The Jets are paying Breece Hall $15.25m a year on his new contract. That makes him the third highest paid running back in the league based on average salary.
Eventually he’ll be overtaken by Bijan Robinson, who will likely become the top paid runner in the league on more than $21m a year. Jahmyr Gibbs will also probably move above Hall when he gets his new deal.
Ken Walker is currently the fifth highest paid running back on $14.35m a year. He’s two spots ahead of Jeremiyah Love, who will earn a guaranteed contract worth $13.3m a season.
Jadarian Price’s rookie deal will pay him an estimated $4.2m a year. That will likely place him as the 33rd highest paid runner in the NFL.
Provided running production doesn’t suffer a dramatic drop-off based on what you had over the last four years with Walker working with Zach Charbonnet, that will be a bargain. There’s also the possibility that he could even be more successful, making this an even better move.
The Seahawks are in a healthy cap situation as Curtis Allen brilliantly laid out last week. Yet when you’re in a position where you’ve already paid Charles Cross and Jaxon Smith-Njigba big money, you will extend Devon Witherspoon’s contract in the coming weeks or months, you will eventually hope to give Derick Hall a new deal and you face the prospect of talking to players like Sam Darnold, Byron Murphy and AJ Barner in the next off-season, while potentially having to replace some of your experienced D-linemen, you have to find savings where you can.
Building a NFL roster is like piecing a puzzle together. The Seahawks won a Super Bowl because they did a better job than any other team creating a depth of balanced talent across all three units.
The best way to maintain that is going to be calculated gambles to save money where you can. Not keeping Walker and pivoting to Price is a good example. There will be similar challenging decisions to come in the future — possibly including at quarterback, depending on how the next season plays out.
The Seahawks appear very aware of these challenges. There’s no guarantee they’ll get all of the big decisions right but it should be seen as encouraging that they are detaching emotion from the situation and are reviewing each call with a nod to the present and future.
For everyone wringing their hands about spending the 32nd pick in a mediocre draft on a running back — they’d be better off acknowledging that rather than making a massive investment at a position they see as fungible, the Seahawks actually made a very calculated move to limit their investment at running back because they know they’ll need the cap and cash dollars down the line.
