Running back DeeJay Dallas
DeeJay Dallas needs to be in Seattle for at least three more years. What stinks for him and works out well for Seattle is that overall the running back group in the NFL is heavily underpaid. Sure, Jonathan Taylor just signed a huge extension with the Indianapolis Colts (up to $42 million for three seasons), but Dallas simply isn't Taylor as few running backs are. Compared to the pay offensive guards get, only the top nine running backs make as much as $10,091,000. The number 19 highest-paid running back only gets $4.5 million.
Dallas has a cap hit of only $1,133,600 in 2023. If Seattle is to re-sign him, they likely would still pay him less than $2 million a season (likely much less). But to be sure Seattle has done Dallas a favor in terms of negotiating power. Besides getting the ball from Geno Smith and trying to grind out yards, Dallas has been a productive kickoff and punt returner.
Dallas is never going to be a number one back in the rotation unless the backs above him on the depth chart have all gotten injured (not out of the question with the luck Seattle has had at running back the last many years), but he can run a bit and can also catch the ball well. Dallas has caught 57 of his 65 career pass targets.
This year, though, Dallas is averaging 16.4 yards a return on five punt returns (this would rank fourth in the league had Dallas met the minimum for number of punt returns) and Dallas is averaging 26.6 yards per kick return and this leads the NFL. Dallas has also made very smart decisions on when to return punts and kicks and that is a statistic that cannot be measured but is nearly as valuable as the yards picked up.