3 free agents who should love to play for Mike Macdonald and Seahawks in 2024
By Lee Vowell
The Seattle Seahawks, to be fair, are going to have to release players to create cap room in order to sign free agents this offseason. The team is currently over the salary cap. Seattle might have wanted to move on from some veteran players with bloated contracts, but they actually have to.
But the players on this list should be less expensive to sign than the players Seattle might release. Two of them should be well under $10 million a season. Still, in Mike Macdonald's defensive system, they should be highly productive.
Plus, Macdonald needs some different players than what Seattle had in 2023. These players need to be better tacklers and better against the run. All three of these players can do that.
No. 1 - LB Josey Jewell should love to play for Mike Macdonald with the Seattle Seahawks
Seattle might need to find all new linebackers for 2024 and beyond. Starters Bobby Wagner and Jordyn Brooks are both free agents. The Seahawks might see Wagner as being too old to bring back (whether that is true or not) and Brooks might be too pricey. Brooks might want a contract that pays him $11-12 million a season and Seattle does not currently have anywhere near that much cap room to spend.
Jewell, though, is a jack of all trades linebacker who does not have any glaring weaknesses. He might do anything at an elite level, but he is certainly better in coverage than Wagner or Brooks. Jewell also is used to calling the plays for the Denver Broncos and appears to be a quick study of any change to the defensive schemes he plays in.
Pro Football Focus (subscription required) has Jewell getting a projected contract of $6.25 million a season for two years. He is only 29 years old so should be good for those two seasons at least. Plus, bringing in a veteran linebacker who can likely help the younger defensive players pick up Macdonald's defense quickly would be a huge gain.