4 Seattle Seahawks players who shouldn't be back next year (but probably will be)

The Seattle Seahawks have a cap space issue. They are currently over the cap for the 2024 offseason. Seattle is 24th in cap space heading into the offseason with $-4,027.

That means Seattle is going to have some tough roster decisions to make to open up some cap room. As cap space stands right now, the Seahawks do not even have enough to sign their 2024 draft picks. Several players will likely be released or have their contracts re-worked.

The four players that follow are cap casualty candidates. They would certainly save the team money if they were released. But will they be?

Seattle Seahawks will probably bring Quandre Diggs back

Prior to 2023, Diggs was a very good player for the Seahawks. He had made three straight Pro Bowls and had multiple interceptions in every season he had played in Seattle. But this season he simply wasn't as productive and was graded as the ninth-worst safety in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). He was only one ranking better than Jamal Adams and Adams was too injured to run well.

The biggest problem with Diggs is his contract, however. His cap hit is $21,262,500 which is third-highest in the NFL heading into 2024 at this point. Only Adams and Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick have higher cap hits. What makes matters even worse is that if Seattle were to keep Diggs on his current deal, the team would be passing up a potential cap savings of $11 million by not releasing him.

In fact, Diggs' contract is a worse problem than his play was in 2023. Seattle needs to find cash somewhere as the team currently has negative cap room heading into the offseason. Contracts can be re-worked, of course, and the cap hit can be kicked down the road, but that doesn't solve the problem forever. Letting Diggs go just makes too much sense financially.