The Dallas Cowboys have a lot of talent but in the NFL that talent gets expensive fast and teams have tough decisions to make to try to get under the salary cap. Dallas is already negative-$13 million over the cap for 2024. The Seattle Seahawks could do Dallas a favor and make a trade or sign a Cowboy in free agency and that would be one less player the Cowboys would have to worry about, right?
Basically, Seattle would just be doing another NFL a favor and would be helping them out by taking a good player from them. That's what friends do. (I am joking by the way.)
But I am not joking about Seattle making a move to get a player (or three, for the purposes of this article) from Dallas one way or another. Plus, the Cowboys will likely find a way naturally to get under the cap in 2024, but 2025 is going to be a huge problem for them as players such as Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, and Leighton Vander Esch are set to be free agents in 2025 and Dallas will likely be picking up Micah Parsons fifth-year option. So if Dallas is forward-thinking, they will need to give up some players in 2024. Here are three the Seahawks should try to get.
Player Seahawks should try to steal from the Cowboys No. 1 - Safety Malik Hooker
I realize Hooker was just recently extended by the Cowboys and is signed through 2026, but that only makes this a better situation for the Seahawks. In 2025, Hooker's cap hit is $7.75 million and Dallas is going to need every dollar it can get to try to re-sign Lamb, etc. Hooker will also be 28 years old before the 2024 season so maybe Dallas will see him as a slightly aging piece they can discard and Seattle could trade draft capital to get him. (I am hoping here instead of knowing what Dallas wants to do.)
But Hooker has been excellent in 2023 and is the 11th-best graded safety in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). He excels in run support as well with a grade in that department of 86.2, sixth-best in the league. But Hooker is a bit of a ball-hawk as well with 12 interceptions since entering the league in 2017. That is just slightly less than the number of touchdowns Hooker has given up in the same time span.
Seattle's safety position is somewhat of a mess currently, though. Jamal Adams is always an injury risk, though when he is on the field he performs at a high level. Quandre Diggs has been nowhere near the level he has been in the previous three years. Seattle restructured Adams this year, though, and would only save about $6 million by releasing him. Diggs, though, has a cap hit of $21,262,500 in 2024 but his dead cap is just $10,262,500. Replacing Diggs with Hooker actually saves money for Seattle and gives Seattle a longer-term answer at free safety.