The Seattle Seahawks are going to have to make some moves to free up some cap space this offseason. The team currently has negative-$21,164,763 in cap room, according to Spotrac. This means some pricey veterans are going to need to be released or restructured.
Seattle could make room quickly, however. Moving on from players such as Dre'Mont Jones, Tyler Lockett, and Rayshawn Jenkins would clear $33 million. In other words, the team can and will get some cash to spend.
But on whom? Seattle could entertain trying to re-sign some former players who had decent seasons in 2024, for instance. Well, all of the players below except one.
The Seattle Seahawks could bring these former players back in 2025
Defensive lineman Poona Ford
The Seahawks' defensive line was pretty good this year once all the players got acclimated to what head coach Mike Macdonald needed. There will be some attrition, though. Roy Robertson-Harris has a cap hit of nearly $7 million but no guaranteed money, so he likely will be released. Johnathan Hankins is a free agent. Dre'Mont Jones will also likely be let go as his cap hit is $25 million.
Ford was decent against the run in his first few seasons with Seattle, but he left after 2022. He was a bust for the Buffalo Bills in 2023, but that might have simply been a fit issue. This season. Ford was fantastic for the Los Angeles Chargers. He graded as the fifth-best interior defender, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). That was one notch below Leonard Williams.
Ford only had a cap number of $1.79 million this season. While he was quite good, he doesn't have a long history of being great. He shouldn't see a huge increase in pay in 2025. Therefore, he should be affordable for the Seahawks.
Cornerback D.J. Reed
Reed would be an expensive free agent signing. His cap hit in 2024 was $15.6 million. He also played exceedingly well again. His passer rating allowed of a decent 91.7 was his highest since 2019. That was a season before Reed joined the Seahawks. Reed also graded as the New York Jets best cornerback this year, according to PFF. Even better than Sauce Gardner.
Adding Reed would give Seattle potentially the best cornerback trio in the NFL. Riq Woolen is a bit up and down, but many teams would still love to have him. Devon Witherspoon is one of the best corners in the league. Reed would make the Seahawks' improving defense terribly difficult to pass against.
Quarterback Drew Lock
Lock would not be coming to Seattle to be the starter as the assumption is that Geno Smith will still be on the team in 2025. Backup Sam Howell was terrible in limited action this season, though. Howell has one more season left on his contract, and he is only owed $1.1 million and carries no dead money if he were released.
General manager John Schneider obviously has a relationship with Lock and would know what to expect from the quarterback. There are some similarities between what Lock does to what Smith does, too. Both move well and have strong arms. The new offensive coordinator would not need to change things should something happen to Smith and Lock has to play a bunch of snaps.
Cornerback Shaquill Griffin
Griffin has bounced around the league quite a bit since he left Seattle after the 2020 season. Since then, the cornerback has been on four different teams. He has not maintained being a starter, but he was a valuable piece in the Minnesota Vikings' defense due to his positional flexibility. He is mostly an outside corner but can line up in the box and help against the run, too.
That aspect has always been one of Griffin's most underrated parts of his game. He missed just 4.3 percent of his tackle attempts this season and had 11 run stuffs. The corner would not be an overly expensive signing, but coupled with Witherspoon, the cornerback group would have a much more imposing impact against the run.