5 Seattle Seahawks who cannot afford to get complacent in 2024
By Lee Vowell
The Seattle Seahawks should not have cap issues this offseason. There have been a lot of articles about Seattle needing to potentially cut players to make cap room, but that is not the case. According to Over the Cap, Seattle is last in the league with $-1,090,324, but with just one or two moves, Seattle could easily get back into the positive.
For instance, Seattle could try to rework the tenders of linebackers Jon Rhattigan and Darrell Taylor, which could mean $3-4 million in cap space. The team could also move some of wide receiver DK Metcalf's base salary into a signing bonus, which could open up $5 million or more in space. General manager John Schneider has a lot of options.
Some players have no option other than to play really well in 2024, though. Should they not, they could be off the team next offseason. If they do play well, the Seahawks could make a deep run in the playoffs.
Dre'Mont Jones - Seattle Seahawks defensive lineman
Jones is apparently willing to change positions as needed for the Seahawks' new coaching staff. Throughout his career, Jones has played exclusively along the defensive line. This offseason, though, there are rumors that Jones is preparing to play a lot at edge rusher. Most likely, this is simply because head coach Mike Macdonald likes to disguise his pre-snap defense in lots of ways and Jones' versatility would only help that.
Jones is currently signed through 2025, but he was underwhelming in his first season with Seattle. In 2023, Jones had his lowest number of sacks since his rookie season of 2019 and his fewest tackles for loss since the same year. This might be because Seattle had a poor design in which to use his skills, but either way, the player did not produce.
Should Jones not meet expectations again in 2024 - and one can assume the numbers he had in 2023 did not make general manager John Schneider smile - then he could be a cut candidate next offseason. Seattle would save $16.51 million if they release Jones, which would be a chunk of savings for a team already tight against the cap in 2025.
Of course, the hope is that Jones can set career-highs in sacks and quarterback hits if he does move more to edge rusher. Macdonald is definitely going to put him in the best situation to succeed.