Seahawks News: Guaranteed UDFA money, OTA dates and draft class signed

May and June are pretty much the only dead spots in the NFL season. Prior to May, teams are busy signing free agents or taking draft picks. After June, the Seattle Seahawks and other teams are preparing for training camp and then the regular season.

This year things in the Seahawks shire will be quite different. 12s and players knew what to expect from head coach Pete Carroll after more than a decade at his job. Carroll, of course, is now no longer the head coach.

Instead, Seattle has Mike Macdonald in charge of the on-field product. Macdonald is a rookie head coach, though, so he will be learning on the job a bit as well. Some other people, such as rookies, will also have a lot to learn, too.

All Seattle Seahawks 2024 draft are now signed

Since the rookie wage scale went into effect in 2011, there is no real mystery to NFL draft picks signing. All the selections are slotted and the only issue between player and team is working out how much guaranteed money will be paid. Obviously, if a team is not extremely confident that a player will be productive in the long term, less guaranteed money will likely be paid as this would affect the team's salary cap for as much as four seasons.

The last of Seattle's draft choices to sign was sixth-round offensive tackle Michael Jerrell. First-round pick Byron Murphy II signed pretty quickly, maybe because his entire four-year and $16,083,000 deal was guaranteed. With the draft picks signed, the Seahawks currently have only $1,343,214 left to spend in 2024, according to Over the Cap.

Seattle gives a lot of guaranteed money to 2024 UDFAs

General manager John Schneider has long held abundant confidence in his ability to find a gem in undrafted free agency. He has earned that confidence, however, as since 2010 the team has signed quite a few UDFAs who ended up playing important roles on the team. Wide receiver Doug Baldwin might be the most notable of the group while 2023 UDFA Jake Bobo played decently well during the season.

The notable part of UDFA contracts in the guaranteed money, but that comes with something of a catch. 2024 UDFA deals were as follows:

• QB Chevan Cordeiro: $17,500 guaranteed salary, $0 signing bonus (Waived on 5/8)
• RB George Holani: $100,000 guaranteed salary, $15,000 signing bonus
• RB TaMerik Williams: $0 guaranteed salary, $5,500 signing bonus
• RB Kobe Lewis: $0 guaranteed salary, $5,000 signing bonus
• WR Hayden Hatten: $0 guaranteed salary, $15,000 signing bonus
• WR Dee Williams: $100,000 guaranteed salary, $25,000 signing bonus
• TE Jack Westover: $50,000 guaranteed salary, $25,000 signing bonus
• T Garret Greenfield: $175,000 guaranteed salary, $20,000 signing bonus
• C Mike Novitsky: $0 guaranteed salary, $2,500 signing bonus
• DL Rason Williams: $0 guaranteed salary, $3,000 signing bonus
• NT Buddha Jones: $0 guaranteed salary, $0 signing bonus
• DT DeVere Levelston: $0 guaranteed salary, $3,000 signing bonus
• DE Nate Pickering: $0 guaranteed salary, $0 signing bonus
• EDGE Sundiata Anderson: $100,000 guaranteed salary, $10,000 signing bonus
• EDGE Nelson Ceaser: $100,000 guaranteed salary, $10,000 signing bonus
• LB Easton Gibbs: $20,000 guaranteed salary, $20,000 signing bonus
• LB Devin Richardson: $0 guaranteed salary, $0 signing bonus
• DB Ro Torrence: $9,000 guaranteed salary, $1,000 signing bonus
• CB Carlton Johnson: $50,000 guaranteed salary, $5,000 signing bonus

All told, Seattle guaranteed $721,500 to UDFAs. That equates to roughly slightly less than one player would make on the veteran minimum of $915,000. Ultimately, the $721,500 is not that much. But many of the players listed above will also make the practice squad after final roster cuts are made before Week 1 of the regular season.

A rookie practice squad player gets paid $12,500 a week. If they were on the practice squad for the entire season, their salary would be $225,000. The only way the guaranteed money for a UDFA would turn into dead cap is if the player doesn't make the team or stay on the practice squad very long. For instance, Dee Williams was guaranteed $100,000, but if he is on the practice squad for nine weeks then he will already have surpassed his guaranteed money and there would be no dead cap.

OTA dates

Voluntary organized team activities (OTAs) for the Seahawks will run from May 20 through June 7. The team will not do any contract drills during this time. OTAs might be more important for Seattle this offseason, however, as players will be learning the ways of new head coach Mike Macdonald and the rest of the coaching staff. Seattle's OTAs will occur on May 20, May 22-23, May 28, May 30-31, June 3-4, and June 6-7.

After voluntary OTAs, there will be a mandatory minicamp, meaning players have to show up or they could get fined, from June 11 through 13. After that, 12s will see no more Seahawks players until training camp begins in late July. After that, the 2024 NFL season will be less than two months away.

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