NFL expert urges Seahawks to prioritize signing this one player to an extension

The Seattle Seahawks are already over the salary cap in 2025. The team has some massive contracts, sure, but one reason Seattle is already over the cap is because most of the current key players are signed through at least next year. Seattle has a lot of young players who are still on their rookie deals.

The team could make a lot of room with the release of just a couple of players next offseason. A popular player or two is probably going to be released. The best hope is that the contract is reworked so the player stays on the team.

According to Over the Cap, Seattle is plus-$20,477,585 to the cap. That's bad. Should Seattle release Geno Smith and Tyler Lockett in 2025, for example, the Seahawks would be under the cap by $22 million. In other words, while things look dire now, the reality is that general manager John Schneider is probably not losing any sleep over next offseason's money issues.

One site suggests Seahawks need to make Boye Mafe a priority to extend

With whatever money Seattle creates, the team will have decisions to make on which of their good young players should be - or could be - retained. Among the players that are set for free agency after 2025 are DK Metcalf, Kenneth Walker III, Sam Howell, Riq Woolen, Charles Cross, and Abe Lucas. Cross could have his fifth-year option picked up so that would solve one issue.

The player that Bleacher Report's Ryan Fowler believes Seattle needs to go ahead and work out an extension with before they hit 2026 free agency is not Metcalf or Walker. Instead, the player is Boye Mafe. The edge rusher did see a huge jump in his numbers in 2024 - he had three sacks as a rookie and nine last year, for instance - but his production took a huge dip after the midway point of the season.

The hope is that under the new leadership of head coach Mike Macdonald Mafe's numbers will go even higher. He has the power, size, and speed to be extremely disruptive. He could easily get to double-digit sacks and 60 total pressures. He could also excel in run support.

Because of this, Fowler says the Seahawks need to wrap Mafe up long-term so his asking price does not explode after the 2025 season. Instead of $12 million a season, for example, his price might go higher than $20 million a year. Let's just hope Mafe is great enough in 2024 to make Schneider lose a bit of sleep over how much it is going to cost to re-sign the edge rusher.

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