Free agency in review
On reflection, this free agency class might’ve been as weak as the upcoming draft.
Fans and media for multiple teams are complaining about perceived needs not being addressed. Several teams have had to scramble to fill holes.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, for example, desperately needed an edge rusher. Yet with sky-high prices going to the often-injured Jaelan Phillips and situational rusher Boye Mafe, they had to choose between overspending to win a press conference or playing the hand they were dealt. They settled for Al-Quadin Muhammad on a one-year, $6m deal.
It was no different for the Philadelphia Eagles. They wanted to keep Phillips but chose not to at the price. That’s despite using a third round pick to acquire him before the last trade deadline. They’ve had to settle for a prove-it year of Arnold Ebiketie instead.
The Baltimore Ravens tied themselves in knots so much we’ve had the Maxx Crosby x Trey Hendrickson farce. The New England Patriots had to throw money at Romeo Doubs. Denver Broncos fans are worried about their inactivity.
Struggling teams with a lot of cap space, like the Las Vegas Raiders, went on a spending spree to try and capture mediocrity in order to replace ineptitude. They wrecked the center market for a generation in the process, just as Jacksonville did for the receiver market with Christian Kirk four years ago.
The Tennessee Titans signed anyone who’s ever played for Robert Saleh or Brian Daboll, while the Jets signed anyone who was willing to come.
The truth is, this was an especially difficult market to deal in. The chance to improve this week was incredibly limited.
On top of this, the trade market wasn’t as vibrant as many expected. We saw some trades but the only first rounder to exchange hands came from the Trent McDuffie deal involving the Rams. Once the Maxx Crosby trade collapsed, there were very few blockbusters to reflect on.
The Rams aggressively tried to fix their problems in the secondary. We’ll see if they addressed it sufficiently by adding two players the Chiefs did not prioritise keeping.
The 49ers were also aggressive, trading a third round pick in a deep-looking 2027 draft for Osa Odighizuwa. He can create pressure but struggles to defend the run. Mike Evans always seems to play well against the Seahawks but a team who has struggled with age and injuries added a soon-to-be 33-year-old receiver and re-signed Dre Greenlaw at a hefty price.
They’re also yet to resolve their issue with Trent Williams.
What should Seahawks fans think today?
You should be relieved. There are several contenders who are looking at free agency and the draft and trying to, somehow, find a way to add the missing piece or two that will carry them to a title. As we can see, that is proving especially difficult for some teams.
The Seahawks have reached the top of the mountain already. It won’t weaken their ambition to do it again next year. Yet imagine if they’d lost the NFC Championship game. There’d be a lot more pressure on the team right now to make the move needed to go a step further next time. As we can see, that would’ve been very difficult to pull off.
Success in the 2025/26 season has bought the Seahawks the ability to manage things in the right way — not needing to make ill-advised moves in free agency and certainly not relying on the draft.
What has been their strategy?
It’s clear they’ve set about protecting comp picks for 2027. As I’ve noted a few times, next year’s draft will be deep. It’s not usual that I have to remove 41 graded players from the Horizontal Board with players returning to college.
There are also far more ‘big name’ players who are eligible for the draft next year. If this draft is thin and weak, next year genuinely looks like it could be thick and deep.
At the moment the Seahawks have a projected 12 picks for 2027, tied most with the Eagles. It’s not a coincidence that John Schneider and Howie Roseman have acted this way. It’s a sensible plan, refusing to be a slave to the moment in this bad free agency window, while thinking long term.
The Seahawks have deliberately added to the safety and running back positions with outside free agents who won’t impact their comp picks. This isn’t by chance.
Reflections on their in-house decision making
They’ve already got a deep roster. They lost Riq Woolen, a player they were never going to re-sign, and Boye Mafe, who they were never going to keep at $20m a year. Both players will likely be replaced via the draft, given these are two of the deepest positions in the class.
Is Coby Bryant worth +$13m a year? I think that’s a hard sell, as useful as he was. Ty Okada’s emergence made that an easier one to pass on.
A lot of fans are still wringing their hands about Ken Walker, who is now in a price-range sandwiched between the legendary Derrick Henry and Jonathan Taylor. I think the Seahawks were right to pass and my expectation is he will not live up to his deal, which is worth between $14-15m a year. I think people are swayed too much by the idea of Walker being something he so far hasn’t shown he can be — a top, consistent, figurehead running back.
Is the talent there? Yes. But it was there last summer too when they seemingly tried to send a bit of a message to Walker while constantly praising Zach Charbonnet during press conferences. You can’t pay a market-leading contract to someone on the off-chance, post-money, they become the thing they didn’t show they could consistently be while on a rookie deal.
I think keeping Rashid Shaheed was an important signing. He might not be a particularly consistent passing-game threat but he has shown he provides big-play ability. As a returner he is invaluable. The dynamic kick-off has created far more returns. He changed games against the Falcons and Rams with return touchdowns and snatched away any hope the 49ers had in the Divisional round by starting the game with a score. Cheap points are a premium in the NFL. Any time a team kicks to Shaheed it could go the distance.
Josh Jobe was also a critical re-sign. I’ve seen some people questioning why Jobe is given the benefit of the doubt in a way Woolen wasn’t when both made occasional coverage mistakes. I have to say, I find it very surprising that those people seem incapable of reading the tea leaves on this one. The Seahawks tried to trade Woolen during the season. Mike Macdonald, I think, made it pretty clear he wasn’t a fan. There were numerous head-in-hands moments involving Woolen, whether it was the awful NFC Championship game flag or the embarrassing groin-grab at the end of the 2023 season.
Was he physically talented? Absolutely. Was he a player with focus and reliability? I suspect not. Macdonald, now a Super Bowl winning Head Coach, doesn’t strike me as someone who is reckless in his judgements. It speaks volumes that the rest of the NFL seemingly sees things the same way, given he suffered a flat market and was forced to accept a prove-it deal with the Eagles (a team often willing to roll the dice — see: Jalen Carter).
Those complaining about not signing Woolen seem to either be missing the point or deliberately refusing to read between the lines on why Macdonald, the Seahawks and the rest of the NFL just don’t fancy him.
Jobe, therefore, was important not because he is necessarily a better player — but because he was cheaper, enabled them to retain at least one veteran starter familiar with the team/system and now you only have to replace one cornerback.
So what happens now?
Not much. The Seahawks are unlikely to sign any more outside free agents before the draft to protect their comp picks. The trade market has dried up. I’m sure they’d still entertain the idea of making a deal for Maxx Crosby but after a tumultuous week, it seems like both the Raiders and the player want to let things settle down for a while.
This is going to be an uneventful off-season. That should be easy to accept when you’re just over a month removed from winning the Super Bowl.
What happens in the draft?
This will likely be where the Seahawks set out to replace Woolen, Mafe and Walker. Although you never want to reach for need, Schneider and co. are doing a good job planning ahead to match needs with availability.
Look at a year ago. They knew they’d be able to address the interior O-line in the draft and took Grey Zabel at #18. Thus, they didn’t enter a weak and expensive veteran market for interior linemen — despite the cries of derision from some.
Two of the deeper positions in the draft this year are cornerback and edge rusher. Therefore, they will probably feel quite confident about addressing both positions. At running back it’s a little bit different because it’s a thin class. Yet they signed a draft hedge yesterday in Emmanuel Wilson, they still have Charbonnet, they seem to really rate George Holani and they could draft another running back with one of their picks.
If things go against them at any of these positions, they can obviously return to the remaining free agents after the draft (by this point, they won’t impact their comp picks) or they can review the trade market.
At #32 they’ll see what trade-down options there are, although I’m not convinced there’ll be a lot of movement in this draft. In 2021 the Seahawks only had three picks and everyone assumed they’d trade down to acquire more. They didn’t. We might see something similar this year, with only four picks to play with.
They probably look at the cornerback options (this could include Colton Hood, Chris Johnson and Brandon Cisse), the EDGE options (Cashius Howell?) and running back position (Jadarian Price?) with their top pick.
At the end of round two, there will still be options at all three positions.
The one other position they could look at is right guard. I still think they will want competition there and Anthony Bradford only has one year left on his rookie deal anyway. It’s something to keep an eye on.
My guess is they will come out of the draft and every issue will have been addressed. The roster might not be improved on paper compared to the 2025 group — but when you have a deep group like Seattle had, and you win a Super Bowl, it’s not realistic to think you can easily get better.
Why couldn’t they do more?
The idea of ‘just sign everyone’ or ‘just sign Ken Walker’ isn’t rooted in reality. It’s very easy to look at Seattle’s available cap space over the next three years. Now consider that Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Devon Witherspoon will soon agree new deals with enormous cap-hits and cash considerations. Not to mention you’ve already put a big chunk of guaranteed cash down on Charles Cross.
Over the next 12 months, all being well, you’ll also be talking about a significant new investment in quarterback Sam Darnold (could be a huge cap/cash investment) while you’ll also want to re-sign Derick Hall.
If Byron Murphy continues to develop into a star, next year you might also be preparing to extend his contract on significant terms.
As Schneider mentioned on his Seattle Sports show yesterday, a lot of fans aren’t aware of cash budgets — which differ team-to-team. The Seahawks don’t have a bottomless pit of money to put in escrow, like most teams — irrespective of the wealth of ownership. NFL owners are not typically minded to spend their own money and the Seahawks, who are currently run by a Trust and not an individual or investment group anyway, are not uniquely cash-rich.
They do have to be selective in the decisions they make, particularly when you talk about market-leading contracts at certain positions. For example, you might argue that Rashid Shaheed’s contract is more expensive than Ken Walker’s. Sure — but inflation at the receiver position means the top earners are getting far more than running backs. Shaheed’s salary, if translated into a running back deal, would be at the Chuba Hubbard or Javonte Williams level — not Walker’s.
Final thought
The only way Seahawks fans could realistically go into next season feeling like they were smelling blood and could’ve been even better would’ve been to acquire a healthy Maxx Crosby. Otherwise, this was always going to be a situation where you do your best to retain and replenish.
They still have enough overall talent to be a real force. Will they go back to the Super Bowl? Who knows. They’ve lost a bit of talent and an excellent offensive coordinator. They might take a small step back but should still contend. If that happens and they don’t win back-to-back Super Bowls, nobody should be seeing that as some kind of crisis.
There are many other fan bases struggling to work out how they get to where the Seahawks are right now. That should be comforting.
Yes, the most significant new addition this off-season is going to be adding the cornerback or pass rusher equivalent of Paul Richardson. It’s not an exciting thought. The NFL isn’t idealistic though. You don’t get to make every perfect move.
If Crosby becomes available again — and that seems increasingly unlikely — they could still go and make the big splash. Otherwise, they’ll just have to crack on and make the best of the draft — before relying on the bulk of their fantastic Super Bowl winning staff and roster to try and win another title.
