Seahawks re-do Tyler Lockett’s deal, cut another captain to save money for market opening
The new-era Seahawks have addressed nearly every team leader.
Except Bobby Wagner.
General manager John Schneider and new coach Mike Macdonald lowered the salary-cap charge for Tyler Lockett and ensured he’d remain on the team this year by restructuring his contract this weekend. The 31-year-old wide receiver’s deal for the only NFL team he’s played for now has two years and $30 million remaining on it, instead of two years and $34 million.
In the restructure first reported Saturday by NFL Network and ESPN, the Seahawks turned the $4 million difference in Lockett’s remaining contract value into potential incentive bonus money. Seattle can spread that across the league’s salary cap the next two years. So Lockett has a lower cap charge this year, higher for 2025 when the league’s salary cap will rise again.
For doing that, Lockett gets about $13 million guaranteed for this year. His previous contract had no guaranteed money for 2024.
Lockett’s restructure puts his previously team-leading cap charge for 2024 of $26,895,000 now under that of quarterback Geno Smith. Schneider and cap executive Matt Thomas got Smith down from above $30 million to a cap charge of $26.4 million earlier this offseason by converting a $9.6 million roster bonus that was due to him this month into a signing bonus. That created $4.8 million in cap space for this year.
Most teams with Pro Bowl veteran quarterbacks seek to have them be their highest cap charge, because such a QB is usually a team’s highest valued player.
Last week, the Seahawks released defensive co-captain Quandre Diggs, former All-Pro safety Jamal Adams and tight end Will Dissly. They also released defensive tackle Bryan Mone.
Those moves saved Seattle a total of $30.26 million against the 2024 salary cap.
Nick Bellore released
The Seahawks decided on Sunday to release another team captain, to save more money.
Seattle is going to cut 34-year-old Pro Bowl veteran special-teams ace Nick Bellore Monday, as first reported by the league’s television network.
Bellore, a veteran of 200 career NFL games, played in 16 games through injuries on a new contract last season, his fifth year with the team. He made the Pro Bowl in two of those five seasons with Seattle, for the 2020 and ‘23 seasons.
Cutting Bellore will save Seattle $1.15 million in cap space and a $1.7 million in cash for this year. He had been scheduled for a $4 million cap charge in what would have been the final year of his Seahawks contract.
Dee Eskridge restructure
The Seahawks are keeping wide receiver Dee Eskridge on the roster by restructuring his contract for 2024.
The team’s first pick in the 2021 draft had been scheduled to earn $1.47 million for the final year of his rookie contract. He will now earn $1.055 million in 2024, if he makes the team’s 53-man roster this September out of training camp and the preseason.
That’s no sure thing. He has just 17 receptions playing in only 24 games his first three, injury-filled NFL seasons with the Seahawks. He missed the first six games of last season under NFL suspension following a domestic-violence incident.
The moves this weekend leave the Seahawks with about $50 million in estimated cap space as the league’s negotiating period with unrestricted free agents begins Monday. That cap figure is per overthecap.com and other sources.
That’s the most cap space Seattle’s had at the opening of a free-agent market in years.
Teams must be compliant with that $255.4 million cap by Wednesday when the new league year begins.
Bobby Wagner’s future
One of those unrestricted free agents Schneider, Macdonald and the Seahawks have been talking to: Wagner.
The 33-year-old middle linebacker made the Pro Bowl for a team record-tying ninth time last season. He said in January he “100%” is playing a 13th NFL season in 2024.
He hasn’t known if that will be for Seattle again.
The one-year contract he signed last March with the Seahawks to return after he played the 2022 season for the Los Angeles Rams has ended.
Schneider said at the league’s scouting combine in Indianapolis two weeks ago he was going to be talking to Wagner last week about the possibility of re-signing.
“We are going to try to figure out together, what is your vision we are trying to mix those things together?” Schneider said Feb. 27. “We literally are just getting done hiring (23 new coaches).
“So, you think about all of us sitting in a room together, we are all like getting to know each other — what’s important to you, what’s important to all these different people. And so Mike and I we got together, we’ve got a vision of where we want to take this thing but you’ve got to get into the specifics of the positions, too, and understand what is important to those guys in order to get the buy-in with the staff.’’
This story was originally published March 10, 2024 at 1:35 PM.
