What the Geno Smith contract restructure means for the Seahawks

The Seahawks restructured a portion of the contract of their debated quarterback, unleashing a torrent of debates regarding what the restructure means for Smith and the team.

Thursday the Seattle Seahawks broke up the quiet time ahead of the 2024 NFL Combine by restructuring the contract of Geno Smith, sending many fans into a frenzy. The move frees up some 2024 salary cap space for the Hawks by borrowing from the 2025 cap, but many are more interested in what this move means for the team in 2024.

Quickly, before jumping into reading the tea leaves, for those who want the details on how the restructure affect the cap, here is what the breakdown of Smith’s 2024 and 2025 cap hits were prior to the restructure:

• 2024: $31.2M – comprised of $12.7M base salary, $9.6M roster bonus, $8.7M signing bonus proration and $200k workout bonus
• 2025: $33.7M – comprised of $14.8M base salary, $10M roster bonus, $8.7M signing bonus proration and $200k workout bonus

And now following the restructuring of his contract the numbers for the next two seasons are:

• 2024: $26.4M – comprised of $12.7M base salary, $13.5M signing bonus ($8.7M + $4.8M) and $200k workout bonus
• 2025: $38.5M – comprised of $14.8M base salary, $10M roster bonus, $13.5M signing bonus proration ($8.7M + $4.8M) and $200k workout bonus

The only things the restructure did was change how the the $9.6M roster bonus is accounted for by recategorizing it as a signing bonus and moving half ($4.8M) of it to the 2025 season. That’s it. There was no change in pay or change in overall cap hits over the next two seasons. They simply pushed $4.8M of cap charge into 2025. It’s that simple. It’s an accounting change, and nothing more. (Author’s note: If there is a trade in place, and that trade is to a state where there is an income tax, then from Geno’s perspective it would be beneficial to have the Seahawks assume the responsibility of the $9.6M while his state income tax is still at zero percent, but that’s a different discussion that can be had later on.)

Now, getting to what the restructure means, the simple answer is that what it means depends on what one wants it to mean. There are any number of ways to read into the restructuring.

The first possibility is that the coaching staff sat down, talked to Smith, watched film and decided that Geno is the guy they want under center, at least to open the 2024 offseason and into training camp. So, if the plan is to keep him around, they might as well restructure his roster bonus in order to become cap compliant and have a little extra wiggle room in case they need it for something in the coming days. Nothing crazy to read into it, other than the fact that the team plans to have Smith on the roster and so they’ll go ahead and kick half of the roster bonus can down the road.

Up next is the possibility that the Seahawks could be working to trade Smith to another team, and the interested party was either not looking to pay $22.5M, or potentially could not fit that amount into their present salary cap situation. Prior to the restructure, had a team traded for Smith before his roster bonus is due, the acquiring team would have been on the hook for a $22.5M cap hit. Now, an acquiring team would only be responsible for a cap hit of $12.9M, which would be Smith’s base salary and his workout bonus.

In addition, just as has been seen with several other trades in recent years, it’s possible the Seahawks converted the roster bonus to signing bonus at the request of an acquiring team. When the Los Angeles Rams traded for Von Miller, they sent extra draft compensation to the Denver Broncos in order for the Broncos to convert $9M of base salary to signing bonus. Similarly, when the New York Giants traded Leonard Williams to the Seahawks last fall, the Giants converted $9,352,778 of base salary to signing bonus in order to lower Williams’ cap hit for the Hawks. So, for those keeping score at home, if the Rams sent the Broncos an extra second round pick in the trade in exchange for reducing Miller’s cap hit by $9M, and the Seahawks sent the Giants an extra second round pick for reducing Williams’ cap hit by $9.353M, what would be the additional draft pick compensation Seattle could potentially be in line to demand in exchange for having lowered Smith’s cap hit by $9.6M?

Next, it’s possible that they could be on the verge of inking one, or potentially multiple, of their own free agents to a new contract. It could be Leonard Williams or Damien Lewis or Jordyn Brooks or Bobby Wagner or Noah Fant or whoever. This is a time of year when the Hawks have inked their in house free agents to new contracts while they still have exclusive negotiating rights with those impending free agents. In the week leading up to the Combine in 2023 the Hawks signed both Phil Haynes and Nick Bellore to contract extensions, and players begin reporting Sunday.

So, maybe the restructure means a trade is coming, maybe it means the Seahawks just like Geno and want him to be their quarterback in 2024 or maybe it means nothing in regards to Smith and the Hawks just needed the cap space for something unrelated. Just about the only thing we can say that it does mean is that the Hawks won’t be releasing Smith anytime soon, even as some seemed to hold out hope that would be the path down which John Schneider and Mike Macdonald would opt to proceed.

Thus, all there is for fans to do at this point is to sit back, relax, and enjoy hand measurement season and fight about which draft prospects are going to be successful and which ones are going to bust.