Seahawks have to pass on these free agent pass rushers
The Seahawks need to keep retooling to do more than just make the playoffs in 2019. They won’t be getting any help from these free agent pass rushers.
It’s no secret that while the Seahawks mounted a good pass rush in 2018, it could have been better. 43 sacks is a decent number, but with more than half coming from two players, Seattle could use some reinforcements. Earlier, I examined a few possibilities in the draft. Before we look at free agents that could fit the bill, I thought we’d take some candidates off the board.
As great as it would be to see any of these three players in navy, gray, and green, it isn’t going to happen. The Seahawks have this little thing to contend with called a salary cap, just like the other 31 teams in the league. The excellent sports financial site spotrac.com shows Seattle has just under $55 million in cap space for 2019.
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If you’re not familiar with the term, it’s simply the amount of money the team has available to spend on new players once everyone already under contract is paid. The salary cap for 2019 is believed to be between $189 and $191 million. For more details and insight, read this article.
I’m sure you haven’t forgotten that Frank Clark needs an extension for this season. Spotrac pegs his market value at $12 million per year, but most expect him to be paid much more. If Seattle applies a franchise tag to Clark – in other words, if they can’t reach an agreement on a new contract and just impose one – he’ll be paid at least $17 million.
That number is based on the salaries for defensive ends in the league. The exact amount is calculated as the average of the top five salaries at the player’s position. You can find more details here. For 2018 the franchise tag was $17,143,000. Both the Lions Ezekiel Ansah and the Cowboys Demarcus Lawrence got that princely sum this past season. Both are free agents, and neither will be coming to Seattle.