In the second year of the post-Pete Carroll era, Seahawks GM John Schneider seems to have done pretty well with his major roster decisions. Signing Sam Darnold to a relatively modest three-year deal looks like a genuine coup.
Grey Zabel is leading a promising batch of draft picks. Extending Abraham Lucas, finding Derion Kendrick, and even quickly pulling the plug on the Marquez Valdes-Scantling experience.
Not everything has been perfect. That’s never the case. But Schneider has gotten a lot more right than wrong this season and the results are on the field.
These pending free agents should be in their final season with the Seattle Seahawks
If he wants to continue the momentum that Mike Macdonald is building, he has a lot more decisions to make this offseason. The first batch of them the will involve the club's pending free agents.
Seattle currently has eleven players under contract who are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents (UFAs) in March. Here are three who should not be back. Each has a very good chance of finding a new team, but for a variety of reasons, their time in Seattle should be coming to an end.
Chazz Surratt, Linebacker
Surratt was claimed off waivers just before the start of the season to provide depth behind Ernest Jones IV, Tyrice Knight, and Drake Thomas. He has bounced around to four teams since being picked in the third round of the 2021 draft.
For Seattle, he has not gotten on the field as a defender, but he has carved out a niche for himself as a reliable special teamer. Is that going to be enough to get him another year? I don’t think so. Not when the club has other depth pieces like Patrick O’Connell and Chris Paul, Jr waiting for a shot.
The bigger question at linebacker concerns Tyrice Knight, but that one doesn’t need to be addressed this offseason. But even if Knight were to remain on the down escalator, it doesn’t appear as if Surratt would be the one to pick up that slack.
Eric Saubert, Tight End
Saubert has done exactly what he was brought to town to do. He has blocked. Robbie Ouzts’ injury has had a ripple effect throughout the offense and Saubert has benefited from increased responsibility.
When Ouzts returns, Brady Russell will be able to pick up some snaps as an inline tight end. Given Russell’s leadership role on special teams, he will always be active on game day, and that will make Saubert’s position more tentative.
To the surprise of many, Schneider and Macdonald kept rookie Nick Kallerup on the roster this year. And he has remained on the roster despite being inactive on game day. There must be some long-range plan for the UDFA from Minnesota, and if there is, it doesn’t bode well for Saubert, who will be 32 next season.
Riq Woolen, Cornerback
Decisions about Surratt and Saubert amount to tinkering with the roster. Woolen constitutes a major change. Since his arrival in the 2022 draft, Woolen has logged more than 3,000 defensive snaps. No defender had been on the field more than Riq.
The obvious problem is that his play has begun to fall off of late from that spectacular rookie season. Penalties have always been a problem for the physical corner, but this season, it has gotten significantly worse. He is on pace to rack up twice as many flags as he has in any other season.
If you place any stock in Pro Football Focus (subscription required) grades – and they are usually more accurate with regard to cornerbacks than many other positions – his play this year has plummeted.
Giving up on a talented young cornerback is never easy. Corners are the smallest position players on the field, and it’s no surprise that they get hurt more than other position players. Teams need to go five or six deep to feel comfortable. Seattle has Devon Witherspoon, Josh Jobe, and Derion Kendrick as a potential core heading into next season.
Both Jobe and Kendrick’s contracts are also expiring. Kendrick is easier to hold onto because he will be a restricted free agent with less bargaining power. Therefore, Schneider may need to choose between Jobe and Woolen, and though this would have been unthinkable a year ago, the choice right now would appear to be Jobe.
Things will change as the season progresses, and Schneider doesn’t have to make any free agent decisions right now. But you can be sure he is thinking about how to handle it, and probably is forming some broad strategies regarding all of these players.