Paul Richardson is back in Seattle
It had been in the pipeline for a few days but the Seahawks have re-signed receiver Paul Richardson.
It’s felt for a while like Seattle was destined to add another receiver. First there were the links to Antonio Brown. Josh Gordon had been heavily touted to return.
With Brown’s suspension and still no word on Gordon’s status from the NFL — time has seemingly run out and they’ve added someone familiar with the team and the offense.
So what can we discern from this move?
It could be an indication that the younger players have not quite done enough in camp to warrant faith as contributors. The lack of pre-season games hasn’t helped. Yet the Seahawks have a superstar quarterback and only two proven receiver targets. An injury to Tyler Lockett or D.K. Metcalf and you’re banking on Philip Dorsett or David Moore. They needed another player and someone they can trust.
Dorsett has actually missed a bit of time with an injury so it could also be insurance against his health and status.
The commitment to Richardson is minimal so it’s possible he could be cut again before week one to avoid guaranteeing his contract — then re-signed shortly after.
Before he signed with Washington as a free agent, he enjoyed a productive end to his Seahawks career. Injuries plagued him initially after being taken with their top-pick in a loaded 2014 receiver class. Yet by the end of his spell he was reliable, made spectacular grabs and was a trusted target for Russell Wilson.
This deal also suggests that Justin Britt could also be close to a return. He went through Covid-19 testing this week and if his knee injury has fully healed, it’d be a no-brainer to bring him back.
For starters, whatever their plan at center was initially it has become increasingly muddled. They signed B.J. Finney to an $8m contract over two-years, declaring he was a top target at the start of free agency. Yet he couldn’t even beat out Ethan Pocic for the center job.
Finney was a career backup in Pittsburgh and only a part-time center. It was a curious move and it’s possible they spent a decent chunk of their off-season dollars on what amounts to a backup guard.
Pocic is a draft bust from 2017 clinging to a roster spot merely due to the current situation at center. It would’ve been a gamble to proceed with him as the starter — even if he played the position reasonably well at LSU.
If Britt returns it gives Seattle a degree of continuity up front with Duane Brown and Mike Iupati also slated to start. With Damien Lewis having an impressive camp too, the only question mark could be Brandon Shell.
If both players sign cheap deals it shouldn’t impact their cap too much either. They’ll simply replace other low-level earners protecting the Seahawks’ remaining money so that they can address the one big fat glaring need on the roster.
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Meh seems to be the norm for the Seahawks.
So what?…they sign a guy that left, and couldn’t even make any impact with his new team, and they STILL are fielding what looks like the WORST DL in the league. And all this after saying it was the biggest priority.
So, the biggest priority has garnered them Mayowa and Irvin.
Well at least we don’t have that negative nelly attitude around here.
Their biggest offseason priority has landed them Irvin, Mayowa and two draft picks to be accurate.
Happy to see P Rich back for sure. I think he’s likely our WR3. Sure hope Britt is healed and ready to go. He’s not a great center by any stretch, but is definitely better than what we have at the position currently.
And more importantly… Russell trusts Britt.
Amen
another ‘amen’ from me
Solid low-risk signing. I like it.
Bringing Britt back would be even bigger/better. Although I don’t think he’s a top 15 center by any means, he’s certainly not a dumpster fire to the degree of Finney or Pocic.
Richardson, when healthy, gives Russell a reliable target. Good low risk signing with all the injuries and while we wait for the word on Gordon. Signing Britt, if he agrees to a vet min deal is a no brained too. It seems we’re stuck with Finney (whose cutting doesn’t help). May be JS can perform magic and pull off a trade (wishful thinking more than anything else).
One final though on the previous thread. Much has been said about using the small window when Russell is in his prime. How about the even smaller window when we have our best version of LOB 2.0 together (Adams, Dunbar, Shaq and Diggs. There’s little chance that all four will be here together next year.
If we cut Finney, can we pull back all of the Space that belong to his salary? Did he get any guaranteed money?
It’d cost you an extra $1m this year.
He is locked onto the roster.
Is it cheaper to keep finned as an ol sub, assuming there is a cap hit this year and next? And of Britt returns it will be interesting to see if he or pocic is the immediate starter.
They can’t move Finney this year. Next year they can with only a $1m dead hit.
Finney got $4.5M guaranteed. His 2-year, $8M contract includes a$2M signing bonus, $2.5M in salary for 2020, and $3.5M in salary and roster bonuses in 2021. The signing bonus got prorated so that $1M hits the cap each of the 2 years. Thus, his cap hit for 2020 is $3.5M regardless of whether or not he’s on the team (i.e. the only thing releasing him would do is free up a roster spot). There’s a $1M cap hit in 2021 if he’s not on the team with a total 2021 cap hit of $4.5M if he is.
On a related note, if Seattle TRADED him, the 2021 portion of the signing bonus would accelerate and be applied to the 2020 cap, but his $2.5M salary would come off the books so Seattle COULD, potentially, save $1.5M against the 2020 cap if they found a trade partner. I don’t see that happening though.
Welcome back, PRich!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ecYVqiuqLI
Loved that amazing catch from PRich. Glad he is back!
Hopefully price is/remains healthy
Hopefully PRich is/remains healthy. I’ve got my doubts
Why did they get rid of Hunt again? At least he contributed to the team and filled in pretty well as a center.
Money.
More JAG’s…
The Eagles are decimated on their OLine this offseason, could we flip someone over to them for cap relief?
Unless you want to trade Duane Brown there isn’t anyone who’s giving you any kind of cap relief.
Mostly agree.
Duane Brown counts ~$12.5M against the 2020 cap with a “dead cap” hit of $5M so Seattle would “save” $7.5M if they traded him. But they’d also have to bring someone in to take his spot so the actual “savings” would likely be much less.
Finding a trade partner for BJ Finney (unlikely though it is) would free up $1.5M … but it would also mean that the team paid him $2M to spend the summer at home and to lose the position battle to Pocic (or Britt, if he resigns with the team). OUCH if that happens.
Trading Iupati would free up $1.5M and, theoretically, his replacement is on the roster already (either Haynes, Finney, or Pocic). Not sure I’d pull the trigger on that one, but …. ?
Trading Pocic would free up a hair over $1M ($1,402,873 cap hit vs. $336,642 dead money).
Damien Lewis isn’t going anywhere and the team is “under water” with Shell’s contract ($3.475M cap hit in 2020 but $5.1M total in guarantees and a $4M signing bonus so the team loses money if they trade him and more if they release him).
Think I covered everyone on the O-line who’s making more than $1M in 2020.
I wasn’t seriously suggesting Brown. Just pointing out he’s the only one where you make any kind of saving.
Completely agree. The team would, theoretically, save more by trading Brown than by trading the entire rest of the starting O-line (regardless of who “wins” each of the other position battles). But they’d also be signing Wilson’s death warrant so … NOT an option.
P-rich is a known quantity and if anything like his last year in Seattle a plus. I don’t get the fan enthusiasm for Dorsett other than the limited thinking that speed at receiver is so valuable. Yes, speed has value, but only if the rest of the package works with it. Dorsett has been a bust as far as his draft position, and hasn’t produced much when on the field with two top flight quarterbacks. It appeared that Brady would only throw his way if he were the only choice on any given play. Brady has been heard to be suspicious of his route running ability from the standpoint of getting to where the play called said he was expected to be. Brady is fussy that way. Russ has shown a bit of that kind of selectivity himself, which is perfectly understandable. It’s often referred to as “trust”. Dorsett may be able to make a connection with Russ and prove to be worthy, but given his history it wouldn’t surprise to see him set adrift when the season starts.
Dorsett’s cap hit for 2020 is only $887,500. Unless his “sore foot” is a bigger issue than Pete (and the team) has let on or the team wants his roster spot for a younger player, I don’t think there’s any chance he’s “set adrift when the season starts”. As more than one NFL scout has stated, “you can’t teach speed.”
You also can’t be in the wrong place all the time which has been the issue throughout Dorsett’s career.
He’s had Luck & Brady and flopped because his route discipline has been poor. In Seattle they might not mind as much with Wilson scrambling and extending and with their preference to go deep but even still, it’s something worth remembering now they’ve added a player the QB knows and trusts.
Agree- I think the Richardson signing is a hedge against Dorsett and bringing in a player who can pretty much plug and play.
David Moore has a pretty good shot to make the roster. He has RW’s trust, familiarity with the system, can play all the WR spots and served as a not-terrible returner when they needed a body to put there.
That said, Moore needs to put together a solid year this year.
P-Rich is a great low-risk hedge for #3 WR. I still think Josh Gordon signs with Seattle when he is reinstated. And I think Antonio Brown is likely to join the team Week 9 when his suspension ends.
Gordon will join, but I think Brown is done and his suspension will be extended once the court battles take place.
Richardson makes sense. Can’t depend on Gordon and Brown’s availability. Same can be said with Richardson’s health, but I guess he’s healthy now. Would have been nice to jump on that receiver depth in April’s draft, but I think we have said everything that needs to be said about that. Same with the way the team has approached the offensive line.
This does me (or any of us) no good – but I am haunted by the fact that I (I wasn’t the only one) wanted TJ Watt so bad and was so sold on him… and we ended up with Malik McDowell. Imagine this team with Watt on the edge and not on his second big contract yet. So demoralizing. Kind of like our DT situation after Reed and all of our edge rushers. Kind of like our safeties last training camp or our WRs in 2008 (I think) when Logan Payne was our #1 for part of a game (until he got hurt and missed the rest of the year) and we were down to something like our 8th string guy as being the best.
I got it! We cut both the kickers and the long snapper and test the analytics of always going for it on fourth down. That’s almost $2.7 Million!
Ahead of the curve… 😉
Super stoked for this season. I expect Seattle will impress. Dour thoughts are no more factual than positive. Let’s effing go!
Go Hawks!
Love your website Rob but to be honest I’m burned out with the DE talk
Then tell the Seahawks to fix their self confessed top priority so we can move on.
(This is also a strange comment to make in an article about receivers and centers)
As much as I would like to see Britt back, it would be a total indictment of two horse$h!t moves. Drafting Pocic and signing Finney. Is there any way to tie some of their worse moves to particular folks in scouting?
I think the scouting has done pretty well. This is not a rebuild. There are five pieces missing in a 53 man puzzle, but they are not leaderless.
Would still prefer Josh Gordon.
Gordon isn’t currently an option due to his indefinite suspension. Even when reinstated, he’s likely to miss at least the first 2 games since he’s only served 4 games so far for what would have been a 6-game offense. And, most importantly, this isn’t an either or situation. Seattle can sign P-Rich now and STILL sign Gordon when he’s available.
We are flush at receiver with an exciting young player in Ursua. And we are extremely deep at running back with a rookie in DJ Dallas who could contribute. This may be our best group at tight end and rookies Parkinson or Sullivan will be fun to track.
On defense, we have a potential pro bowl player at every position with an potentially dynamic new impact player in Blair. And the linebacker room is impressive – with another young player who the Hawks think will be a star in Brooks.
So it’s Always Compete, baby!! Except at Tackle. Apparently Tackle is an exception to the rule.
On offense, it’s Brown and a prayer. And at DT there are guys who are going to get significant playing time if someone turns an ankle – Christmas, Mone, B Jackson and PJ Johnson – who are XFL caliber players. As Brock pointed out in that Heaps interview, if any of them are cut it is unlikely that they would be signed by another team. Yipes.
The only bright side is that they didn’t commit a lot of money next year. And they are flush in year 3 so they will have plenty of cap flexibility. And Clowney is still out there. But if he signs with the Ravens, that defense is going to be ridiculous even without Earl.
Signing P-Rich for a minimum deal was a no-brainer. You still have Britt/Clowney AVAILABLE. Let’s see what happens.
Ngakoue to the Vikings for a 2nd and conditional 5th.
New article discussing this now live on the blog.