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.
Seahawks tight end Will Dissly
This one hurts. I am a huge fan of Dissly’s. He is excellent in the locker room and a team-first guy who never complains. He was oft-injured in his first two seasons but worked his behind off to get back to where he was healthy most weeks and missed only two games between 2020 and 2021. In 2022, he was healthy through 15 games but then was injured and missed the rest of the year.
The issue for the Seahawks and Dissly, however, is that the team seemed to be bidding against itself last offseason to retain the services of Dissly. Dissly was a free agent tight end last offseason but hadn’t put up huge numbers at any point of his four-year career and missed a bunch of time in his first two years because of injuries. No team seemingly was going to pay tons of money to add him.
Yet, Dissly has the 11th-highest cap hit among NFL tight ends in 2023 ($9,190,000). But Dissly, who is a glorified offensive lineman who can also catch passes, wasn’t even in the top 25 among tight ends in receiving yards this season. He also caught just 3 touchdown passes in 2022 with all 3 coming in the first four weeks of the season. From Week 5 on, Dissly has zero touchdown receptions and had 2 or fewer receptions in 9 of 11 games.
Dissly can catch the ball when it is thrown to him and he is a very good blocker. Seattle missed him in the last few weeks of the season when it came to running the ball. But paying him as a top-15 tight end is a mistake because he isn’t one.
Seahawks safety Jamal Adams
I don’t think Jamal Adams doesn’t want to play football. Adams likely does want to play and play aggressively and at a high level. I am just not sure, as many others are probably not certain, if Adams is physically capable of playing at a high level in the future. And I mean that literally; Adams just gets hurt so much I am not sure his body can continue to take much punishment.
A couple of seasons ago. Jamal Adams was a force with 9.5 sacks and 14 quarterback hits and the speed and tenacity to create havoc for an offensive line. But he also missed 5 games with injury. He missed another 5 in 2021 when he dropped to zero sacks and just 2 quarterback hits. His tackles for loss dropped from 11 in 2020 to 4 in the same number of games in 2021. But in 2022, Adams couldn’t make it through one entire game without being injured.
The problem in 2022 was that the quadriceps injury he sustained was so bad it very well might impact the start of his 2023 season. The idea of adding Adams to the defense was a good one in 2020 as Adams was then a physical freak with the ability to attack the offensive line better than any Seahawks defensive back since Kam Chancellor.
But while Adams is only 27 years old, his body seems more like 60 years old. Adams has the fourth-highest cap hit among NFL safeties in 2023 at $18,110,000. This is $10k more than fellow Seattle safety Quandre Diggs. The Seahawks can’t afford to release Adams, however, as he accounts for $21,330,000 in dead cap next season. Adams basically has to finally stay healthy and play well next year or the trade to bring him to Seattle is one of the worst in Seahawks’ history.
Seahawks defensive tackle Shelby Harris
Shelby Harris is a fine player but he is what he is at this point. Harris will be a 32-year-old interior defensive lineman when the 2023 season begins. Since 2017, every other year he has had 5.5 sacks or more so he is capable of interior pressure. Maybe if he is still on the team next year he will get around 6 sacks. But he also could get 2.5 or fewer. This is the number Harris has put up every other year since 2015.
Harris, though, has the sixth-highest cap hit among all Seahawks in 2023. His cap hit is $12,201,753, Seattle would save nearly $9 million if they release Harris this offseason. Basically, Harris, unless he massively re-works his contract, won’t be back with Seattle. Harris isn’t a bad player but with his age and talent, he isn’t worth paying $12 million a year either.
Seattle needs to rebuild the interior of its defensive line and also get younger. Harris basically plays the same role that Quinton Jefferson does for Seattle but makes a lot more money doing it. Harris might play for a couple of more years and it would be nice to have his veteran presence back in 2023, but not at the price he is currently set to be paid.