Seahawks could make some shocking roster cuts very soon

Seahawks could part with their stud safety

Next up is safety Bradley McDougald. As much as I like him, I’ll admit he hasn’t been the second coming of either Kam Chancellor or Earl Thomas. What he has been is a fine player, though. However, by cutting him, Seattle would put a bit over $4 million back in the bank. That’s pretty tempting, especially when you have a young high-impact safety like Marquise Blair pushing for playing time. Even more so than Britt, I’d like to see McDougald in navy and gray this year. But $4 million is a lotta cash.

The third player of note I’m worried about is guard D.J. Fluker.  He’s been one of my favorite Hawks since joining the team, as much for his take-no-prisoners attitude as for his play. However, I have to admit that the team’s run game didn’t skip a beat when Fluker missed a few games in 2018. That was largely due to the play of Jordan Simmons. It’s expected that Seattle will re-sign him shortly. Fluker’s departure, while it would make me very very sad, would create $2.9 million in cap space.

Two players that are certainly headed out the door are tight end Ed Dickson and safety Tedric Thompson. Dickson missed the entire season with injuries, and the Hawks have a pretty stacked tight end room as it is. As for Thompson, he might have been better off if he haad missed the entire season. He’s been given permission to seek a trade. It’s never a good sign when your own team has given up on a trade, especially with John Schnieder as your GM. I’m shocked he couldn’t get J.J. Watt for Thompson. Combined, the two departures will save the Hawks $5.1 million.

If you’ve been keeping up, we’re now at an additional $20.5 million in cap space. That should be just about enough to pay a certain line-wrecking-running-back-stuffing-and-occasional-quarterback-eating defensive end we all happen to like. But as it may not be enough, the Seahawks could move on from these players as well. Ethan Pocic and Nick Bellore would each save the team $1 million in cap space.  The question is, can you get a player as good or better for less? That’s somewhat questionable for both players. The same is true for Nazair Jones and Delano Hill. Cutting them would shave another $1.5 million total off the payroll, but both have shown promise. Enough promise? That’s up to the coaches.