The Seattle Seahawks offseason is beginning to come together. There obviously are months left before Week 1 of 2024, though. Still, Seattle has taken a huge step forward by hiring Mike Macdonald as their head coach.
There are still lots of important decisions to make and moves to make. Seattle needs to create cap room. The Seahawks need to address several positions of concern. There is an entire draft to prepare for and, before that, free agents to sign, create, or re-sign. The first offseason without Pete Carroll since 2010 should be an interesting one.
In fact, literally anything can happen. We can hope general manager John Schneider has a clear view of what he wants to do moving forward. Of course, we do not know what Schneider truly wants to do and that is how it should be. Better to keep secrets than let the rest of the NFL know your business. All that said, here are five things I think will happen this offseason in Seattle.
5. Seattle releases wide receiver Tyler Lockett
I don't want Lockett to leave but he is expensive and the Seahawks have a couple of more good receivers. What the Seahawks really need are better defensive players and an offensive guard (or two). Should Seattle let Lockett go pre-June 1, that would save the team $7,105,000. With a post-June 1st designation, releasing Lockett would save $17 million. The problem with that is Seattle would not be able to spend the money until after June 1st.
Lockett has been a great receiver for Seattle and he is an excellent human being. But there are lots of things Seattle could do with the $7 million including re-signing Bobby Wagner. Wagner is a free agent and Seattle has no proven linebackers under contract next year. Releasing Lockett could just mean the Seahawks keep Wagner (and still save a million dollars or more).
4. Seahawks take linebacker Edgerrin Cooper in the first round
Seattle will probably remake its defense in the image of Mike Macdonald. They should anyway. The main reason Macdonald got the job is because of his history of creating very good defenses. Seattle has some young talent on defense with Boye Mafe and Devon Witherspoon. Riq Woolen could bounce back to his 2022 level and be very good again in 2024. There is clay in which to mold a good defense.
But what Seattle does not have is a bevy of veteran linebackers. They have zero proven linebackers on the roster currently. Jordyn Brooks, Bobby Wagner, and Devin Bush are all free agents. Hopefully, Brooks returns but he will be costly. With no Carroll in Seattle, Bobby Wagner might not want to return.
Cooper, though, appears to be the perfect Macdonald linebacker. He can cover running backs and tight ends extremely well. He has the ability to blitz as needed, but even when he isn't sent on blitzes he has the speed to chase down quarterbacks. He is also fantastic against the run and an ultra-aggressive tackler. If Brooks comes back, he and Cooper could form one of the better linebacker duos in the league for the next several years.
3. Seahawks sign safety Julian Love to an extension
The Seattle Seahawks safeties underperformed in 2023 except for Love. Julian Love was named to the Pro Bowl even though former defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt did not see fit to play him very much in a few games in the middle of the season. That partially led to an underperforming defense which led to Pete Carroll and Hurtt no longer having jobs with the franchise.
This season, Love set a career-high for interceptions (4), solo tackles (85), passes defended (10), and fewest passes completed when targeted (63.8 percent). Love also allowed his second-lowest quarterback rating at a solid 82.2. Love making the Pro Bowl was not because he is popular, but because he was very good.
If Love is picked to start from Day 1 of Mike Macdonald's regime, Love should only be better moving forward as he will get all the starting reps. He is also an excellent communicator on the field and should help Macdonald implement his defense.
Love also is young. Even though he has been in the league since 2019, he will only turn 26 years old before next year. He should be able to play at a high level for several more seasons, but he is currently signed only through 2024. Seattle should work out a two-year extension with the safety, and keep him through 2027, and find the other half of the safety duo in the draft.
2. Seattle moves back into first round to take quarterback J.J. McCarthy
Over the last decade-plus, the expectation might be that the Seattle Seahawks would trade back and pick up extra draft picks. I think there are several reasons Seattle doesn't move back from their current first-round selection of number 16. One is that in the years Seattle was trading back, the team did not have as many needs as they currently do. Another reason was that Pete Carroll had final roster decisions and he might have wanted a player that Seattle didn't need to take as high.
With John Schneider fully in charge for the first time, I am guessing the Seahawks do something different. After taking Edgerrin Cooper at pick 16, Seattle could trade their 2025 first-round pick to move back up into the first round and choose J.J. McCarthy. Mike Macdonald is familiar with McCarthy from Macdonald's one season as the defensive coordinator with the University of Michigan. McCarthy will then sit for a season behind QB1 Geno Smith.
McCarthy has very good arm talent, but he never had to show at Michigan that he could be the reason his team wins when needed. He has great mobility and his previous relationship with Macdonald will help ease his transition from college to the pros.
Plus, Geno Smith proved he is willing to help whoever else is in the Seahawks quarterback room learn the plays and scheme. Smith did that with Drew Lock in 2022. He would probably do so with McCarthy starting in 2024.
1. Seattle releases Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams
Getting back to my point about Lockett, the Seahawks must make cap room to have a chance of doing anything this offseason. Releasing Diggs would save $11 million. Letting Adams go would save $6,083,332 immediately, but if the Seahawks cut Adams with a post-June 1st designation the team would save $16,500,000 (again, the Seahawks would not be able to use any of the savings until after June 1).
Diggs will be 31 years old in Week 1 of 2024. That is not ancient, but that is getting a bit old for a free safety who needs all the speed he can muster to cover deep down the field, often in single coverage. In 2023, had the highest quarterback rating allowed of his career at 103.9. He had his fewest interceptions (1) since 2016.
Adams has always been terrible in coverage and this year was no different. There is a chance that Macdonald finds a way to use Adams more creatively than Pete Carroll and Carroll's defensive coordinators could do. But Adams seems to lack the explosiveness he had in 2020 and Adams does not have a sack and just 5 quarterback hits beginning in Week 1 of 2021.
Releasing Lockett, Diggs, and Adams with pre-June 1 cut dates would save the team $23 million. There is no way that Seattle would hire Macdonald and then hamstring him with the team not having any cap room. This is especially true if a free agent Ravens defender or two, such as Justin Madubuike wants to join Macdonald in Seattle.