This is going to be a crazy offseason for the Seattle Seahawks. In the past 14 offseasons, the team has normally gone from the playoffs to the NFL Combine to free agency and then to the NFL draft. This year there is the wrinkle of Seattle needing to hire a head coach between now and the NFL combine.
General manager John Schneider is likely already thinking about which free agents to try to re-sign. The problem is that as things stand now, Schneider does not have a lot of money to play with. The Seahawks don't even have enough money to sign their draft picks at this point. That will change, of course, simply because it has to.
But who is likely to leave Seattle and who probably will stay? That is anyone's guess, obviously. Here are a few guesses, though.
Seahawks will likely lose defensive tackle Leonard Williams
Money. This is why the Seattle Seahawks are very unlikely to re-sign Leonard Williams. He will be only 30 years old in 2024 and should command a salary of nearly $15 million a year. As the Seahawks currently have nowhere near that amount of cash lying around, even if Seattle wanted to bring Williams back they probably could not.
Seattle should have done one of two things with Williams this season. One is not trade for him at all and Seattle would still have their second round choice in the 2024 NFL draft. Williams was great during his time in Seattle, but the team overall struggled. Seattle did not make the playoffs, of course, but that was not the fault of Leonard Williams.
The other thing Seattle could have done is making sure that when the team did get Williams they already had a gentleman's agreement in place where Williams would sign an extension this offseason. Seattle would have had an idea of how much they needed to bring Williams back. But now the Seahawks are likely out Williams and a second-round draft pick.
Seattle will probably bring back linebacker Jordyn Brooks
Seattle surely won't risk losing every proven linebacker from this year's team, right? Brooks, Bobby Wagner, and Devin Bush are all unrestricted free agents. Bush can leave and Seattle would not miss much, but losing Wagner and Brooks would be bad. Seattle should at least bring back one of the linebackers and it makes more sense for Brooks to come back.
Seattle could have chosen to use the fifth-year option on Brooks last offseason, but they logically did not. Brooks was coming off a horrible knee injury and the team had no idea Brooks would be able to come back and play in Week 1 of the 2023 season. Brooks proved he still has excellent speed, tackles well, and can be used by a better defensive coordinator in blitz packages. He might just cost Seattle $13 million or more to bring back.
Seahawks will probably lose linebacker Bobby Wagner
I like Wagner and never want to see him again in another team's uniform, but because of his age - Wagner will be 34 years old next season - and his inability to cover receivers very well, Seattle might choose to use what little cap room it has on drafting a linebacker. Wagner should be a first-ballot Hall of Famer but a new head coach and a young roster have to be made better for beyond 2024 and Wagner might not be back in 2025 either way.
Plus, if I was Wagner and knew I had one or two years left, I might choose to go to a team that has a better chance of winning a Super Bowl in 2024. Signing with the Kansas City Chiefs or Cincinnati Bengals (who should be improved next year with the return of Joe Burrow) might make more sense. Wagner also will probably have no allegiance to Seattle's head coach either as Pete Carroll will no longer be roaming the sidelines.
Seattle will likely bring back tight end Colby Parkinson
I do not have Noah Fant on this list, but I don't think the Seahawks re-sign him. And if I was Fant, I probably wouldn't want to re-sign with the Seahawks. Maybe the new offensive coordinator will get better use out of Seattle's tight end group than Shane Waldron did, but there is no guarantee of that. Fant should go elsewhere and have a chance to catch more passes.
The reason I bring up Fant in the Parkinson part of the article is that I think Parkinson is a lot more unknown around the league than Fant. He won't be in as high of demand as Fant. But the Seahawks need to bring back a tight end who can catch and run and Parkinson can do that. Will Dissly is much more of a blocker right now than a receiver which should mean Parkinson sees a career-high in targets in 2024.
Seahawks will probably lose guard Damien Lewis
Lewis has arguably been the Seahawks' best offensive lineman over the past three years. He started his career four years ago as a right guard and was solid, but then Seattle flipped him to the left side and he's maintained a relatively high level of play. Keeping Lewis would be a good thing, too, for Seattle as they really do not have a player ready to take his spot, at least not one who Seattle can be pretty sure is going to be close to Lewis' quality.
According to Spotrac, Lewis is expected to get a contract that pays him nearly $8 million a year. That is not awful, and there are many guards who get paid a lot more. But Seattle simply might not have that kind of cash. Losing Lewis will hurt in the short term, but Seattle should be able to draft his replacement in 2024.