Seahawks have salary cap space to sign top free agents
By Keith Myers
The Seattle Seahawks have the cap space to make a big plash in free agency. What we don’t know now is if they will actually use any of it.
According to OverTheCap, the Seahawks are expected to have almost $33 million in cap space when the 2017 league year begins in March. That is only as estimate though, since the salary cap has not been officially set.
In fact, that number is almost certain to go up. The preliminary figured the league announces in November is always extremely conservative. It is for planning purposes, and represents a minimum value for what the salary cap might be. The final salary cap figure could easily be $5 million or more above that.
$33 million is a lot of cap space. $38 million is even more so. This is especially true considering the Seahawks have almost no players that must be re-signed. They’ve already extended Michael Bennett, and have no core players set to walk in free agency this season.
Kam Chancellor, Cliff Avril, and Jimmy Graham all could end up with new contracts this offseason. Each will all be entering their contract year. Those deals might be large raises, but the cap effects will most be seen in 2018 and beyond.
That of course raised the question: What will the Seahawks do with all that cap space?
Steven Hauschka or another kicker might eat up $3 million of it. Luke Willson perhaps $6 million.
Even once you account for rookies, keeping a reserve to cover in-season injuries, and all the roster-filler types like Bradley Sowell a year ago, Seattle will have more than $15 million in cap space just sitting there.
A couple of week’s ago, Ben put together a list of inside-pass rusher the Seahawks would be wise to consider. The upgrade from Tony McDaniel to Calais Campbell at the 3-tech spot would be massive. It would also be costly, but the Seahawks can afford such an upgrade this offseason.
Of course, the Seahawks biggest need is on the offensive line. Unfortunately we do not yet know if the Sehawks have any plan whatsoever to address that problem though. Hopefully they won’t be foolish enough to follow the same plan that ruined the 2016 season.
Seattle’s cap situation means they don’t have to choose one need over enough. They have the cap space to sign an OT, like say Riley Reiff, and still chase after a defensive prize like Campbell.
Next: Seahawks draft target: Dante Barnett
The Seattle Seahawks have the cap space to make a splash, but will they? We’ll see in a little over a month how they’ve decided to use it.