3 free agents Seahawks should still think of signing before Week 1

The Seattle Seahawks have reworked the contracts of Jarran Reed and Dre'Mont Jones over the last week. This has created a bit more cap room for the team. According to Over the Cap, Seattle now has a projected $8,500,186 to spend on free agents, should they choose to do so.

Seattle does have to have some money to pay players on the practice squad and on injured reserve, so the team might have closer to $5 million to spend. Reworking the deals of Reed and Jones might not imply Seattle has any plans to use the money other than to have a cushion. At least now they have opened up enough cap space to have options.

Seattle does not need to chase a free agent that might be waiting for a team to offer a lot of money. Instead, Seattle needs to pinpoint position groups where a veteran could bring added value for one season. Three of the players Seattle could think of signing are as follows.

Three free agents the Seahawks should think of signing

Running back Dalvin Cook

As much as Seattle is set at the top of their running back depth chart, the team also knows how easily running backs can be injured in large numbers. Few teams have had to go to an RB3 or RB4 as much over the last five years. Expecting Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet to not get dinged up over a 17-game schedule seems like expecting too much.

Cook is not going to likely ever get 200 carries a year anymore. He was fairly used up by the Minnesota Vikings in his first six seasons, but in spurts, he can be productive. He would only need to get a few reps a game, and would certainly be a more sure RB3 than Kenny McIntosh who was injured for much of his rookie season of 2023.

Cook also would not cost much. Running backs make less than most other position groups as it is, but an aging back (though Cook is still only about to be 29 years old) is going to make even less. While he averaged just 3.2 yards a carry in 2023, that was his first season with the New York Jets. In every season prior to last year, Cook averaged 4.4 yards a rush or more.

Guard Greg Van Roten

The Seahawks might not need an offensive guard, but they also might still have a big hole on the right side of the offensive line. Center Olu Oluwatimi is expected to be the full-time starter for the first time in his career and a veteran presence to his left and right might do him good. Seattle signed Laken Tomlinson this offseason and brought in Van Roten for a look too, so there is clearly an interest.

Seattle is currently set to either start Anthony Bradford or rookie Christian Haynes at right guard. Bradford is dealing with an ankle injury currently, and he was not very good in 2022. Even though Bradford sat out mandatory minicamp drills because of being hurt, Haynes only got second-team reps while veteran Tremayne Anchrum got snaps with the first team.

The hope is that once pads come on, Haynes will begin to separate himself. Either way, he and Bradford are a risk in 2024. Van Roten, who stays healthy and can play at either guard spot, might be a good one-year fill-in which would help Haynes develop a little further and Oluwatimi to have more confidence in the player to his right.

Defensive lineman Emmanuel Ogbah

Ogbah would be the most expensive player on this list to sign. He got paid $15,308,820 in 2023 with the Miami Dolphins, but as Miami needed to create some cap room, they released the defensive lineman before free agency began this offseason. Ogbah was not a bad player last season, though. He was simply going to be an expensive one this year.

Some list Ogbah as an edge rusher, but he is more along the lines of a player such as Leonard Williams. He offers position flexibility. Last year, he lined up outside the tackles on nearly every play, but in previous seasons, he played about 25 percent of the time over tackle. Ogbah has also played a lot as a pure defensive tackle in his career.

He has always been a good pass rusher, but only last season was he not good against the run. This would indicate more of a one-year issue, and potentially because of how he was used by Miami. New Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald would find a lot of uses for Ogbah. If nothing else, he would give Seattle another threat at getting to opposing quarterbacks.

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