Safety Quandre Diggs will likely not be back next year
Diggs is having his worst season in Seattle. He's been very good since being traded to the Seahawks in 2019 but in nearly every metric he is trending downward. Per PFF, his coverage grade is his worst since 2020, his tackling grade is his worst since 2019, and his run defense grade is the worst of his career. He is currently graded 63rd among all safeties in the NFL. Diggs has been credited with 9 missed tackles already this season, which is 18.8 percent of his tackle attempts. That's bad.
Diggs is a free agent in 2025, but in 2024 his cap hit goes way up. This year the cap hit is only $11,937,500 but next year it is $21,262,500. Seattle would save $11 million by releasing him, and that's likely just too much savings to let pass. Diggs also could be replaced by Julian Love sliding over to free safety and Jamal Adams moving back a traditional strong safety role.
Defensive lineman Dre'Mont Jones will likely not return next year
Seattle was really hoping they found a long-term interior pass-rush beast who could also be decent against the run when they signed Dre'Mont Jones this past offseason. (Not to bring up Pro Football Focus again, but I will and let you know that Jones is graded as the 92nd interior defensive lineman in the league this year - that is in the bottom third of the league.) Jones is trending toward his worst sack total since he was a rookie in 2019 and his lowest number of tackles for loss since 2020.
The Seahawks kind of gave themselves an out on Jones, too. This year his cap hit is just $10,056,666 and his dead cap is $23 million. In 2024, his cap hit goes to $18,176,666 but his dead cap falls to $13,333,334. Seattle would save almost $5 million by releasing Jones. Maybe Jones has a great second half to the year and proves he is as good as Schneider and Carroll thought he was, but there have been no signs so far in 2023 that he is worth the money he is getting paid.