7 free-agent defensive linemen Seattle Seahawks could sign in 2024

The Seattle Seahawks defensive line has not been overly good for a number of years. In fact, in the last two seasons, the interior of the line has been fairly atrocious. Seattle has to be better at addressing this issue this offseason than in previous ones.

Some of the help should come in the 2024 NFL draft as well. But as Seattle does not have a second-round pick in this year's draft, there is a ceiling to the quality Seattle might be able to find. Seattle would need to draft a defensive tackle in the first round to get one of the higher-rated IDLs in the draft.

Thankfully, though, the salary cap is higher than previously expected this offseason. This gives Seattle a bit more money to spend. New head coach Mike Macdonald is going to want to revamp his defense some and the Seahawks could do so by signing one of the six of seven players that follow. The first player simply needs to be re-signed, however.

Seattle Seahawks should sign free agent defensive tackle Leonard Williams

I will start with the relatively low-hanging fruit. Williams is a free agent, of course, and likely too expensive for Seattle to re-sign currently. The good thing is that free agency does not begin until - unofficially - March 11. This is when the legal tampering period begins with players officially signing as early as March 13. This gives Seattle a bit of time to free up more cap room in order to sign Williams who is projected by Pro Football Focus (subscription required) to get a contract of $17.25 million per season for three years.

Williams played 10 games for Seattle in 2023 after coming over in a trade from the New York Giants. In that time, he was productive enough to finish sixth on the team in sacks. fourth in quarterback hits, second in tackles for loss, and he had 21 run stuffs. He easily graded, per PFF, as Seattle's best interior defensive lineman against the run and finished as the 22nd-best IDL in the league overall.

Seattle will almost definitely create more cap room by releasing Jamal Adams, or Quandre Diggs, or Tyler Lockett. Because of the higher-than-expected salary cap, Seattle already has more room than they expected this offseason. They need to create even more space to re-sign Williams but he would continue to make Seattle's defensive line better, especially under head coach Mike Macdonald.