{"id":438043,"date":"2025-12-10T14:48:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T14:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/438043\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T14:48:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T14:48:26","slug":"seahawks-change-in-free-agency-strategy-has-paid-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/438043\/","title":{"rendered":"Seahawks change in free agency strategy has paid off"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">When free agency opened in March, Seahawks Seahawks general manager John Schneider went on an uncharacteristic spending spree on outside free agents, a change in strategy compared to the past decade.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">And that change has paid off well for the team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Specifically, for more than a decade under the direction of Pete Carroll, Schneider and the Seahawks had stayed away from spending big money on multi-year contracts for outside free agents. Multi-year deals had been saved for their own free agents, with players signed from other teams traditionally joining the Seahawks on one-year contracts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">However, in 2025 the Seahawks signed fewer free agents to contracts for a single season and a salary of greater than $2M than they had in any year since 2016.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"_1eezmj01\" href=\"https:\/\/platform.fieldgulls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2025\/12\/Free-Agents.webp?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0,0,100,100\" data-pswp-height=\"488\" data-pswp-width=\"789\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img alt=\"\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"fill\" class=\"w91vxg0\" style=\"position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url(&quot;data:image\/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'\/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'\/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'\/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'\/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3C\/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='\/%3E%3C\/svg%3E&quot;)\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Free-Agents.webp\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">There\u2019s really no need to rehash exactly how bad the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fieldgulls.com\/2024\/11\/11\/24293537\/grading-seattle-seahawks-2024-outside-free-agents-at-midseason-baker-dodson-tomlinson-fant-brown\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2024 outside free agent class wound up performing<\/a> for Seattle, and as such a simple list of the players added should suffice for most:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"duet--article--unordered-list _1nfb3k4i feuejx0 ls9zuh1\">\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">George Fant<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">Rayshawn Jenkins<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">Jerome Baker<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">Tyrel Dodson<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">Laken Tomlinson<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">Pharaoh Brown<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">Nick Harris<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">Johnathan Hankins<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">K\u2019Von Wallace<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">Laviska Shenault<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Of the players on that list, the one who made the biggest impact was Jerome Baker, though that contribution comes from his inclusion in the traded that brought Ernest Jones from the Tennessee Titans, rather than for any of his on-field performances for the Seahawks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">On the flip side, as noted here on Field Gulls in April, the number of outside free agents signed to contracts of three years in length or greater over the past ten offseasons is as follows:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"duet--article--unordered-list _1nfb3k4i feuejx0 ls9zuh1\">\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">2015: 1 (Cary Williams)<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">2016: 0<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">2017: 0<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">2018: 1 (Ed Dickson)<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">2019: 1 (Jason Myers)<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">2020: 0<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">2021: 0<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">2022: 0<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">2023: 1 (Dre\u2019Mont Jones)<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">2024: 0<\/li>\n<li class=\"feuejx1\">2025: 3 (Demarcus Lawrence, Cooper Kupp and Sam Darnold)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Long story short, over the prior decade the Seahawks signed four outside free agents to contracts of three years or more, before signing signing three outside free agents to such contracts during the 2025 offseason alone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The results have been telling.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Digging right to the heart of the matter, the reality of the situation is that players who sign one-year contracts in free agency do so for a reason. Perhaps it is because they aren\u2019t talented enough, aren\u2019t healthy enough or aren\u2019t young enough, there is some reason why they would sign a one-year contract rather than a lucrative long-term deal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">In contrast, players who are able to command multi-year contracts tend to be those players who happen to be better at what it is that they do, to the point that there are multiple teams willing to give them contracts. This provides them with the leverage to sign for an amount that makes the salary cap worrywarts fret, but in an age of a rapidly growing cap and exploding salaries, all three of the contracts are middle class deals for the positions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">With that in mind, the three outside free agents the Seahawks added to multi-year contracts during the offseason signed for below top of market for one reason or another. For Sam Darnold, it was the fact that he had posted just a single season of high-level play in seven NFL seasons, while age and injury history combined to limit the markets for both Cooper Kupp and Demarcus Lawrence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">In spite of some having expressed concerns about the size of the contracts handed to the trio at the time of signings, Darnold and Lawrence have unquestionably played at a level that justifies their deals. Further, while many may lament that Kupp\u2019s best days are most certainly in the past, he has posed enough of a threat to help open things up for other receiving threats by generating just enough production to command some attention from defenses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, all three are under contract for 2026. That, of course, means Schneider and Mike Macdonald won\u2019t need to sift through free agency trying to figure out how to fill certain roles next season because those roles were addressed on moderate deals that won\u2019t tank the salary cap in free agency in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When free agency opened in March, Seahawks Seahawks general manager John Schneider went on an uncharacteristic spending spree&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":438044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[1232,84182,202525,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-438043","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-nfl","9":"tag-seattle-seahawks-analysis-and-opinion","10":"tag-seattle-seahawks-salary-cap","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115695826648932175","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}