Three 2023 free agents the Seahawks must target on offense

The Seahawks’ running game gets another weapon

RB Devin Singletary led the Bills in rushing all four of his seasons in Buffalo. That conjures up images of a workhorse back who may be on his last legs, right? In this case, nothing could be further from the truth. He set a career-high in carries in 2021 with just 188 and had 177 last year. He’s only missed two games since week seven of 2019, his rookie season, so he’s remarkably durable. And since he’s used to sharing the workload with players like Frank Gore and now Josh Allen, he’s not likely to complain too much about sharing the handoffs in Seattle, either.

While the Bills didn’t use Singletray as a third-down specialist, he’s adept as a receiver out of the backfield. In his past three seasons as Buffalo’s starter, he’s recorded 50, 50, and 52 targets, never catching fewer than 38 of his attempts. His career catch rate of 75.1 percent would only go up with the accurate Geno Smith pulling the trigger.

Are there more exciting backs available? Well, that depends on your definition of exciting. Josh Jacobs is a massive talent, but I’m not too thrilled about a guy who just had 340 carries. We all remember how well that worked out for Shaun Alexander in the long run, right? Similarly, Saquon Barkley is coming off a huge year. But, the Hawks already have a guy on their radar with a history of serious injuries. If we’re going to play the high-risk card, I’ll take Penny, thanks.

As for Singletary, he’d be a great fit financially, as well as in scheme. Ever trusty spotrac.com lists his market value at just $5.5 million per year over three years. That brings up a quite valid point, one I’m sure you’ve been grumbling about since you opened this article. Where’s all this money coming from to sign all these guys? I hear you, 12s.

Just to change things up, I’ll turn to overthecap.com for this one. According to their calculations, the Hawks have $24.4 million in cap space as of this moment (just for the record, Spotrac sees it as $24.7 Million, but let’s not quibble). That doesn’t account for the money Seattle will need to sign their massive draft haul. If they don’t move from any of their picks, the projected hit will be $16.1 million. So, where will the money come from to sign everyone?

It won’t. I’m well aware that the Seahawks can’t sign all three of these players, keep Geno Smith, and pay their draft picks. Oh, and hopefully bring back Bobby Wagner! I mean, they could sign all of these guys, but there’s work to be done on the defensive side of the ball, too. Fret not, dear 12s, we’ll get to that, too. Yes, of course, the Hawks can restructure contracts and work their usual financial mojo. But when there are this many needs, you can’t get every player you want. Me, I’d be happy with any of these guys.