Seahawks roster reset: O-line help still needed, but draft priorities becoming clearer

We’ve reached the second wave of free agency, and the Seattle Seahawks are still trying to add pieces to a roster that doesn’t have many obvious holes worth filling with veterans beyond the offensive line.

They’ve reportedly hosted a handful of free agents, including offensive linemen Dillon Radunz and Teven Jenkins, the top-ranked option available on The Athletic’s top 150 free agents list.

As Seattle continues to assess the market, let’s look at the current state of the roster, which general manager John Schneider and coach Mike Macdonald are building with championship contention in mind. Player ages are as of Sept. 4 (the scheduled date of the 2025 NFL season opener), and all salary-cap information is provided by Over the Cap unless stated otherwise (players on reserve/future contracts are mentioned where applicable). The full details are not yet available for many recently signed contracts.

Sam Darnold’s three-year contract is worth $100.5 million with $55 million guaranteed, league sources told The Athletic. The deal includes $37.5 million guaranteed in 2025 and $17.5 million of the 2026 compensation guaranteed for injury, according to Pro Football Talk, which reported that the rest of the 2026 compensation becomes guaranteed the week after the Super Bowl.

The full structure of the contract is not yet available, but with a low base salary, Darnold’s 2025 cap hit could come in around $13-15 million (for reference, Geno Smith’s Year 1 cap hit on his $75 million contract signed in 2023 was $10.1 million).

The Seahawks could theoretically move on from Darnold after this season without taking much of a financial hit. But barring Darnold suddenly becoming unplayable, this is likely a two-year pact. And if he plays well in the first two years, Seattle will almost certainly extend his contract before the third year of the deal.

Sam Howell, who turns 25 in mid-September, didn’t look promising in his only extended action last season, which is perhaps why Schneider didn’t commit to viewing him as a starter when asked about it at the NFL Scouting Combine. Seattle spent last season with Jaren Hall as its emergency QB3, but he’s unlikely to be in the long-term plans as anything more than that.

Schneider wants to draft a quarterback every year, and players at that position are so valuable that he probably won’t pass on a prospect with a first-round grade on the strength of rostering Darnold and Howell. The same logic would almost certainly apply to any available prospect whose grade aligns with where Seattle is picking.

However, based on the strengths and weaknesses of this draft class, there aren’t that many attractive prospects within the first three rounds. There are five quarterbacks on The Athletic’s consensus top 100: Cam Ward (No. 13), Shedeur Sanders (No. 33), Jaxson Dart (No. 57), Jalen Milroe (No. 79) and Tyler Shough (No. 82). If Seattle is going to take a swing on one of those five or another prospect, a Day 3 selection seems appropriate.

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The Seahawks are in great shape with this group. They have a high-quality, low-cost starter and two decent backups with multiple years of team control on inexpensive contracts. This is supposedly a very strong running back draft class; there are eight on the consensus top 100. A deep class means Seattle can wait until Day 3 before adding to this unit.

Ken Walker III is extension-eligible, but between the draft class and the potential of his two backups, Seattle can be patient with any discussions regarding a second contract for its lead back. Seattle let Chris Carson play out his rookie contract before negotiating a new deal, and the team would be justified in applying the same strategy with Walker.

Cooper Kupp’s three-year contract averages $15 million per year, league sources told The Athletic’s Dianna Russini. Valdes-Scantling’s one-year contract is worth up to $5.5 million, according to a league source. Cody White was re-signed on Friday after Seattle opted not to retain him as an exclusive rights free agent.

Kupp’s first-year cap hit could easily be seven figures depending on the base salary and signing bonus proration. An example: The Giants signed safety Jevon Holland to a three-year, $45.3 million contract with $30 million guaranteed. His Year 1 cap hit is $9.9 million, according to Giants reporter Dan Duggan. Kupp turns 32 in June, whereas Holland just turned 25, so this isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison, particularly with the guaranteed money, but it illustrates why contract structures are more important than reported annual salaries.

The Valdes-Scantling and White contracts will hardly dent Seattle’s cap space. And after playing just 59 offensive snaps last season, White isn’t guaranteed a roster spot. Neither is Dareke Young, who played just 27 offensive snaps in 2024.

The Seahawks don’t have motivation to add another veteran wideout on anything other than a deal in the Valdes-Scantling range. Because Smith-Njigba is the only player under 30 years old who is on the books beyond this season, the draft will be critical. There are 12 wideouts on the consensus top 100, and the Seahawks could justify taking one in any of the first three rounds and another on Day 3 if they’d like.

On Day 1, Tetairoa McMillan, Matthew Golden or Emeka Egbuka (Smith-Njigba’s college teammate) would make sense. McMillan would be more of an outside receiver, whereas Golden and Egbuka should be effective from any alignment. Day 2 could offer options such as Jayden Higgins, Isaiah Bond or Tre Harris. Seattle won’t immediately replace DK Metcalf, but this is a good year for the team to be in the market for a long-term WR2 plan.

Noah Fant and AJ Barner have the potential to be a very good 1-2 punch in Klint Kubiak’s offense. Fant offers more as a pass catcher, while Barner is more of a blocker, but neither player is one-dimensional in that respect. With Brady Russell as depth (and a possible fullback?) Seattle has a good setup for 2025 and doesn’t need to tap into what is an underwhelming crop of available veterans.

A tight end selection within the first three picks isn’t a bad idea, necessarily, but Schneider’s scouting department has done a good job finding Day 3 value with picks like Will Dissly, Colby Parkinson and Barner. There’s no reason to deviate from that strategy given the other, more urgent needs on the roster.

For now, we’ll assume Charles Cross will be under contract through at least 2026 one way or another, either through his $17.5 million fifth-year option or an extension. Abe Lucas is also extension-eligible, but because he’s played just 13 games over the past two years, both parties have reason to wait before having those discussions.

The ages, salaries and years of team control elsewhere on the roster explain why Schneider and coach Mike Macdonald keep talking up the need to develop the players they already have. If Kubiak and his assistants develop one or two of these returning linemen into starting-caliber players, the Seahawks would be in the enviable position of having a competent, inexpensive front line.

Seattle is still scouting veteran free-agent linemen, but at this point, anyone signed in the second or third wave of free agency won’t dramatically impact how badly this unit needs to be upgraded. The draft is the key. Armed with five picks within the top 92 selections, the Seahawks should come out of Day 2 with at least one starting-caliber interior player. In an ideal world, Schneider would draft a center to compete with Oluwatimi and Sundell, and a guard to plug in at either spot.

Schneider tried to take a big swing and land guard Will Fries, and once that fell through, he didn’t want to throw that money at a different, unworthy player in the name of filling a need. That is a sound thought process. The draft is the better place to allocate resources to the interior of the offensive line. Schneider just needs to be better at it than he’s been in recent years.

DeMarcus Lawrence’s three-year deal includes $18 million guaranteed, according to a league source. His cap hits are still unclear, but it wouldn’t be difficult for the 2025 number to be seven figures. Seattle also restructured Uchenna Nwosu’s deal — he took a $7 million pay cut in exchange for a guaranteed base salary and signing bonus, according to Over the Cap — dropping his cap hit by nearly $10 million.

A healthy foursome of Lawrence, Nwosu, Boye Mafe and Derick Hall on the edge should be very productive this season. It’s a strong enough group that the Seahawks could continue their pattern of targeting Day 2 edge defenders as they’ve done in the past with Mafe, Hall, Darrell Taylor and Frank Clark.

The consensus big board includes 18 edge defenders in the top 100, and there should be at least a dozen available after the first night of the draft. The immediate need isn’t urgent, and contractually speaking, the long-term need isn’t, either, especially if Mafe is signed to an extension this summer, but at a time when a $15-million-per-year contract barely cracks the top 20 among edge rushers, there’s no harm in stockpiling pass rushers, even if that means taking a true game-wrecker in Round 1.

The interior defensive line group needs short-term depth and a long-term potential starter to succeed Jarran Reed. If a difference-maker is on the board early, there’s nothing wrong with pulling the trigger, of course; the good teams are proactive in that way. But Seattle has the luxury of being patient and finding good value in what is believed to be a very deep defensive line class.

Ernest Jones’ contract looks promising for the Seahawks after the first wave of free agency. His average annual salary ($9.5 million before incentives) ranks 16th among linebackers, as five players at his position have signed larger contracts — both by annual average and guaranteed money — in the past two weeks. Given his importance to Macdonald’s defense, that could prove to be a bargain.

There would be value in drafting competition for Tyrice Knight, even though he proved to be a starting-caliber player in the second half of his rookie season. If someone of, say, Jones’ caliber is available outside of the first two rounds, that’s worth taking a swing on.

Otherwise, Seattle just needs depth in the draft (the current veteran market lacks talent). In addition to Patrick O’Connell and Drake Thomas, Seattle has Michael Dowell on a reserve/future deal and has agreed to re-sign Josh Ross to a one-year contract, according to ESPN. Ross, 25, appeared in 10 games and played exclusively on special teams last season.

Only two of Seattle’s five projected starters are under contract beyond this season. Safety Coby Bryant and cornerback Riq Woolen are eligible for extensions, but the former might be better off playing a full season in Macdonald’s scheme to maximize his payday, and Seattle might be hesitant to pay the latter based on the uneven season he had in 2024. Assuming neither contract situation is addressed ahead of the draft, Seattle should actively try to find another starting-caliber player at one of those spots.

Four cornerbacks from The Athletic’s top 150 free-agent list are still available: Rasul Douglas, Asante Samuel Jr., Mike Hilton and Stephon Gilmore. That’s an unattractive crop of veterans, and if Seattle does want to go that route, the team should wait until after the draft (Douglas is the best of that bunch). The same goes for the available safeties from the top 150: Marcus Williams, Justin Simmons and Julian Blackmon (Simmons is the best of that bunch).

In The Athletic’s beat writer mock draft, I was able to select cornerback Will Johnson, the No. 6 prospect on the consensus big board, with the 18th pick. He’s a difference-maker and a ceiling-raiser at a position where making $19 million per year isn’t even a top-10 salary. That was a case of taking the best player available at a premium position regardless of need, which is how Seattle should approach any defensive back selection in Round 1.

The other player worth considering in that scenario would be Georgia safety Malaki Starks. Otherwise, Seattle is in good enough shape to wait until the second or third day of the draft to try to find another playmaker.

(Photo of John Schneider: Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)