The Seattle Seahawks are going to make a lot of roster moves over the next month. They will need to release some players under contract for 2024 to create cap room. But free agency also begins on March 13 so Seattle will be adding players to the team.
General manager John Schneider and head coach Mike Macdonald have to address some obvious needs in free agency and the draft. These position groups include linebacker, safety, the defensive line, and the interior of the offensive line. Taking a player at one of these units in the draft is good, but one player will not fix the problem.
Because the Seahawks are pressed for cap space currently even with the room they make one way or another, they cannot chase the higher-priced free agents. Finding bargain basement gems is a must. These four players might be that.
Seattle Seahawks should go after linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair
In 2023, Al-Shaair finally knew going into a season he was going to be a full-time starter. He had signed a one-year deal with the Tennessee Titans after starting his career with four years with the San Francisco 49ers. He turned out to be everything Seahawks free agent signee Devin Bush was not. Al-Shaair tackled well, offered versatility in terms of pass rush, and was decent in coverage as well.
He is still only 26 years old, too, and not overused as he played far more snaps in 2023 than in any other year of his career. So if there is such a thing as a young 26 in the NFL, that would be Al-Shaair. He also should not be that costly. According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), the linebacker is only projected to be given a contract for three years at $6.25 million a season. That dollar amount is likely around what Seattle might offer Bobby Wagner for him to return but Al-Shaair is six years younger.
Al-Shaair also appears to have turned quickly into a leader for the Tennessee Titans. While he might not completely fill the leadership void of Wagner if he is not re-signed, Al-Shaair would still be a good veteran voice on an overall young Seattle defense. Plus, he doesn't miss many tackles and finished fifth in the league in tackles in 2023. He would be a great fit in Mike Macdonald's defense.
Safety Jordan Fuller
Adding Fuller would be a nice win for the Seahawks. For one, Seattle would be taking Fuller from the Los Angeles Rams. Secondly, the safety should be able to instantly replace Quandre Diggs at free safety and augment Diggs' 2023 production. In fact, Fuller is simply a younger version of Diggs. Fuller is about to turn 26 while Diggs is 31.
The huge difference is that Diggs has a contract that is set to pay him $21,262,500 next season but releasing him saves Seattle $11 million. Meanwhile, PFF has a projected contract for Fuller that would pay him $4.63 million a year for two seasons. If that is at all correct, Seattle could bring in Fuller, have the same quality (or likely better) as Diggs, but save over $6 million a year. That would seem like a no-brainer, right?
The Rams clearly are not going to want to franchise-tag Fuller. He doesn't pay an important enough position for the Rams to earn the tag. If Los Angeles did place the tag on Fuller the team would owe the safety over $16 million in 2024. That is not going to happen, but this is good for Seattle as it almost guarantees Fuller will hit free agency.
Fuller had 3 interceptions and 3 forced fumbles in 2023 to go along with 94 combined tackles. His quarterback rating allowed was 86.0 and was 86.6 in 2022. He also missed just 6 percent of his tackle attempts this past season, a good number for a safety. Compare some of those statistics with Diggs' - Diggs had a QBR allowed of 103.9 in 2023 and missed 12 percent of his tackle attempts - and Fuller would be an upgrade over the more veteran safety.
Edge rusher Marcus Davenport
Davenport had his 2023 season cut short due to a high ankle injury. He played only four games for the Minnesota Vikings after signing only a one-year deal as a then-26-year-old edge rusher who is 6'6" and 265 pounds. The deal was for $10 million, but he is very unlikely to get that much this offseason. Still, in those four games, Davenport appeared on the verge of potentially having a career year as he had 2 sacks, 2 tackles for loss, and 4 quarterback hits.
Perhaps where Davenport would help Seattle the most is in run support. He can get to opposing quarterbacks - he had 9 sacks in 2021 - but he has consistently been very good at slowing down the run. In his first five seasons, he had double-digit run stuffs, with a high of 24 in 2021. Twice he was given elite run defense grades by PFF but his lowest was still considered good.
Davenport is a bit like Jadeveon Clowney as well. Both players are more like true defensive ends with the versatility to play edge at times. Both players supply some pass rush, though Clowney might be a bit better than Davenport in that area, and both are great against the run. I bring up Clowney because Mike Macdonald got greatness out of him this past season when both were with the Baltimore Ravens and Macdonald could probably do the same with Davenport in 2024.
PFF projects Davenport to get a contract for only one year that pays him $5 million. The Seahawks should jump at that if the numbers are correct. He does have a bit of an injury history, but so did Clowney and Macdonald got him to play all 17 games this past year. Maybe Davenport could do that for Seattle next season.
Guard Graham Glasgow
Seattle might have to rebuild the entirety of the interior of their offensive line. Center Evan Brown is a free agent after signing for only a year last offseason and he certainly was not good enough to warrant being a player who must be re-signed. Right guard Phil Haynes began the season as the starter but, as he often does, he got injured. Rookie Anthony Bradford was bad when he filled in for Haynes. Left guard Damien Lewis is a free agent this offseason.
Lewis might not have been as good in 2023 as in previous years, but he has been Seattle's best offensive lineman for most of four years. He also is likely going to be too expensive for Seattle to re-sign as PFF projects Lewis to get a deal for four years and $10.5 million per season. The years are not the issue, but the $10 million in 2024 alone would be. The projected contract for Glasgow is $6.5 million each season for two years.
Glasgow can play center, but he is more likely a fit at right guard. He also was graded as PFF's 8th-best guard in the league in 2023. He allowed 2 sacks in 614 pass block snaps, but he was a beast at blocking for the run. Glasgow received PFF's fifth-best run block grade this past season.
My assumption is that new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb is going to run the ball more than former OC Shane Waldron did. That is a good thing. I know the stigma against Pete Carroll was he wanted to run too much, but this is a false narrative. Seattle threw the ball on 61.7 percent of offensive plays in 2023, the fifth-most in the league. Seattle needed to run more and hopefully, they will in 2024, and Graham Glasgow would help the team be successful in doing so.