Seahawks 2024 free agents: Seattle tenders Michael Jackson and Jon Rhattigan

Tendering Jackson and Rhattigan all but assures the team the pair will be with the team in 2024.

As the Seattle Seahawks slowly make their way forward through the first offseason without Pete Carroll at the helm, John Schneider and new head coach Mike Macdonald had several important decisions to make regarding restricted free agents and exclusive rights free agents ahead of the start of the new league year on Wednesday at 4pm New York time.

According to reports, the Seahawks opted to extend RFA tenders to a pair of their restricted free agents.

The use of the right of first refusal tender on Jon Rhattigan and the right of first refusal plus original round draft pick tender on Michael Jackson likely all but guarantees both will return to Seattle for the 2024 season. The tenders are one year contract offers of $2.985M for each of Rhattigan and Jackson, and give the Seahawks the right of first refusal to match any offer sheet the players may sign with another team.

So, for fans who were upset that the team was set to pay Nick Bellore $2.8M for his role on special teams, the Seahawks appear set to pay Rhattigan $2.985M as one of their main special teams contributors. And for those wondering about the salary cap implications of the tenders, since Seattle is under the 51 contracted players threshold used during the offseason, the full $2.985M counts against the salary cap for each of Jackson and Rhattigan immediately.

Interestingly, just seven RFAs across the entire NFL received qualifying tenders, with five of those seven players in the NFC West as the Los Angeles Rams tendered Michael Hoecht and Alaric Jackson and the San Francisco 49ers tendered Jauan Jennings.