Seahawks 2020 offseason plan: Getting Seattle back to the Super Bowl
By Geoff Shull
Time to bring in some new talent from free agency
Our current cap space projection sits at $24 million. The Seahawks will need to be smart with whom they sign and how they format the contracts to ensure all needs are taken care of. The following are a few of the key free agency additions I believe Seattle should focus on:
Seattle signs Dante Fowler (DE) to a 3-year, $42 million contract.
With Clowney signing an extension as an elite bookend (run & pass defender), Seattle will finally lands his counterpart at the LEO position (pure pass rusher) with Fowler. In the last two seasons, Fowler has averaged an 11.5% pressure rate which is in the top 25 percent of DE’s. Last season, he posted 11.5 sacks and 7 tackles for a loss. His first-year cap hit sits at $8 million.
Seattle signs Kendall Fuller (CB) to a 2-year, $9.5 million contract.
Fuller, just two seasons ago, was considered the best slot corner in the league. After a trade sent him to Kansas City his production and playing time slowly diminished to being considered an afterthought. He should be available for a modest contract given his minimal production. Meanwhile, Coach Carroll will have a very talented reclamation project to work on. Fuller is just 25 and should have his best years ahead of him. His first-year cap hit would be $3.25 million.
Seattle signs Michael Bennett (DT/DE) to a 1-year, $2.25 million contract.
Bennett recently mentioned that he would love to end his career where it blossomed, in Seattle. While many fans are split on Bennett, there is one thing that is for certain, he is a great football player. In 9 games last season, he accumulated 4 sacks and 8 tackles for a loss. His pressure percentage has consistently been between 9.2%-11.8% over the last 5 seasons. One other thing, Bennett has stood up for Russell time and time again, there should be no hard feelings between the two. So long as he stays out of the spotlight, he would be a great addition on the cheap and a great mentor for the other defensive lineman. His cap hit for the 2020 season is $2.25 million.
Seattle signs Kenny Wiggins (OG) to a 1-year, $1.5 million contract.
Entering his age 32 season he would be a perfect veteran to bring some competition to the guard room. Wiggins has a low center of gravity and played well for the Lions in his limited role last year. He averaged one penalty/sack every 110 snaps. This figure would have been good for 3rd on the Seahawks roster behind George Fant (154), and Duane Brown (264). His cap hit for the 2020 season is $1.5 million.
I know, many of you were hoping I would go out and spend big on the offensive line. The problem with spending so much money on the QB is a lot of the teams’ salary cap is tied to one player. Seattle ranked in the top 5 in offensive production this past season, the issue that kept them from getting to the Superbowl wasn’t offensive production but on the defensive side. Seattle was in the bottom 5 for overall defense and bottom 3 in sack/pressure percentage. This is where I chose to spend our very limited resources.
That being said with the limited resources we had, I elected to re-sign a cost-effective player in George Fant who possesses the versatility that Pete Carroll covets. I re-signed Joey Hunt to a low-cost deal, he is a valuable backup. I believe Jamarco Jones, Phil Haynes, Kenny Wiggins and DJ Fluker will battle it out for the starting two guard spots.
The only other need would be the center position. Sure, we could go out and sign Connor McGovern, or Matt Skura with the remainder of the cap space. However, with this draft looking incredibly deep at that position, it made far more sense to just draft Justin Britt’s replacement, as opposed to paying for it.
These moves would leave Seattle with just under $10 million in cap space. The remainder of this will be used to sign low cost-free agents on minimum deals, and work on player extensions (potentially Shaquille Griffin and Chris Carson).
After free agency, the remaining needs are: C, RT, WR, DT, S, RB and G. Fortunately, its shaping up to be a great offensive draft this year. There should be no problem filling all of these.