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.
No. 2 - Sign edge rusher Dante Fowler, Jr. in free agency
Fowler is a bit of a risk. He could be extremely disruptive as a pass rusher or simply just OK. Either way, the Seahawks will be in need of more proven pass rushers next year. Uchenna Nwosu will be coming back from injury, so that will help. Boye Mafe is definitely been better in his second season. But after those two, there a vast wasteland of proven edge rushers.
Derick Hall might be able to take the same jump that Mafe did in 2024, but Hall hasn't been as good as Mafe was in Mafe's first year. There is no evidence yet that Hall will be a capable player in the NFL. He has good size and strength, but he also has zero sacks and just one tackle for loss in 2023. As a second round pick, he should have been able to do a bit more.
Darrell Taylor will be a restricted free agent for Seattle next year and while Taylor got 6.5 sacks in his first season playing in the NFL and then 9.5 last year, he has greatly digressed in this season. He has 3.5 sacks and 6 quarterback hits in 2023, but no sacks in the last five games and just one QB hit. He is still horrible against the run, too. He likely isn't even worth keeping on the roster even as a restricted free agent.
Fowler had at least 4.5 sacks between 2019 and 2022 with a high of 11.5. He also is only getting paid $3 million this year and doesn't play enough to earn a huge increase next season. He is certainly an upgrade over Taylor and that should make the Seahawks at least a little bit more dangerous in terms of pass rush.
No. 3 - Two Cowboys in massive trade
OK, this is where you might get upset at me (and maybe that is your normal state and I am fine with that), but the Seahawks need several pieces in which to greatly improve over their current state of mediocrity. Getting young Cowboys from Dallas will help Seattle long-term and help the Cowboys' cap room as young players eventually have to get paid. But here's the thing about this scenario: This trade won't help Dallas but might be one Jerry Jones simply cannot pass up.
Also, let me say I like DK Metcalf. He appears to be a good guy off the field. He just hasn't been quite productive enough to earn his paycheck. I do not even mean that as a slight to him. Perhaps the current Seahawks offense is simply not a good fit for Metcalf. Metcalf has surpassed 1,000 yards receiving in two of his four years, but just barely in 2022. For a player of his size and speed, he should easily exceed 1,000 yards every year. Last year he also had 6 touchdown passes and this year he has caught just 43 of his 80 targets.
Trading Metcalf to the Cowboys opens up cap space - his cap hit in 2024 is $24,500,000 and in 2025 is $29,500,000 - for Seattle while the trade would add young talent at positions of need. And Jerry Jones would likely do anything possible to help fit Metcalf's contract under the cap ceiling. Plus, Metcalf is a perfect fit for the Dallas offense.
So which players could Seattle get from Dallas? One would be Markquese Bell. He is a hybrid linebacker/strong safety who is only 24 years old but would go a long way toward helping the Seahawks' problem of giving up chunk plays in zone coverage over the middle of the field. The other player is defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa. Odigihizuma is stout against the run and can supply interior pass rush and is only 25. Both Odighizuma and Bell are signed through 2024. (Seattle also might get some draft capital back in the trade as well.)