Seahawks Sunday roundup: Tre Flowers gets paid and compensatory picks
By Lee Vowell
There is, of course, no offseason in pro football. This is some of the news fit to read for the Seahawks for the week ending March 16th.
The Seahawks, like every other NFL team, made some big free agent moves last week to help shape their teams for the 2019. Seattle has so far signed five free agents. And teams are preparing for the NFL draft as well, of course. But there was other news surrounding Seattle football last week too.
Tre Flowers got a nice bump in pay for his 2018 performance
When the Seahawks took Flowers in the 2018 draft, they wanted to take him from being a college safety into an NFL cornerback. This was a transition that was supposed to happen over at least half a season if not Flowers’ entire rookie year. But Flowers was better than could have been expected from the beginning.
Because of Flowers being so good and the way his contract was written, Flowers got the eighth highest performance-based pay distribution in the NFL for 2018. He was the only Seattle player to be ranked in the top 25. Flowers’ base salary was $480,000 and he made an additional $337,399 because of his good play.
Flowers will be even better in 2019 and beyond once he learns completely how to be an NFL corner. Seattle made an excellent choice taking Flowers in the fifth round of 2018, to make an understatement.
Free agency is a win for the Seahawks by losing players
The players that left the Seahawks this offseason in free agency were losses that Seattle can withstand. Sure, Earl Thomas is a great player and he will be difficult to replace long-term. But Seattle is good at getting players to play beyond their limitations in the secondary.
Because Seattle lost Thomas and others in free agency, they will pick up draft picks in 2020. According to USA Today, “Teams are allotted compensatory picks between rounds three and seven in the NFL draft based on a proprietary calculation that factors a player’s average salary per year, snap count and postseason awards.”
So far, what Seattle has lost in free agency is greater than what they have gained. Seattle signed three of their own free agents out of the five they have signed. That means Seattle has two new players. But they have lost four solid players in Thomas, Justin Coleman, Mike Davis and J.R. Sweezy.
Next. 15 best Seahawk free agent signings ever. dark
Seattle currently has seven picks in the 2020 draft. If things stay as they are, Seattle could get at least three compensatory players. That would make 10 picks next year. In other words, just the way John Schneider and Pete Carroll like it.