4 grossly underpaid Seattle Seahawks players in 2024
By Lee Vowell
The Seattle Seahawks definitely have some issues with the salary cap. This offseason should be fine after a few minor tweaks. Once the active rosters are set for Week 1, Seattle will be under the cap without being forced to cut an important and highly-paid player.
Next offseason looks worse, though. Seattle is projected by Over the Cap to be negative-$18,008,835 already. That probably means some players will need to be released, much like Quandre Diggs and Will Dissly were this offseason. Seattle has not usually been a team that struggled with salary since general manager John Schneider came to help run the franchise in 2010, but they will struggle next offseason.
Thankfully, many important Seahawks are still underpaid. That will change if the team and player have future success, but 12s can be thankful that the players that follow will remain on the team. For now, anyway.
Boye Mafe - Seattle Seahawks edge rusher
2024 salary-cap hit: $2,335,159
Mafe can be classified a couple of different ways: Edge rusher or defensive end. As opposed to some edge rushers, Mafe does not drop back in coverage very much, but make no mistake that he is much more of an edge than a defensive lineman. Still, that versatility is going to help Mike Macdonald use Mafe is ways and situations that former defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt simply did not know how to do.
In 2023, Mafe set career highs in a number of categories, including sacks (9), quarterback hits (16), and tackles for loss (9). He should improve on each of these numbers under Macdonald. Pro Football Focus (subscription required) graded Mafe as the 38th-best edge rusher in the NFL last year and that seems too low. Even with that number, though, Mafe's salary-cap hit for this season ranks outside the top 100 for cap hits for edge rushers.
Is Mafe already outperforming his contract? Of course, he is. The great part for the Seahawks is that he still has two years left on his rookie deal. If Mafe continues his trend of improving his production from one year to the next, he is going to be an extremely expensive re-signing following the 2025 season.