Seahawks' decision on Tyler Lockett just became a lot easier

The Seattle Seahawks must make cap room somehow. Thankfully, the salary cap went up $30 million from 2023 so Seattle went from having negative cap room to positive space. This was helped, too, by Seattle moving quarterback Geno Smith's roster bonus to a signing bonus which created more than $4 million in cap room But Seattle is still 21st in the NFL in cap space with $16,105,973 available before signing any free agents or draft picks.

In other words, Seattle still does not have that much cap room. Every team in the top ten of cap space has at least $57 million to spend, for instance. If Seattle wants to be competitive on the free agent market, they need to open more room and quite a bit of it.

Some of this could be done by releasing Quandre Diggs, Jamal Adams, Bryan Mone, and Will Dissly. Getting rid of those four players, for better or worse because Dissly has been a great blocker and good in the locker room, would open up $29 million. Good, but not great. Another player who could be released to create room would be fan-favorite wide receiver Tyler Lockett.

Salary cap being higher might be a blessing for Tyler Lockett and Seattle Seahawks

The good thing is that since the cap was about $8 million higher than expected, Seattle has a tiny bit more to play with. If there was any hesitation about moving on from Lockett, the extra space helps the decision. This is because the Seahawks could move some of Lockett's remaining two years into a signing bonus but at least the team would be able to keep him. The team was so tight against the expected cap that extending Lockett or moving some of his salary to a bonus was only kicking the problem down the road.

Lockett currently has the biggest cap hit of any Seattle player in 2024 at $27,845,000. He is signed through 2025 but his cap hit that season is only slightly better at $26,795,000. Seattle could extend Lockett, make some of the later seasons dead numbers, and roll some of the money into those years.

By then, the cap would be even higher but Lockett likely will age out of his deal and probably be retired. Would Seattle have to eat some dead money in that situation? Sure. But at least Lockett would still be on the team for at least the next two years.

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