Michael Bennett is latest on the menu for a Seahawks trade
Yesterday it was Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman. Today Michael Bennett is reportedly on the Seahawks trade table. Let’s dig in, shall we?
Ah, there’s nothing like the NFL Scouting Combine to fire up rumors of the Seahawks trading some of their biggest stars. Last year Richard Sherman was the rumor mill favorite. While both he and Earl Thomas have been talked up quite a bit again this year, Michael Bennett is the new favorite for 2018. We touched on this earlier, but it’s time to go a bit deeper as the rumors are growing.
As Lee wrote in his article, the Seahawks won’t save a lot of cap space by moving Bennett. The great site spotrac.com shows that Seattle would take a cap hit of $5.2 million, and only save about $2.2 million. However, if they can move him before March 18th, the team will save a $3 million roster bonus. You can see why there’s a sense of urgency now, right?
I wrote about a possible trade of Bennett just two weeks ago. The trade partner I explored there was the Atlanta Falcons. They’re still a great fit for the same reasons I wrote then. And if you want even more, check out Cory Woodruff’s great piece for The Falcoholic a couple of weeks ago on the possibility of Michael Bennett going to Atlanta.
Seattle Seahawks
Michael Bennett is a great fit for – well, almost any team
Bennett is one of those players who is even better than his stats. And his stats are plenty good. During his five years with the Seahawks (so far), he had 39 sacks. Per 16 games, that’s just over half a sack per game. In 2016, 14 of his 34 total tackles were for a loss. Last season, he again had 14 tackles for a loss, accounting for 35 percent of all his tackles. In other words, he gets into the backfield a lot.
So which teams might be looking for a player that brings an instant upgrade to their defensive line? For one, the New York Jets are a good possibility. They just released defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson yesterday. They saved $11 million with the move by cutting him before his salary became fully guaranteed in a couple of weeks. The main reason they moved him was, well, let’s say they didn’t see eye to eye.
Regardless, the Jets just lost a player that totaled 36.5 sacks and 287 tackles over the past five years. Hmmmm… wonder if they’d be interested in a player that had 39 sacks and 204 tackles in the same time frame? They can certainly afford Bennett, as they have over $94 million in cap space. As for trade bait, New York has a pick in every round, plus another second round pick.
Now here’s a team that could really use Michael Bennett
You know who else has the money to pay Bennett? The Cleveland Browns have about a gazillion in cap space. Okay, they “only” have $111 million available. They also have half a gazillion draft picks. Literally, they have a dozen picks. That includes two first round picks and three in the second. Oh, and a pair each in the fourth and fifth rounds.
Michael Bennett would be a huge upgrade over either Emmanuel Ogbah or Carl Nassib. They’re both young, and either one would be a nice extra piece for the Seahawks defensive line. And who knows? Since we’re talking about the Browns, they might even be goofy enough to – nah, not even the Browns would trade Myles Garrett for a player ten years older than him? Would they?
Related Story: Seahawks news and notes for Thursday
Nah. But we can always dream, right? The bottom line is, Bennett can be moved, and it’s looking more likely now that it was just a couple of weeks ago.