Salary Cap Status

Posted by: Shaun Dolence

After reading through several other blogs and forums regarding the Seattle Seahawks, it seems that there is a large misconception about the Seahawk’s actual salary cap situation. As pointed out by Aaron over at Next Season Sports, Mike Sando of ESPN.com did a great job of illustrating the current cap situation in one of his recent blogs:

"Like the 49ers, Seattle pushed unused 2008 cap space into the 2009 cap. The Seahawks did this by writing incentives into linebacker Lance Laury’s deal, to cite one example. Seattle lost 2009 space through salary escalators, and the team’s high-draft position will produce a fatter rookie allotment than usual. The Seahawks should have enough cap room left to operate in free agency, but Hill’s situation will affect the bottom line. Naming Hill a franchise player would consume about half of the team’s projected cap space. Seattle has recently structured contracts to defer salary-cap pressures into the second year, but the looming uncapped season will not allow for the same flexibility."

According to Sando, the Seahawk’s current cap room is roughly $20.3 million, but is “functionally” closer to $15.5 million. As already mentioned, the fourth overall pick will be costly, but the Seahawks will still have some flexibility to be players in the upcoming free agency period.

Mike Sando just recently posted a new update analyzing Seattle’s cap situation and how they can potentially save money this offseason. Check out the analysis at his NFC West Blog.