American Football

Seattle Seahawks 2024 offseason: Free agent roster primer

January 21, 2024

Seattle Seahawks v Arizona Cardinals — Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images

Taking a brief look at the Seahawks’ roster situation heading into the next league year.

We’re two weeks removed from the Seattle Seahawks’ final regular season game and just under two months away from the start of the 2024 league year. With that in mind, let’s take a brief look at the Seahawks’ free agency situation.

Seattle currently has 14 unrestricted free agents to make decisions on. UFAs are players with four or more accrued seasons in the NFL, and they are free to sign with any team when the new league year begins. The most important name on offense is left guard Damien Lewis, who’s been a Day 1 starter on the offensive line since he was drafted in 2020. On defense, linebackers Jordyn Brooks and Bobby Wagner both are soon to be out of contract, but defensive lineman Leonard Williams is the most interesting impending free agent given the draft capital Seattle gave up to acquire him.

Unrestricted Free Agents

Offense

C Evan Brown

G Phil Haynes

G Damien Lewis

T Jason Peters

QB Drew Lock

RB DeeJay Dallas

TE Noah Fant

TE Colby Parkinson

Defense

LB Jordyn Brooks

LB Devin Bush

LB Bobby Wagner

DE Leonard Williams

DE Mario Edwards Jr.

CB Artie Burns

Next up are the street free agents, who are unrestricted but will not count toward the compensatory pick formula. Everyone listed here is out of contract after not getting a futures contract when their practice squad deals expired. Who knows? Maybe one of them will sign with one of the remaining playoff teams, which they are free to do right now.

Street Free Agents (won’t count toward comp picks)

Offense

QB Sean Mannion

WR Cade Johnson

WR Cody Thompson

C Joey Hunt

Defense

DB Christian Young

DB Kelvin Joseph

DB Lance Boykin

DT Austin Faoliu

DE Hamilcar Rashed

Let’s get to the restricted free agents (RFAs), all of whom have exactly three accrued seasons in the NFL and an expiring contract. The options for teams with RFAs are to not tender them, making them unrestricted, or tender them for one year with one of the following:

Original-round/right of first refusal tender (projected to be $2,828,000))
First-round tender (projected to be $6,464,000)
Second-round tender (projected to be $4,633,000)

All projections are via OverTheCap.com.

If a team slaps a second-round tender on an RFA, then that player signs an offer sheet with another team, and the original team does not match that offer, the signing team must give up a second-round pick in return. The same applies to first-round tenders and original-round tenders. If a player entered the league undrafted, then draft pick compensation is out of the equation.

Michael Jackson Sr was drafted in the fifth round by the Lions, so he can be given an original-round tender. The same applies to second-round pick Darrell Taylor, who missed all of 2020 and thus lost an accrued season. Something tells me that the league will not value him as worth a first- or second-round tender. RFAs who are not tendered and become unrestricted do not count toward the compensatory pick formula.

Restricted Free Agents

Offense

T Jake Curhan

Defense

CB Michael Jackson

LB Jon Rhattigan

OLB Darrell Taylor

Lastly, we get to the Exclusive Rights Free Agents (ERFAs). These players have fewer than three accrued NFL seasons and expiring contracts. It’s really straightforward with ERFAs, as qualifying offers are one-year contracts at league-minimum salary for their experience. If the Seahawks tender an ERFA, the player can either sign the contract or… well that’s pretty much it. ERFAs can’t negotiate with other teams like RFAs can, hence “exclusive rights.” Any player who’s not given an ERFA tender becomes unrestricted.