4 grossly overpaid Seahawks players on current 2023 salary cap
By Lee Vowell
The Seahawks could be on the precipice of something great in the future. Or, they could fail immensely and Seattle becomes the Kansas City Royals of the NFL. “Oh, they were good for a couple of years and then awful for most of the rest.”
Under the guidance of general manager John Schneider and head coach/Vice President of Football Operations Pete Carroll, it’s tough the think of Seattle ever being bad for a long time, though. Schneider and Carroll have led the franchise to very good success for more than a decade. Maybe Seattle has taken a step back a time or two, but now the team once again appears on the upswing after the excellent draft class of 2022.
But appearances might be a bit misleading. The Seahawks have a relative ton of cap space in 2023, but if they choose to re-sign Geno Smith then Smith is probably going to eat into a lot of the cap room. This would change things immensely as Seattle would need to shift everything over for future success to the 2023 draft instead of adding talent via free agency. But let’s be honest, not everything Schneider and Carroll has turned to gold and a the following players have bloated contracts they shouldn’t have.
Four Seahawks whose bloated contracts aren’t good for 2023
Player 1: Seahawks guard Gabe Jackson
I have written about Gabe Jackson quite a bit as far as being on the Seahawks who are overpaid and underperform. Jackson isn’t a bad player, but he is past his sell-by date and is no better, literally, than the player he split time with this season, Phil Haynes. Haynes could be a starter with Seattle, though even Seattle could find an upgrade for Haynes, and completely replace Jackson. There is simply no reason Seattle should keep Jackson on the team in 2023.
Jackson has a cap hit of $11,262,223 next year. Seattle would save $6.5 million is he was released. Jackson also has the seventh-highest cap hit on the team for next season which is a bit ridiculous when compared to the value most other players on the roster bring to the field more than Jackson.
Jackson also has the seventh-highest cap hit for 2023 among all right guards in the NFL but he is nowhere near being even a top-15 guard on the field. Among all guards, Jackson was graded as the 60th-best in 2022, by Pro Football Focus (subscription required). He allowed 23 quarterback hurries this season and 7 quarterback hits. In other words, too many. Jackson will likely play a few more seasons somewhere, but it doesn’t need to be with the Seahawks.