Seahawks adding Xavien Howard or Stephon Gilmore should happen
By Lee Vowell
The Seahawks have a potentially huge weakness at cornerback. Trading for Xavien Howard or Stephon Gilmore immediately fixes the issue. Plus, Seattle general manager John Schneider has made a habit of adding an important player very near the start of the season. A trade for Howard or Gilmore could happen still before week one.
On July 25th of last year, the Seahawks traded for Jamal Adams. The season before that, on September 1st, Seattle acquired Jadeveon Clowney. If I had a guess, I would say that Seattle makes another splashy move this season too.
Schneider and Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson and company do not like to lose. Maybe Seattle doesn’t do a lot of high-end free agency signings and are never especially aggressive on day one or two or even three of free agency. But trades? Those are where Schneider has made his bones over the years.
Seahawks need to trade for Xavien Howard or Stephon Gilmore
Would Seattle have to make a lot of cap room if they acquire Howard? Yes. But it isn’t that much really. He has a cap hit of $13.5 this year and $14.375 in 2022. For a top corner, which Howard is, that is not top dollar. Howard is fifth in cap hit among cornerbacks in 2021. In 2022, he falls to 11th.
Gilmore actually has the biggest cap hit in 2021 among CBs at $16.265. Still, for a player of either Gilmore or Howard’s talent and the potential to make a good Seahawks defense very good-to-great. The difference in that could be the difference between making the playoffs at all and making a Super Bowl run.
How to make enough cap space for Howard or Gilmore? One way could be to re-work the contracts of Russell Wilson or Bobby Wagner. But cap space is also more fluid than most people are led to believe and Seattle could easily create space by trading some players already on the team or re-working contracts.
And I am not sure I get the idea that Howard isn’t worth trading for because he gets injured a lot. He is only 28 years old and played in all 16 games last year (leading the NFL interceptions with 10 and passes defended with 20). He did miss games in 2018 and 2019 but played in all 16 games in 2017. He is a very good player who would make Seattle better for many seasons. And Howard wants out of Miami.
Gilmore is also very good but won’t cost anything after this year if he doesn’t work out because he will be a free agent. Yes, he is 32 years old but showed in 2020 that he is one of the best corners in the NFL and made his third-straight Pro Bowl. Gilmore missed some games last year but is normally healthy.
Next. Second-year Seahawks who could have huge impact in 2021. dark
Why wouldn’t the Seahawks still want to make that one great move? Howard or Gilmore would make Seattle a better team. The secondary would have Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs and Gilmore or Howard. That isn’t truly the Legion of Boom but it’s pretty close and close might be just good enough for a Seahawks Super Bowl drive this year.