How much cap space do Seahawks have after releasing Bobby Wagner?

The Seattle Seahawks traded Russell Wilson and released Bobby Wagner on Tuesday. The two moves created a lot more cap space in 2022. But the savings for Wilson won’t really be felt until next offseason when his dead money is less.

The Seahawks savings for releasing Bobby Wagner, however, will be immediate. Wagner was in the final year of his deal that was set to pay him as much as $20.3 million. That is quite a bit – too much – for a player who plays a position that requires him to create car wreck-type collisions on most snaps during a game.

Wagner was still good but not truly great, especially when it comes to making impact plays. In 2020, he had a career-low in quarterback hits (3), had his fewest tackles for loss (3) since 2015, had his fewest passes defended since 2016 and his fewest sacks since 2015.

Seattle Seahawks save cap space by trading Russell Wilson and releasing Bobby Wagner

Releasing Wagner wasn’t a surprise as Seattle didn’t need to pay him north of $20 million. So what are the Seahawks saving by releasing the future Hall of Famer?

A lot. Prior to trading Wilson and releasing, Seattle was already in good shape in cap room and had the eighth-most in the NFL. But now, per Spotrac, Seattle has the second-most cap space in the league with an estimated $51,365,749 to spend this offseason.

Seattle saved $22 million by making the two moves they did on Tuesday. But what should they do with all that money? Seattle doesn’t have a quarterback on the roster – and no, Drew Lock is not the answer – who is ready to replace Wilson. This means Seattle will enter the year trying to find the person who will throw passes to DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. That’s not a good thing.

So maybe the Seahawks choose to save some cap space for 2023 because teams can roll over money from one year to the next. I am not saying Seattle is going to intentionally tank in 2022 in hopes of getting a really high draft pick in 2023. There is still a lot of talent on the team and even without Wilson, they aren’t one of the worst teams in the league.