interest-free but with the cap increase the following years you actually pay less back. $10m is 4.4% of the cap this year. It’s 3.9% of the cap next year, and 3.5% of the cap in 2025.

      Honestly I don’t talk about it much because when you restructure, you’re really gambling that player is going to provide value in the future years. You’re putting a ring on their finger instead of just being engaged. They better be good. It worked for the Rams because players like Donald and Ramsey were top performers year after year.

      But there is simply no way that $56m for 3 safeties next year is workable.

      Although I guess if it rises for the Hawks, it rises for everyone, and probably makes free agents even more expensive than usual.

      You’re spot on. That’s never talked about in the fandom much. “Yay we got more cap room!” and “OMG free agent player got HOW MUCH?” are never linked much in fans’ minds but they should be.

      And your last question…

      how bad is our cap situation assuming nothing else changes?

      The good: Lots of top young talent on rookie contracts, Geno Smith’s contract is set for him to either be cut or renegotiated, and if they draft as well in 2024 as they did in 2022 and 2023, there’s a lot to like.

      The bad: Not a lot of free easy room to make cuts – Rob covered this. Mone is easy but not much else. Dissly is the only TE on contract. Julian Love hits $8m but do you need him if you’re exiting Diggs and Adams? His play this year has been horrid. Will a second year in the system make him improve?

      The ugly: The two big safety contracts. With that $55m you could go out and have bought Javon Hargrave, Zach Allen, and Calais Campbell and still had money left over to fill those safety spots.

      • Jabroni-DC

        I’d much prefer bringing Ryan Neal back next year at SS for pennies on the dollar vs Adams. He was our most consistent performer for years. Draft a FS & cut Diggs.

      • Palatypus

        This might help.

        https://www.profootballnetwork.com/nfl-salary-cap-history/

        As you can see, the salary cap increased by $16.6 Million last year. That is a reasonable expectation. Maybe add a little for the new gambling money and I could see $20 Million. Maybe you can re-sign Jordyn Brooks with that money.

  37. bv eburg

    Good read Rob, thank you.
    Most solid teams build front to back. This management the last 4 years has done the opposite and built back to front. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence the Seahawks defense has been abysmal during that timeframe!

  38. Blitzy the Clown

    I’m an original Seahawks fan since 1976.

    How is it that I’m just learning about this glitch in the Matrix now?!?

    Seattle Seahawks @Seahawks

    https://twitter.com/Seahawks/status/1707446173353836902/photo/1

    · Both born in Tulsa, Oklahoma
    · Both iconic Seahawks wide receivers
    · Both born September 28

    Today we celebrate both Tyler Lockett and Steve Largent on their Birthday!

    10:24 AM · Sep 28, 2023

    • Peter

      Since ’84 for me and this is the coolest trivia piece I’ve seen maybe ever about the seahawks.

    • Big Mike

      Also since ’76 for me and really since ’74 when it was announced Seattle was getting an NFL team. I had no idea about this really cool factoid. So awesome!

  39. ShowMeYourHawk

    Not to put the cart ahead of the horse (lots of football to play) but looking ahead at the NFL schedule, anyone else seeing that there could be a really solid chance our matchup with Cleveland in Week 8 gets flexed into the Sunday night game? Throwbacks at home in primetime? 🙌🏽

    • Peter

      Would be cool.

      Think if patriots get a pulse the dolphins v. Pats game gets flexed there.

  40. Jabroni-DC

    Gotta believe that the Bears will take QB Caleb Williams at #1 should they end up there yet again. For that matter, so would the other 0-fer teams including Carolina.

    • Peter

      Carolina? After giving up picks?

      If they get pick 2 they should take Marvin Harrison Jr.

      If the bears are there Williams should say “pass.” That is turning into a dumpster fire organization going on forever since they were relevant.

      • Big Mike

        I have a feeling Williams is gonna go Eli and make sure he goes to a decent organization as in not the Bears, Cardinals et. al. And good for him if and when he does.

        • Peter

          He should. The bears are a mess.

          • Rob Staton

            Rightly or wrongly, I think there’s an allure with the Bears and Chicago. Turning them around is attractive.

            If they appoint a dynamic offensive coach this off-season I doubt he’d demand not to go to Chicago

            • Peter

              Edit: if the bears do that then I can see him going there. If they keep the coach or getting another retread I’d pass if I were him.

              • Big Mike

                Ditto, but imo that’s a big IF. Bad organizations make bad choices over and over.

                • Jabroni-DC

                  Cincinnati was the poster child for ‘Bad organizations’ for a loooooong time, drafted Burrow & narrowly lost the Super Bowl in short order. It’s possible to turn it around quickly if you get the QB.

                  • Big Mike

                    Burrow didn’t have the NIL options Williams has nor the year of eligibility Williams will after this season.

                • Big Mike

                  Plus Burrow is an Ohio native

    • DC1234

      The Bears have the Panthers 1st round pick next year.

      So the Bears can potentially pick 1st and 2nd

      • Peter

        Rats!

        Alright. New coach. Williams, Harrison Jr. 1-2.

        • Jabroni-DC

          Williams & a LT would make sense too. They’ve got Darnell Wright at RT. Bookend Tackles to protect the crown jewel.

          • Peter

            Good call as well.

  41. Peter

    Been hearing talk about fair expectations for Adams’ return.

    So I was wondering since the picks are already spent and the cash is tied up is there anything he could do to make some of us shut up? I mean it is a devastating injury he came back from so much respect for that.

    Is it just play out the rest of the year? Is it that plus say four sacks?

    For some of us nothing will be worth it. But for the sake of winning and that means everyone playing well is there anything?

    • Rob Staton

      He’d have to be one of the best defenders in the league

      Nothing less

      The price they’ve paid (picks & salary) demands it — and they’re still paying the salary, remember

      • Big Mike

        This. And btw Peter considering what we saw from him season before last (doink) and his PFF rating which supported the eye test, I’m not sure he’s even capable of what you suggest.

      • Peter

        That’s where I’m at btw.

        I know I’m a broken record here but he’s going to get paid 3 and change less than TJ Watt next year. And anyone with a brain would see Watt as one of the best defenders in the game. Plus the corollary works because he had a shortened season and for now looks like comeback player of the year and if he keeps it up could be in the voting for defender of the year.

      • geoff u

        And elevate us from bottom of the league to one of the best pass defenses in the NFL.

    • cha

      Same thing I’ve always wanted:

      Week One 2020 vs Atlanta on repeat

      12 tackles
      1 sack
      2 tackles for loss
      2 QB Hits
      2 Pressures

      • Blitzy the Clown

        I’d be satisfied if he turns in only one performance like that this year. But could we make it one of the later games?

        Because the ONE thing I don’t want to see Monday night is him run out there all halfcocked trying to prove something that ends up ending his season

        The pressure to perform has to be overwhelming, but FFS I hope he controls his emotions and plays smart

        • Peter

          New fear unlocked….he’s so jacked and pumped he takes witherspoon out with a dumb tackle.

      • Big Mike

        His one good game as a Seahawk cha. And it was definitely good.

    • BK26

      Super Bowl. Otherwise the cost his just been way to much of a black hole. The draft picks, the money, the misuse of the defense and the liability out there.

      Too many factors that could each individually reshape what the team could have done otherwise.

    • Denver Hawker

      So much of Adams’ disappointment looks like overplaying his first read and/or not finishing. He never seems to just play within himself.

      No helmet doinks- make the INT
      No business decisions, level the ball carrier
      No “jacked to the tits”, just play your zone
      No jawing, get back in the huddle

    • David

      “… is there anything he (Jamal Adams) could do to make some of us shut up?”

      Doubt it.

      But since you asked, what I’d like to see, as (1) he’s supposedly going to be playing a linebacker role in passing situations, and (2) it’s MNF, would be a Fredd Young vs Dokie Williams type hit that 110% jacks up the team and announces to the league that he’s back! (And he does not get re-injured!)

      Lol!

  42. Blitzy the Clown

    Here’s a fun Baldy’s Breakdown

    Brian Baldinger @BaldyNFL

    .@Seahawks at hit again striking GOLD in the draft! I like a whole lotta Bradford with my Charbonnet #BaldysBreakdowns

    Baldy sez:

    [Bradford’s] always got an extra shove at the end of every play

    https://x.com/BaldyNFL/status/1707459246957220018?s=20

    • Group Captain Mandrake

      But they wasted a 2nd round pick on a RB when they could have packaged that pick to move up and ensure they got Jalen Carter. I’m sure someone on Twitter has said some such nonsense.

      • James

        you still gonna do this, no matter how many times everyone in the organization and on this website has told you that Jalen Carter was never going to be a Seahawk in this conceivable universe?

        • Big Mike

          Read the last sentence of his post James.

        • Group Captain Mandrake

          Sar-chasm. The gap between my sarcasm and someone understanding it, I guess.

  43. cha

    My goodness was that press conference uninspired.

    The only thing other than injury update questions was 4 – count em, 4! questions about prime time and playing in New York. Can Julian Love handle it? Can Geno Smith handle it? Can YOU Pete handle it? Is it fun going back to the SB48 stadium?

    The only good nugget is Pete is NOT happy with the running game. Says they have to improve there and his tone told you he wasn’t kidding around.

    https://twitter.com/curtis93969/status/1707513698129232286

    • Rob Staton

      I liked the line about the running game. It does need to be better and that was a determined answer.

      You’re right though, would’ve been nice to hear some other topics raised. There’s quite a lot to get into, good bad and in between

      • Elmer

        It seems like this same conversation happens with Diggs every year. He has guano games and then enough good games to make the FO think he had an OK season and bring him back. Maybe that just points out the obvious, that safety play is affected by the play of the rest of the defense, and vice versa.

  44. KennyBadger

    This article is as much a commentary on Seattle media as it is the front office. I’m not saying decisions should be made based on fan pressure but there’s literally no discussion or pushback anywhere else about this shit. If the whole point of sports is to win championships then you can’t have these types of mistakes- on the field, in the front office, scouting, whatever. It’s infuriating that if you get one of those things right, then you get a pass for being wrong about everything else. This safety and cap management situation is egregious- the people making these decisions can’t be trusted to get the things right that are necessary to get back to championship levels. I know I’m regurgitating robs and many posters thoughts here, but if you could magically transfer the New York press to Seattle would Pete give it up because there’d be no place to hide? I can’t stand the northeast press but there’s a positive to turning some screws in front of the masses. 2013 was 10 mother grabbing years ago yet a lot of people talk like it was 10 weeks ago. There’s a lot of potential on this team but Young talent is like a good steak – you salivate then it gets cooked in the microwave.

  45. cha

    That Jarred Goff interception was the Jarred Goff-iest throw that Jarred Goff ever Jarred Goff’d.

  46. Blitzy the Clown

    Maybe it’s not a big deal but I’m surprised the first name Herbstreet thought of for top QBs in the 2024 class was Maye and not Williams

    • Palatypus

      Wasn’t Kirk Herbstreet a quarterback for Ohio State back when they always had a bad signal caller?

      …or maybe he’s been smoking all the herb’ on his street?

      • Blitzy the Clown

        He’s no Pat McAfee

      • jed

        I think Kirk took a love potion for Hutchinson before the broadcast. Even when another Lion did something good and Hutch had zero impact on the play Kirk was drooling over him.

  47. Blitzy the Clown

    Lots to like about this Lions team

    Makes me feel better about our win in Detroit

    • Palatypus

      I think the statistic for that is “quality win.”

      • Blitzy the Clown

        Indeed sir. The last charge of Wyatt Earp and his immortals

        • Palatypus

          I have been to Boot Hill and the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona.

          I drank sasparilla at the O.K. Corral.

          • Blitzy the Clown

            I can’t drink sarsaparilla because it angries up the blood!

            I do envy you for that experience though

            • Palatypus

              High Scholl Future Business Leaders of America Convention in Tuscon. I was 15.

    • Peter

      Detroit winning definitely makes that a good win.

  48. Hawkster

    I like Love but he is no Aaron pocket genius.

    • Palatypus

      Love is pocket pool.

  49. Palatypus

    The female ref thought he was short.

    What have you done for me lately?

  50. Ground_Hawk

    Great content Rob!

    Seattle’s investment on safeties is like PC/JC version of a y2k bunker enthusiast; “You’ll only wish that you thought of this dummy”

  51. STTBM

    Rob, I have nothing to add. You are spot on. I can’t even discuss Seattles cap mismanagement and personnel decisions at the safety position without getting pissed and experiencing heartburn.

    Where is John Idzik, and why have they not brought him back?!

  52. Blitzy the Clown

    The Prime effect

    College Football Blue Bloods @bluebloodsbias

    The celebrity guest list for this weekend’s Colorado-USC game has been revealed, and it’s LOADED 🤯

    🌟 LeBron James & Bronny James (USC)
    🌟 Jay Z
    🌟 Snoop Dogg (USC)
    🌟 Lil Wayne
    🌟 DJ Khaled
    🌟 Matthew McConaughey
    🌟 Will Ferrell (USC)

    We’ve NEVER seen so many A-List Celebs turn out for a college football game 😳

    Coach Prime has made Boulder, CO the CENTER of the sport

    5:23 PM · Sep 27, 2023

    • Group Captain Mandrake

      It would be kind of fun if Prime took a job at a different college every year. Imagine the effect he could have on some small schools.

    • IHeartTacoma

      As bad as a Laker’s game.

  53. Palatypus

    This one might be good to scout. With two good quarterbacks, it could be a high-scoring affair and closer than many think.

    24 Kansas (4-0) @ 3 Texas (4-0)
    Line: Texas -16.5

    Senior Bowl Watchlist.

    Kansas

    Craig Young LB
    Dominick Puni OL
    Mike Novitsky OL
    Kenny Logan Jr.DB
    Luke Grimm WR
    Jalon Daniels QB

    Texas

    Jahdae Barron DB
    Jalen Catalon DB
    Alfred Collins DL
    Kitan Crawford DB
    Jaylan Ford LB
    Christian JonesOL
    Keilan Robinson RB
    T’Vondre Sweat DL
    Jerrin Thompson DB
    Ryan Watts DB
    Jordan Whittington WR

    • Big Mike

      I don’t watch a ton of college football, but my gut tells me Kansas +16.5 is a pretty good bet.

  54. BobbyK

    I think Jody Allen is worthless and there’s a reason the Seahawks like “dead” money. It’s more money for her/it/them. I don’t at all believe John Schneider is this dumb. He’s got orders to be stupid.

    • Gaux Hawks

      …definitely phase one of her plot to take over the world

    • Big Mike

      Can you expound on that a bit more please? It seems to me spending to the top of the salary cap is just that regardless of where and on whom it’s allocated to.

  55. Big Mike

    In other words, how does this kind of mismanagement benefit Jody? If Seattle were continuously 30 million under the cap that would make more sense as benefitting her.

  56. Stuart

    This information makes me feel disgusted. Its like doubling down on stupid!

    88% of Seahawk fans wont agree but the Seahawks have got to clean house with PC and JS after this season!!!

  57. Andy Heck 66

    Almost all teams have at least 5-10 million. It is not ideal but I think some people are overreating like Seattle is horrible at dead money. We had 19th most, or 11th best this year.

    Going into training camp, here is how dead money factors into each team’s cap sheet:

    Tampa Bay Buccaneers: $75.32MM
    Los Angeles Rams: $74.23MM
    Green Bay Packers: $57.14MM
    Philadelphia Eagles: $54.73MM
    Carolina Panthers: $51.54MM
    Arizona Cardinals: $36.96MM
    Tennessee Titans: $36.56MM
    Minnesota Vikings: $35.54MM
    Houston Texans: $31.72MM
    Las Vegas Raiders: $29.95MM
    Indianapolis Colts: $24.89MM
    New Orleans Saints: $24.58MM
    Chicago Bears: $23.52MM
    Washington Commanders: $23.01MM
    New York Giants: $22.74MM
    New England Patriots: $21.82MM
    Atlanta Falcons: $18.78MM
    Detroit Lions: $18.69MM
    Seattle Seahawks: $17.91MM
    San Francisco 49ers: $17.16MM
    Cleveland Browns: $16MM
    Dallas Cowboys: $14.64MM
    Pittsburgh Steelers: $13.26MM
    Baltimore Ravens: $10.78MM
    Denver Broncos: $9.72MM
    Miami Dolphins: $8.43MM
    New York Jets: $7.95MM
    Kansas City Chiefs: $7.65MM
    Buffalo Bills: $5.23MM
    Jacksonville Jaguars: $4.7MM
    Los Angeles Chargers: $2.19MM
    Cincinnati Bengals: $593K

    • cha

      “It’s not about the money, it’s about sending a message. Everything burns.”

      Yes the Seahawks aren’t loaded with dead money but not all dead money is equal.

      A lot of those teams at the top of the list are saying goodbye to star players after massively successful terms (like TB with Brady and GB with Rodgers). Others like the Saints, Eagles and Rams use dead money as a weapon and they can do it because they draft well and have the coaching to cover over a lot of cheap spending in places.

      Others like Houston, Chicago, Carolina have dead cap because they tossed their rosters overboard and ate a big hit.

      The Seahawks have none of those things. They’ve pushed out cap like Dunlap, Jackson and Harris just to pay their bills after some dubious spending decisions, and they’ve had to do it again forcing another trip to the dead cap mortuary in 2024.

      • Palatypus

        Dead Cap Mortuary !!!

        Coming to a theater near you this Halloween.

        Starring Jamal Adams, Quandre Diggs, and Samantha Fox.

    • Rob Staton

      Almost all teams have at least 5-10 million. It is not ideal but I think some people are overreating like Seattle is horrible at dead money. We had 19th most, or 11th best this year.

      As Cha says, all dead money isn’t the same.

      For example, $32m of Carolina’s dead money was trading away Christian McCaffrey and D.J. Moore. They received valuable assets for both in a shifting rebuild.

      Now let’s compare that to the Seahawks blowing money on deals/restructures for Quinton Jefferson, Shelby Harris, Carlos Dunlap and Gabe Jackson they almost immediately regretted.

      $35m of Tampa Bay’s is Tom Brady, a transition they knew would come if he finally did retire and they felt was a worthwhile gamble (it got them a title). They also parted with ageing vets who helped win them a ring (and/or were retained to try and get another).

      $40m of Green Bay’s hit is Aaron Rodgers. Again, they gained assets there.

      So really I don’t think the list counters anything. Nobody has claimed that other teams don’t have dead money. It’s specifically about how the Seahawks accumulated their dead money — that it was avoidable (as it has been in the past), was a poor use of resources and this is likely set to continue in 2024 because of the moves they have made.

  58. 805Hawk

    Jamal mentioned in his press conference that he contemplated retirement during his rehab. Cha, can you explain what the cap implications are if he were to retire? If he reinsures his quad or can’t play fast anymore, I guess that could happen. I’ve never understood how retirements work, crap wise.

    • cha

      I’ve never understood how retirements work, crap wise.

      Great typo!

      The cap hits of retirement are not black and white and that’s why fans have a hard time grasping it. But here’s the basics:

      1-The player gets put on a Reserve/Retired list. It takes them off the 53 man roster and any salary that would normally hit the cap no longer does. Doesn’t matter if it is guaranteed or non-guaranteed. It is based on the player playing. So if the player has a $5m salary for a season and retires before the season starts, the team gains $5m in cap room.

      That’s relatively straightforward. What’s not is

      2-The prorated bonus money. So when a player retires, the team gets hit with all of the accelerated bonus money. Think of it like a team just cutting the player loose. They’ve given him that bonus money and now it needs to be accrued for in the cap.

      A team post-June1 could choose to exercise their option to split the prorated money into This year/Next year chunks to manage the hit. If they are pre-June 1, they have to either take the whole hit this year, or sign the player to a reworked contract, keep them on the Active Roster until June and then put him on Reserve/Retired and split the dead money into two seasons.

      Still with me? Because now it gets even murkier.

      Teams can pursue the signing bonus money back from the player. If a player gets a $40m signing bonus on a 3 year contract, plays two years (accruing $26.66m) and then retires before year 3, the team has the opportunity to try and ask the player to pay back the $13.33m remaining bonus money. The money was paid out on the agreement the player would play three years.

      Keep in mind I said teams CAN pursue that option. Many do not. They just choose to keep it on the books and let the player sail off into the sunset with their full bonus. The notable exception has been the Detroit Lions. They pursued both Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson in order to get some bonus money back.

      So there is no set black and white cap move for bonus money when a player retires. Nowadays, the newest CBA has a provision for this to be arbitrated and that is an option.

      To speak from my gut, it always seems like a question of why the player retired when deciding what to do. If a player gets hurt, a lot of teams may choose to just let that bonus money go. If he retires out of spite because of some ill will, that may be a whole different matter in whether they choose to go after the bonus money.

      • ShowMeYourHawk

        Fantastically informative, Cha. Thanks for this.

        I suppose the greater question is: Even provided a clean bill of health, how much heart and drive should we really anticipate from a player that considered throwing in the towel on his career? I give him full credit for working through the hardship to get back to a place where his body works properly again but this admission before a big prime time game is less than optimal, IMO.

        Now…… WHO’S READY FOR SEAHAWK FOOTBALL?

        • cha

          how much heart and drive should we really anticipate from a player that considered throwing in the towel on his career?

          I don’t think that’s a problem at all. I’m 100% certain every player that has that severe an injury and gets the diagnosis considers it. Only a few actually vocalize it.

          • ShowMeYourHawk

            Perhaps. 😒 I’ll try not to be overly cynical but I’m betting that money still owed on the contract is more a driving factor than either the love of the game or the pursuit of greatness.

            …well, greatness on the field. He’s already a postgame presser All-Pro.

            Certainly hopes he comes close to earning the foolishly offered monies he has coming to him.

      • Brodie

        Great explanation! We’re lucky to have you here Cha! Especially cap-geeks like myself.

        • Big Mike

          We’re lucky to have you here Cha!

          Yes we are, and lucky to have Rob. No other Hawks’ site even comes close.

      • 805Hawk

        Thanks, Cha!!

  59. bdawg17

    Rob et all – thoughts on the potential reality of say this free agency result?

    Bobby Wagner – gone, draft a LB and hope to hell the dude can be a year 1 starter and have a KJ-like career
    Damien Lewis – sigh, as long as the contract is commensurate with ranking/positional value in the league
    Noah Fant – gone
    Jordyn Brooks – gone
    Drew Lock – gone, as you mentioned Rob, replaced by a day 1 or day 2 pick
    Phil Haynes – gone, hello Anthony Bradford
    Devin Bush – gone
    Evan Brown gone, Olu’s time to shine
    Mario Edwards Jr – gone
    Colby Parkinson – maybe resign depending upon this year’s production
    Deejay Dallas – gone, frankly should be as production, other than being noose than an average returner and trustworthy blocker/3rd down back, a 3rd string RB is absolutely replaceable/not worth the second contract
    Michael Jackson – gone, let the young DBs shine

    If one or more of the cuts are made, who would y’all suggest that $ is steered to keep on the above list?

    • Palatypus

      I think Lewis, Brooks, and Parkinson stay.

      • Big Mike

        I would let Brooks go but keep Colby and Damien.

        • Peter

          Colby, Damien, Mario Edwards Jr,…..keep

          I think the team keeps Brooks. I wouldn’t.

          Evan brown vs. Olu….? Tough because is Olu better than him? Brown probably isn’t that expensive and faint praise here, has played like the best center Seattle has had in quite some time.

          Bush goes. I think the team will seriously keep Wagner around until the wheels fall off.

          Fant. Nice to know you. Good player but not really a game altering former first round TE.

          Bradford feels like a guy that with a few games will easily be the starting RG and not look back.

    • LouCityHawk

      FA that would be nice to retain include Lewis and Parkinson (Brown, Haynes, Edwards, Adams, Bush for cheap only)

      I’m upset you still have AntiEdge Taylor still on the team.

  60. Palatypus

    10 Utah @ 19 Oregon State

    The Beavers are looking pretty trim tonight.

    I like the cut of their gib.

    • Big Mike

      I know comparative game scores are a fool’s errand, but I still have to say it………..how good is Wazzu if OSU can go to Utah and beat them handily?

      • Peter

        With those three teams as my favorites in the now defunct pac 12. I look at the three of them as able to beat any of them when playing at their own house.

        Reeser stadium was rolling by the standards of reeser last night.

        Wazzu and the Beavers and Utah I think can still play season wrecker for the likes of Oregon, WA, and USC.

        • Jabroni-DC

          Utah is the 2 time defending PAC 12 champ so there’s that.
          Wazzu’s duty is to beat Oregon.
          It’s a fun, interesting & competitive final year of the PAC. Maybe things would’ve been different if more seasons were like this one.

  61. Willy b

    I agree with everything you’re saying. I read your articles and love your content. I think John Schneider knows that he has risked alll Super Bowl chances on if Jamal Adams can play as an $18 million player. I love how the Seahawks doing everything outside of that. I hope Jamal can be the superstar Pete and John believe he is.

  62. LouCityHawk

    What’s everyone watching today?

    I’m checking out Caleb v Prime, Rattler, Kansas/UTA, Irish/Duke and many others.

    • Brodie

      Caleb looks as good as advertised. Buffs are turning back into pumpkins.

      LSU vs Ole Miss should be a fun one too. LSU has some DL to keep an eye on.

  63. Ryan Purcell

    I don’t know if you saw but Adams has called his rehab process “the rebuild!” I wonder were that came from! HA!

  64. Romeo A57

    Definitely the USC over Colorado beatdown. Looking for to Notre Dame v Duke.

    Does the Coach Prime hype end at Half Time? Everyone needs to give him a few recruiting cycles to build a contender but nobody wants to wait, including Coach Prime.

    • Peter

      Doubt it. There’s no hype. People either like him or they don’t. If anyone was hyped on CO and getting on their bandwagon when they most likely go 8-4 this year at best doesn’t follow college ball.

      Plus there’s almost literally zero other interesting story in college right now. Bunch of good pac 12 teams that’ll all get destroyed in the playoffs ( again and forever) the sec is boring. Ohio/michigan….meh. notre dame, see pac-12 comments.

      • Romeo A57

        Coach Prime is the most popular story, but Colorado is lucky if they win 8 games this year. Most of the Coach Prime fans are clueless about the Buffs not being very good.

        The most interesting story is the demise of the Pac-12 and all of the good Quarterbacks in that conference.

        • Big Mike

          I had a pretty good idea Colorado wasn’t all that when they struggled mightily to beat Colorado State a week after that team got dismantled by Wazzu. Comparative scores as mentioned above can be misleading and Wazzu is better than I anticipated, but when the games are a week apart it’s a lot more relevant.
          I do think Deion can build something special if he stays long enough but it appears growing pains are in full force now.

          • geoff u

            They won one game last year. Deion has assembled some great coaches, but it was always going to take awhile to build the talent up.

        • DJ 1/2 way

          My favorite part of the Pac-12 story is when WSU and OSU took charge. Precedence was set when the first teams left the conference. You leave you get no more votes! Now the only votes are the two little brothers you left behind. I hope the Cougs and Beavs stick it to them.

    • BK26

      Deion understands what it takes. People that know college football understands what it takes. All of this hype and stuff comes from people that get excited over what celebrities are at the game.

      What he’s done there is amazing. No matter what else they do for the year. It’s been far and away the most exciting thing in college football in a few years. Guy will go to war for his players and vice versa. The hate is pretty dumb and mostly misplaced. I’m over the whining about their games. Not that you are, just from the complainers and the people getting butt hurt week after week.

      • Romeo A57

        Colorado has been impressive in turning around the game in thre second half against USC.

        Coach Prime is doing what he needs to to building a winning program.

        I am skeptical that Prime stays at Colorado very long, which I dont think is being discussed. A lot of better programs will come calling Coach Prime after this season.

        • Peter

          That’s the real bigger story. Does he stay for say 3-4 years to build his recruits or is this just a one year jump off.

        • BK26

          I agree. FSU is his dream job (which he probably won’t get a chance at that for quite a while). But some places are just inherently easier. Imagine him at Texas with his connections and his sales ability.

  65. Palatypus

    Will Levis must be pissed right now.

    I couldn’t believe that Jim Nagy had FOUR UK offensive linemen on his Senior Bowl watchlist until seeing this complete beatdown of Florida. All rushing.

    Thanks guys!

    A day late. A dollar short.

    • Jordan

      Yep. Kentucky is just so much better this season.

    • ShowMeYourHawk

      Well, that AND his draft day girlfriend moved on. Guy just can’t catch a break.

      • Palatypus

        Some people say there’s a woman to blame.

        BUT JIMMY BUFFETT IS DEAD !!!

  66. Romeo A57

    I am shocked at how good Kentucky is the year after Levis leaves. How did Florida beat Tennessee?

    I can’t believe I bet on Florida today. It was either the Vodka or the whiskey 🤔

  67. Volume12

    This is from last week. 5 guys plus 1:

    – Tyliek Williams, DT, Ohio St: rumored to have a 1.62 10 yard split, has the build Seattle seemingly likes from their DTs, great contact balance, good burst, excellent run defender, and I like the motor. Might not offer much as a pass rusher.

    – Khyree Jackson, CB, Oregon: caught my eye Saturday against Colorado. Great length and size, good ball skills (finds the football), good COD for a corner w/ length and size, love the aggression, like the physicality to get off blocks but it can be inconsistent at times in the run game

    – Zak Zinter, OL/G, Michigan: Whoa! Ass kicker, flat out nasty. The mean streak and violence he plays w/, particularly in the run game, jumps off the screen. Hasnt allowed a pressure all season, good length, bit of a waist bender, is he agile enough?

    -Chris Braswell, EDGE, Bama: right in Seattle’s wheelhouse in terms of the size (6’3, 252 lbs) they like for their pass rushers. IMO he’s highly underrated. Excellent production in the SEC, fluid and flexible to bend the arc, shows good awareness in pass coverage, like the UOH. Someone said he’s the definition of ‘disruptive’ and I couldnt agree more. Would like to see him finish better and become a better wrap tackler, can get a little too aggressive whem coming downhill

    – Malachi Corley, WR, W. Kentucky: He’s gonna get the Deebo comp’s if not already. Just watch. Excels at YAC, tough to bring down in space, explosive w/ the ball in his hands, just a big time play maker. Does he have enough deep speed? Probably (from the little I’ve seen anyways) needs to improve as a route runner.

    *bonus player*
    – Jayden Daniels, QB, LSU: kind of a tricky eval here, at least for me. Has massively improved since he’s been at LSU. I like the way he carries himself as leader for the position. Big frame (has added bulk), looks to be a great athlete, very good arm strength, can extend plays when they break down due to his mobility, not afraid to step into throws when facing pressure, reads the field well. Can struggle to go through his progressions. His footwork needs to be fixed, sometimes he doesn’t trust his pocket. The kind of QB who probably needs to sit for a year or so at the next level.

  68. Volume12

    Seattle checking out Michael Pratt today?

  69. Jabroni-DC

    UK RB Ray Davis doing some heavy lifting. He’s got Seattle size.

    • Palatypus

      He had holes I could drive an aircraft carrier through.

  70. Saul G

    Imagine thinking Caleb Williams is a bust because it’s a close game against Colorado. The dude has over 400 yards passing with 6 TDs. He can’t catch the ball and play defense for USC too

    • Palatypus

      Stuart, that is just stinkin’ thinkin’.

    • Volume12

      Im in no way saying he’s gonna be a bust.

      However, I dont think it’s because, outside of Calen Bullock, his defense is garbage. He has to do a better job of staying on script. He’s 1 of 1 when the play breaks down but there needs to be stability. In all likelihood, he’s not gonna find himself in a situation like Mahomes, where he can watch the game slow down mentally from the sidelines and have plays called/designed for him by 1 of the greatest offensive minds.

  71. Blitzy the Clown

    This is impressive on both ends

    https://x.com/CFBONFOX/status/1708202050259923029?s=20

  72. Palatypus

    A backup quarterback is in the game for Kansas.

    Well, there went my interest

  73. Rob Staton

    I don’t understand why people are projecting JJ McCarthy as an early round pick

    • Thomas Wells

      Good old Michigan dick-riding I’m afraid

  74. EasternHawks

    This is disappointing and sad for this website. With all the positive things happening now and the team trending in the right direction and two very good looking too heavy drafts, all some people can focus on is the money situation with the safeties? maybe they thought ahead about the fact that they would have so many good players on rookie contracts due to the Wilson trade and so they could pay their good players for now? Come on people. With fans like you, who needs enemy reactions.

    • Rob Staton

      Facepalm

    • Thomas Wells

      If you think this team is a Super Bowl contender this year (or trending to that next year), then you are entitled to that opinion. People – Rob and myself included – are entitled to disagree. Despite two good drafts, I see a wild card team at best that won’t seriously compete for a championship. Rob has done a good job laying the facts out and arguing why next year’s team could very well take a step back rather than a step forward due to poor cap management and resource allocation. This team is headed to a second round playoff exit at best this year and it will be a challenge to get better next year without facing some stark realities and making some inspired moves. If the goal is to win a Super Bowl then the current direction of the team just good enough and I’m not satisfied as a fan. So I for one appreciate Rob’s article and perspective.

    • bmseattle

      “disappointing and sad”?
      Hyperbole, much?

      If you want to visit a site that never analyses the team building aspect of fandom, and doesn’t want to examine the sustainability of the process the team is implementing…well, there are many other resources for you to visit and enjoy.

      No need to be dramatic and use descriptors as you did.
      Are you trying to “shame” people who frequent SDB or something? Accuse folks here of being poor fans, or having some sort of negative agenda?

      I cannot fathom why you would even bother to write such a comment. Or why it is worth your time to engage with “fans like us”.

    • BK26

      With enough fans like you, who needs accountability, right? If you read the article and didn’t see a massive problem, then…I really don’t know what to tell you. Have fun enjoying first round playoff losses.

    • Romeo A57

      – Anyone who thinks that Seattle’s Safeties are not way overpaid cannot be an actual Seahawks fan and must be a Rams, Cardinals or 49ers fan.-

      – Sarcasm-

    • cha

      The last 3 seasons have been an expensive disaster at the safety position. The 4th is looking like more of the same and now the team has already assured a 5th.

      But sure, the rush defense is “fixed.” Hooray.

    • LouCityHawk

      Yes, but what if we drafted Jalen Carter? You know he is the top rated interior lineman in all of football?

      I’m trying to figure out how are drafts were ‘top heavy’

  75. cha

    Tre Brown and Artie Burns out for MNF. Coby is doubtful.

    Look for Boykin or Tabor to get a practice squad call.

    Witherspoon at nickel with Jackson outside seems like the obvious option.

  76. Rob Staton

    Very ‘meh’ performance from Quinn Ewers today

    Couple of really iffy throws and a pick in an easy game where the running game is like a hot knife through butter

    • Rob Staton

      Just not seeing enough from him to think anything more than mid-round.

      • Justaguy

        Low on Ewers as well and that makes it more likely that is whom is drafted. John will probably see something no other does

  77. cha

    Rob are you going to any of the UK games the next 3 weeks?

    • Rob Staton

      I’m going to Jags vs Bills next week

  78. Volume12

    Mizzou QB Brady Cook is interesting.

    Thrown for over 300 yds the last 3 games. 326 pass attempts w/o an INT (SEC record).

    • Justaguy

      LSU will let you know

  79. Brodie

    End of 1st quarter: Stanford 26 plays, Oregon 3

    Furd upset the Ducks a couple of years ago as an unranked team VS #3 UO. They always seem to give them fits and this year looks no different. A bit early for an upset alert, but Stanford looks like the better team right now.

  80. Rob Staton

    Adult Bobby Hill vs Spencer Rattler

  81. Volume12

    Texas CB Jahdae Barron is a fantastic nickel back. He’s everywhere. Pair him w/ Spoon & Riq? 🔥

  82. 12th chuck

    Chandler Jones a free agent. Don’t know if he has anything left in the tank.

    • cha

      Probably facing a league suspension

      • LouCityHawk

        Violating a DVRO will do that for you.

  83. Jabroni-DC

    Ian Cummings 7 round mock draft at PFN,
    Seattle’s first 4 rounds.

    #24 Jer’Zhan Newton, DT, Illinois
    #56 Cooper Beebe, G, Kansas State
    #67 (From DEN): Jeremiah Trotter Jr., LB, Clemson
    #88 Benjamim Yurosek, TE, Stanford
    #120 Spencer Rattler, QB, South Carolina

    You could do a lot worse than that.

    • Rob Staton

      Three of those picks are wishful thinking sadly

      • LouCityHawk

        Newton, Trotter and Rattler?

        • Rob Staton

          Beebe at 56

          I’m not totally sold on Newton as a R1

      • Jabroni-DC

        For sure. At least someone recognizes the positions we need.

        Duke takes the lead in the 4th! Finish it.

        • Rob Staton

          At least someone recognizes the positions we need.

          Agree on that

          On Duke, Riley Leonard is a heck of a talent — mentally and physically

          • Jabroni-DC

            What a horrible defensive call to only rush 3 on 4th and 16 with the pass rush getting home consistently. Now Duke needs a miracle.

            • Rob Staton

              Horrendous

              Especially when you’ve been so aggressive until that point

              • Jabroni-DC

                And Riley is hurt to cap it off.

              • Rob Staton

                What a miserable end

                Miserable day of CFB IMO

                • Brodie

                  If you didn’t catch the LSU vs Ole Miss game, I think it’s worth a watch. Really fun game. Defenses kind of disappointed, but the offensive skill positions showed out.

                  • Rob Staton

                    I will probably watch it but I don’t enjoy these ‘basketball’ games in college football. You need to see some defense to get a proper evaluation.

  84. Justaguy

    Count me in on the poise and composure of Leonard over the long shot upside of Rattler

    • BK26

      I’m not going to say it’s not a long shot. Far from it. He’s doing it all himself. In the SEC. For me he’s easily #2 behind Williams.

      • Justaguy

        two doubts; Rattlers arm strength and the kid has a long way to go to learn how to win big games.

        • BK26

          There shouldn’t be any doubt of his arm strength. He helped it along himself, but Caleb Williams is the one who beat him out.

          Big games: he beat Clemson and Tennessee last year…#5 and #8 team in the country… Hung with Georgia until the end this year.

          One has been sacked 3 times this year, the other has been sacked 22 times this year.

          Rattler isn’t the long-shot.

          • Justaguy

            At least he knows how to get sacked smh. I just don’t see the arm. He lags it to the outside on NFL throws imho, could be missing the good throws because I don’t watch every game. I can see the PM comp some allude but that is a high bar

        • Rob Staton

          Arm strength!?!?

          Are you serious?

          And he won two huge games at the end of last season

          Not much he can do about a horrendous O-line and game plan

  85. MattyB

    after reading the recent quotes and story around J.Adams, im hoping he can have a real positive effect on the field and off. intrigued to see how this plays out. Routing for a good outcome even with the money involved.

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