How the Seahawks draft pick salary slots will affect free agency plans

Seahawks cap hit for the draft will change, but not too radically

One thing to remember: the values change radically within each round, especially in the first round. The cap hit for Seattle in 2019 – which is all we’re concerned with here – comes to $4,220,170. We all know it’s virtually impossible that John Schneider and Pete Carroll will be satisfied with just four picks on draft day, so don’t bother engraving that number into your brain. What does matter is that number won’t get too much higher no matter what the Seahawks do.

Let’s say they pull off a deal just like last year and move down. In 2018 Seattle traded the 18th and 248th (7th round) picks for the 27th, 76th (third round), and 186th (sixth round) picks. They went on to make more moves (moving up to get Michael Dickson!), but again, we’re looking at the compensation.

We’ll assume a trade with the Oakland Raiders for our example. After all, I’m sure Jon Gruden would love another first round pick so he can draft someone with the talent of Nathan Peterman. Anyway, assume the Seahawks trade the 21st pick to the Raiders for the 36th (second round), 66th (third round), 198th (seventh round), and a first-round pick in 2020. That changes their cap hit from $4,220170 to $4,648.592. That doesn’t include the salary for the 2020 pick, but we’re not worried about that this year.