Seahawks make official their re-signings of Benson Mayowa, Cedric Ogbuehi, Jordan Simmons
The Seahawks officially are bringing back a key pass rusher and depth for their offensive line.
The team announced Friday afternoon the re-signing of veteran defensive end Benson Mayowa after his six-sack season in 2020.
The Seahawks also made official they are bringing back reserve guard Jordan Simmons and backup offensive tackle Cedric Ogbuehi on contracts for 2021.
Mayowa’s deal is another example of how general manager John Schneider and coach Pete Carroll have gotten creative this month fitting contracts under a decreased NFL salary cap. Seattle has been tight against the cap all offseason.
Mayowa’s is a four-year contract with the last two void years. That allows the Seahawks to spread the accounting of his signing bonus across four years instead of the two seasons for which Mayowa is practically signed.
The contract for the 29-year-old pass rusher is essentially two years, $7.62 million with $4.1 million guaranteed and a $3 million signing bonus, according to ESPN’s Brady Henderson. Mayowa’s $1.1 million salary for this year is guaranteed. His salary-cap charge is only $2.24 million, thanks to the deal’s two void years.
At that rate, the team will have prorated signing-bonus charges of $750,000 in 2023 and ‘24, so-called “dead money” in the void years in Mayowa’s deal.
The Seahawks, Schneider and Carroll had in previous offseasons declined to defer costs of current contracts into the future. But this is an exceptional league year. For only the second time in the 27 years the NFL has had a salary cap it has decreased, from $198.2 million to $182.5 million because of the coronavirus pandemic; the other time was during the league’s lockout of players last decade.
Seattle is over this year’s cap limit factoring in the still-to-be-official re-signings of Chris Carson and Carlos Dunlap.
Carson, the team’s lead running back the last three seasons, agreed to a two-year, $14.6 million deal last week.
Dunlap agreed Thursday to come back on a two-year deal worth up to $16.6 million with $8.5 million guaranteed.
Mayowa and Dunlap have a third veteran pass rusher joining them on Seattle’s defensive line for 2021. Wednesday, the Seahawks signed former 49ers 8 1/2-sack man Kerry Hyder to a two-year, $6.5 million contract.
Hyder’s deal also includes a void year, an extra, third year to lessen his salary-cap charge in 2021.
If there was ever a time for the Seahawks to defer current costs into future years, it’s now. The NFL last week signed new television and streaming contracts that will bring the league $10 billion per year. Those deals take effect in 2023. Teams are expecting the salary cap to spike then, into perhaps the range of $220 million or more per team.
In the meantime, the Seahawks are returning to the way they’ve conducted free agency for the 11 years Carroll and Schneider has been in charge. That’s patience in waiting out the first, richest days until the market settles, then reaching shorter-term, less-expensive deals for breadth and depth at positions of need.
Ogbuehi is a former first-round pick by the Cincinnati Bengals. Seattle signed him as a free agent before last season. He made four starts as an injury fill-in for Brandon Shell at right tackle in 2020.
Simmons has for several years been a reliable fill-in starter at right guard and left guard. The Seahawks traded for Raiders veteran Gabe Jackson this month to join 2020 rookie starter Damien Lewis as the first-team guards this year.
