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.
No. 2 - Defensive lineman Grover Stewart
Stewart had a mixed 2023 with the Indianapolis Colts because he was suspended for six games for failing a performance-enhancing drug test but when he did play he was once again very good in the areas that the Seahawks need a player to be. He is one of the better pure run-stoppers in the NFL along the interior of the defensive line. In 11 games this season, Stewart had 24 run stuffs.
But he does the same thing every season. Per PFF, Stewart does not have a grade worse than a very solid 65.2 in any season in his career. Most seasons are 70.5 or higher. He might not offer much in terms of pass rush anymore - he had 17 total pressures in 2022 and 15 in 2023 - but Seattle does not need that. Jarran Reed is still under contract and can supply interior pass rush.
PFF also has Stewart's projected contract of $10 million a year for three seasons. He is 30 years old so expecting him to still be very good in three years might be asking a bit too much, but if all Stewart is doing is excelling in run defense than he likely could still get a ton of reps on early downs, or seemingly obvious rushing downs, and be playing for four years or more.
Mike Macdonald would also make sure Stewart is not getting overused. Former defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt did a terrible job with his rotations and Reed, for example, played too much this season. Stewart would likely be kept fresh and productive in Macdonald's defense.
No. 3 - Safety Jordan Fuller
Fuller has far outplayed his draft selection. He was a sixth-round choice in 2020 but still started 12 games in his rookie season. Besides suffering an injury in 2022, Fuller has been a full-time starter for the Rams and has become a versatile safety but with one great super power. That is that Fuller is fantastic tackler who rarely misses.
In his last two full seasons (2021 and 2023), Fuller has missed just 15 tackle attempts while being in on 207. 12s likely still have PTSD from watching so many missed tackles by Seattle's secondary through 2023. Even before this season, however. tackling has been a wretched problem in Seattle and former head coach Pete Carroll seemed incapable of fixing the issue.
Many national pundits will say that tackling is not taught very much in the NFL and players are expected to know how to tackle when they enter the league. This makes sense to a degree because tackling drills start when a player is still involved in pee-wee football. But tackling issues can still be addressed in the NFL and the Seahawks have struggled more than most any other team with the issue. Either Seattle is drafting terrible tacklers or they just ignored the problem.
That won't happen with Macdonald's defense as his units are notorious for the ability to limit yards after first contact. Macdonald also likes playing with three safeties. We know Seattle will still have Julian Love and probably either Jamal Adams or Quandre Diggs. Adding Fuller to one of the other two should make Seattle's safety group very good. Fuller is expected to get a contract of around $4.5 million a season for two years.