The Seattle Seahawks approached free agency differently in 2024 than in 2023. Last offseason, Seattle was surprisingly aggressive early in free agency as they signed Dre'Mont Jones, Evan Brown, and others. Brown did not work out, though. The jury is still out on Jones.
Seattle did create a lot of cap room in the week before the free agency period by releasing Quandre Diggs, Jamal Adams, and Will Dissly. However, John Schneider did not choose to chase free agents from other teams immediately. Instead, he focused on bringing back a couple of players from 2023.
Will that approach pay off better this year than last? 12s hope, of course. But either way, the following five players should be happy that Schneider gave them a bump in pay.
Leonard Williams - Seattle Seahawks defensive lineman
Seattle could not have let Williams walk away this offseason for a number of reasons. First, when the team traded for Williams midway through the 2023 season, they gave up a second-round pick in 2024. Giving up that draft capital for a player who only played for half of a season would have been brutal. Seattle is rebuilding a bit and needs an infusion of young talent, so to see a second-round selection go for basically nothing would not have been good.
Another reason to retain Williams was that he, unlike almost all of the rest of the defense, was good in the second half of 2023. After joining Seattle, he had 32 total quarterback pressures and 21 run stuffs. That was in 10 games. The QB pressures alone ranked fourth on the Seahawks for the entire season. His run stuffs ranked seventh, but again, Williams played little more than half a season for Seattle.
Williams will turn 30 years old before the 2024 season, but he got a bump in pay for staying with Seattle. General manager John Schneider gave him a three-year deal worth up to $64.5 million. In 2025, his cap number will be a career-high of $29.15 million. In other words, Williams likely can pay for dinners for others for some time.
Rayshawn Jenkins - Seahawks safety
Jenkins needed a home after the Jacksonville Jaguars released him in March in a cost-savings move. Many times that happens, especially for a 30-year-old safety, teams will dismiss the thought of signing the safety because they want a younger model. Jenkins was a good player, especially in coverage (Jenkins set a career-low for quarterback rating allowed when targeted), in 2023, so he still had value.
The Seahawks did not just sign Jenkins to a low-end deal. Jenkins was signed for two years, and if he earns the second year of the contract, he will make the second-highest total of his career. His cap hit in 2025 is $7.9 million. That isn't a ton to spend on a quality safety, but it's a risk for Seattle because Jenkins will be 31 years old and could lose half of a step quickly.
He appears to be a very good fit for new head coach Mike Macdonald's system, though. Jenkins could have a career year with the best defensive coach he would have played under. If he makes the Pro Bowl, Seattle spending $7.9 million on Jenkins might look like a steal.
Noah Fant - Seahawks tight end
Besides Leonard Williams, John Schneider wanted to bring back Noah Fant as well. The most surprising part of the deal might not be that the Seahawks still wanted Fant but that Fant still wanted Seattle. Had Shane Waldron still been the offensive coordinator this season. one might wonder if Fant would have said "no thanks" to Schneider.
Fant had career-low numbers in catches (32), targets (43), receiving yards (414), and touchdowns (0) in 2023, and likely none of those numbers were Fant's fault. Waldron was so bent on making sure Geno Smith and Drew Lock threw to the wide receivers that the tight ends and running backs were forgotten about. This hurt the overall offense, and Fant might have wondered how his asking price in free agency was being affected as well.
Schneider obviously believes in Fant as he gave the tight end a raise to return. Fant re-signed for two years and $21 million. His cap number of $7.5 million in 2024 is a career-high, and that number will increase to $13.5 million in 2025. The way new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb uses Fant, though, will probably mean a lot more use of the tight end and a contract that makes complete sense.
Tyrel Dodson - Seahawks linebacker
12s can assume that John Schneider pays attention to Pro Football Focus because PFF had Dodson as the highest-graded linebacker in the NFL in 2023. He only started ten games, though, so one might ask what the Bills saw in Dodson because he only started 15 games over four years for Buffalo. Sure, the Bills have some good linebackers, but if Dodson was truly very good then he would have played more than 20 percent of Buffalo's defensive snaps through his first three seasons.
Dodson still got a hefty pay increase from Seattle this offseason. He only signed a one-year contract for $4.26 million, which is double what he made in any of his previous four years. Schneider is taking a chance that Dodson will be the perfect fit in Mike Macdonald's scheme because Dodson will not only be a starter at inside linebacker, but he will also be the green dot on the Seahawks' defense which means he will be communicating Macdonald's play calls.
Should Dodson excel in his first season as the presumed starter in Week 1, he will get an even bigger pay raise next offseason. If he fails, Seattle's defense overall will fail, too.
George Fant - Seahawks offensive tackle
Fant began his career with Seattle in 2016. He had played tight end in college, but the Seahawks thought he could make the transition to offensive tackle in the NFL. That seemed a leap of faith at the time, but Fant made it work. After performing decently well for Seattle (he started 24 games in three years), he left in free agency in 2020 for the New York Jets. In New York, Fant became a full-time starter until 2022 when he fell a bit out of favor.
Last offseason, Fant signed with Houston for one year and $3 million. He started 13 games for the surprisingly good Texans. Fant's natural athletic ability helps him as a tackle as he can adjust quickly to what edge rushers are trying to do. He isn't quite as good at being bullish in blocking in the run game.
John Schneider still gave Schneider a raise to join Seattle. This might be because the Seahawks are unsure what they will get from right tackle Abe Lucas, who is dealing with a chronic knee injury. Fant was signed for two years, which implies Seattle sees Fant starting a number of games with Lucas potentially out, with a max of $9.1 million. Should Fant play a lot and do well, he will more than exceed his contract.