The Seattle Seahawks have under three weeks to make some major decisions about the future of the roster heading into the spring, facing a host of potential cuts and contract extension candidates before the new league year begins on March 9th. With that in mind, here's our list of the 4 Toughest Contract Decisions For The Seahawks.
Kam Chancellor Contract Extension?
Marshawn Lynch's retirement gives the Seahawks some financial leeway -- $6.5 million in cap space and $2.5 million in revoked signing bonus money. Why not use some of that money to extend a star safety who is clearly indispensible to the back end of the defense?
The Seahawks can't afford to engage in another ugly stalemate with Chancellor after losing a preseason and two regular-season games' worth of reps with him holding out.
Seattle knows he's worth more than $14.225 million over the next two years and he does too. Time to find a middle ground.
Jermaine Kearse, Bruce Irvin?
Let's attack this one at a time. Kearse was overshadowed by Doug Baldwin's heroics in 2015, but he was still a very effective #2 wideout -- catching 72% of his targets and opening up Baldwin for more one-on-one matchups than opposing defenses would have liked.
It'd be smart to give him $4-5 million for 2016 and bring him back -- a budget salary for a team that doesn't need to break the bank for WR help with the way the offense works.
As for Irvin? He's never lived up to his billing as the #15 pick in the 2015 draft, at least from a pass-rushing chaos standpoint. He's going to get overpaid somewhere else this offseason, so it really doesn't make sense to break the bank when they can find similar production for 50-60% of the price).
Cut Jimmy Graham?
The Seahawks gave up a first-rounder and a starting center (Max Unger) to get Graham, so on the surface it seems silly to think that the team would part ways with one of the most talented receiving tight ends we've seen in a long time.
However, the problem here is two-fold: Graham is coming off a particularly nasty injury (ruptured patellar tendon in Week 12) and he's also got a non-guaranteed $9 million cap hit attached to him.
Before he went down to injury, Graham was averaging just 55 receiving yards per game -- 8th among NFL tight ends. The only way keeping the $9 million commitment makes sense is if Seattle a) believes Graham will come back at least at 90-95% and b) they believe they can work him into the offense more effectively.
Back to the Seattle Seahawks Newsfeed