There has been no shortage of talk about decisions the Seahawks need to make regarding player contracts. Nick Korte, of OverTheCap.com, wrote an article this week detailing the Top 100 Possible Cap Casualities across the league. Six Seahawks made their way onto that list, and there are at least 3-4 more who are likely to be under consideration. It is easy to get fixated on the moves Seattle needs to make to create cap space so they can sign some players in free agency to improve the roster. There is a bigger problem lurking than cap space.
Each team has a cash budget that ownership has approved for them to spend in a given year. It is not regulated by the league. It is like any other business that needs to maintain a balance sheet of income versus expenses in any given year. The difference between cash outlay and cap number can be significant. For example, you have probably heard about signing bonuses. These are a standard part of any new contract. Those bonuses are paid to the player at the time of signing. That is cash. The cap impact of that bonus can be amortized, or spread evenly, over five years. A $10M signing bonus might count just $2M against the cap, while costing ownership $10M that same year.
This will likely be a major issue for Seattle this offseason. The team not only has contract decisions to make about Geno Smith and D.K. Metcalf, but also the entire 2022 draft class. That includes players like Charles Cross, Kenneth Walker III, Boye Mafe, Riq Woolen, Coby Bryant, and Abe Lucas. Players like Smith, Metcalf, and Cross could command significant signing bonuses. That may be true for Woolen and Mafe as well. The extensions for Smith and Metcalf would help the cap situation, but you can see where the cash outlay could be prohibitive.
Enter free agency. There may be dreams of signing Pro Bowl guard Trey Smith of Kansas City. The team could make space to do that under the cap. The cash required to do that may simply not be there in a year when so many other extensions are likely to be signed.
John Schneider could make the case to Jody Allen and Bert Kolde to get a budget exception, but that seems to be another barrier to Schneider changing his past patterns of frugality with interior offensive linemen. Whether this would limit their budget to the bargain bin of linemen remains to be seen. There almost certainly will be a lot of pressure from ownership and the coaching staff to shore up the line, and relying solely on rookies in the draft would seem to be a tough sell.
Schneider may need to choose between extending some of his young draft picks this season and waiting until next year. That would increase the risk of losing them. A player like Cross has a 5th year option as a first round pick. Maybe Schneider will kick the can down the road by keeping him here for another year before signing the extension.
This will be something to monitor as the free agent period approaches.
Expect an OC by next week
Seattle is moving at a decent clip to find their next offensive coordinator. Reports have confirmed that Hank Fraley (Detroit), Thomas Brown (Chicago), Klint Kubiak (New Orleans), Grant Udinski (Minnesota), and Byron Leftwich (Tampa Bay, 2022), have all been interviewed for the role. Some are wondering how long Seattle is willing to wait for the right candidate. Not long.
College All Star games are already underway with teams scouting eligible players for the draft. The biggest one, the Senior Bowl, happens the week of January 27th. That is one where scouts, GMs, and coaches attend. It is also the only place where you will see the top offensive and defensive linemen going against each other in padded practices with 1v1 pass rush drills. It is a crucial part of the scouting process for any team, especially those interested in linemen.
Seattle had a huge disparity in their ability to run zone blocking versus gap schemes. Most of their existing linemen seem better suited for that more physical style of blocking. There was talk that the team wound up in a challenging situation this past offseason where they did not have enough time with coaches, or coaches with enough experience in the NFL, to have an aligned perspective on the type of linemen they wanted to draft. It led to a team that had a bit of a mishmash of linemen with different strengths and weaknesses that were not complimentary. There is no way the team wants to be in that situation again.
They need to make their decision about their offensive coordinator as soon as possible so they can make their decision about their offensive line coach, and solidify the type of offense they plan to run. That will allow them to scout to those specifications. This can be blown out of proportion a bit. Scouts are going to identify good players from bad, independent of scheme. But having clarity here allows for more conviction and specificity in finding the right players.
That could mean a guy like Fraley is not really an option for the team. Should the Lions win this weekend, you may be talking about waiting past the Senior Bowl and the Super Bowl to finalize your OC hire, and then still need to get your passing game coordinator as well. That also assumes he will not choose a different job even if you make the offer.
That seems like too much risk for a team that experienced the pain of getting too late of a start on the offseason due to late coaching hires and alignment that has to happen between the staff and the front office to solidify free agency and draft plans.
Expect the Seahawks to wait for the games to happen this weekend, and then make their decision the following week.