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It may be a time like no other.
But NFL free agency has forged ahead and we’re here to cover it every step of the way.
The “legal tampering” period — when teams can talk to representatives of free agents — began Monday, March 16, with signings allowed to become official March 18.
The Seahawks have made a few significant moves, notably re-signing defensive tackle Jarran Reed and bringing back rush end Bruce Irvin, and on Monday, trading for cornerback Quinton Dunbar.
But as of April 1, the fate of Seattle’s most significant free agent —- defensive end Jadeveon Clowney — remained unresolved.
If you need caught up on all else that has happened, though, keep reading below.
And consider this your one-stop shop for all the moves the Seahawks make, as well as rumors and other stuff that breaks along the way.
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UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS
These are players whose contracts officially expired on March 13 and then were free to sign with any team, including staying with the Seahawks.
RE-SIGNED/AGREED TO DEAL
DT Jarran Reed: Seahawks were able to keep Reed on a two-year deal worth up to $23 million, as reported Monday night. Reed officially signed the contract Monday night. The details of Reed’s contract became public Tuesday. Via Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle Reed is getting $14.1 million guaranteed including a $10 million signing bonus, with base salaries of $4.1 million in 2020 (guaranteed) and $8.075 million in 2021. He also has a roster bonus of $25,000 per game that he is on the active roster, and $500,000 in incentives each season tied to sacks.
TE Luke Willson: Willson tweeted Monday night he is returning. Willson’s return appears to give the Seahawks a full fleet of tight ends for the 2020 season with Seattle having earlier added veteran Greg Olsen and also returning Will Dissly and Jacob Hollister. Ed Dickson also remains under contract though there has been widespread speculation he could be released in a salary-cap-saving move.
SIGNED/AGREED TO DEAL WITH OTHER TEAM
OT George Fant: Fant on Monday agreed to a three-year deal with the Jets worth up to $30 million with $13.7 million guaranteed.
DL Quinton Jefferson: The fourth-year player agreed to a two-year contract with Buffalo on Tuesday afternoon.
DL Al Woods: Woods’ second stint with the Seahawks — he was also with Seattle in 2011 — came to an end on March 23 when he agreed to terms with Jacksonville.
OL Germain Ifedi: Seattle’s first-round pick in the 2016 draft agreed to a one-year deal on March 25 with the Chicago Bears.
UNSIGNED
DE Jadeveon Clowney: Will the Seahawks be able to keep a player who may want at least $21 million a season? We’ll know soon. Or maybe we won’t. As of March 25, Clowney remained unsigned amid many conflicting reports of how much he may have been offered and by which teams. For now, he remains in Houston still sorting things out.
DE Ziggy Ansah: Would seem unlikely he’ll be back after a disappointing 2019.
G Mike Iupati: Veteran battled a neck/stinger issue late last year and the Seahawks could look to younger players at guard such as Jamarco Jones and Phil Haynes.
LB Mychal Kendricks: Veteran may not be ready for the start of the season following an ACL injury and is also scheduled to be sentenced in May (yep, it was postponted again) on an insider trading charge dating to 2018. Still, he could be back, though on a much less expensive contract than the one he had last season.
WR Jaron Brown: Seattle may look for other options for receiving depth and a possible third WR.
RB Marshawn Lynch: Could Lynch really be back for another year at age 34? No one is ruling it out. But any signing of Lynch would seem likely to happen either in the later waves of free agency, or in the spring/summer/fall.
CB Neiko Thorpe: Has battled injuries last few years and team may look for younger options.
DB Akeem King: Was valuable in a reserve role last season and on special teams.
QB Geno Smith: Backup to Russell Wilson last season and team seemed happy enough with how he picked up the offense. But Seahawks have also shown interest in XFL star P.J. Walker.
LB Dekoda Watson: Late-season pickup to add depth at rush end didn’t see much action.
RB C.J. Prosise: Is this the end of the line in Seattle for one of the team’s third-round picks in 2016?
RB Robert Turbin: Re-signed at same time as Lynch but played just two snaps on offense and would seem unlikely to be back.
WR Josh Gordon: Gordon remains indefinitely suspended by the NFL and an ESPN report this week confirmed that he will have to be reinstated by the league before he could sign with any team. The ESPN report clarified that Gordon’s suspension remains under the rules of the former collective bargaining agreement, meaning up to the discretion basically of commissioner Roger Goodell. Gordon is known to hope to continue to play and the Seahawks had not ruled out a reunion when he was suspended last December.
RESTRICTED FREE AGENTS
RFAs are players Seattle can retain if they make them a qualifying tender by Wednesday — but players are still free to see out other offers until they have signed. If not, then that player becomes an unrestricted free agent. But even then, Seattle can still re-sign them. Tenders are at three different levels of salary and potential compensation if they go elsewhere. Teams can match offers of players who get tenders.
Seattle had five RFAs but on Monday it was revealed that four had been tendered: tight end Jacob Hollister, center Joey Hunt, receiver David Moore and defensive lineman Branden Jackson.
Hollister got a second-round tender, or a salary of $3.259 million for 2020. Hunt, Jackson and Moore all got original-round tenders, or salaries of $2.133 million for 2020.
Defensive back Kalan Reed was also a restricted free agent but was not given a tender by the team and is now a free agent.
EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS FREE AGENTS
So-called ERFAs are players who if they get a qualifying offer the team’s property. If they do not, then they become unrestricted free agents.
Seattle had eight ERFAs: offensive linemen Jordan Simmons and Jordan Roos, tight end Tyrone Swoopes, defensive tackle Bryan Mone, defensive backs Jeremy Boykins and Ryan Neal, receiver Malik Turner and linebacker Emmanuel Ellerbee.
The Seahawks announced they tendered Turner, Ross, Neal and Mone, keeping each with the team in 2020.
The league’s transactions report also noted that Ellerbee signed a re-negotiated deal with the Seahawks on March 11, also keeping him in the fold for another season.
It was learned Wednesday Seattle did not tender Swoopes, Boykins or Simmons, so they are now free agents.
However, a report from ESPN suggested the Seahawks will re-sign Simmons to a “split” contract, which is basically a hedge against injuries. Simmons has dealt with knee issues throughout his career and had a surgery that ended his season last year.
FREE AGENTS SIGNED FROM OTHER TEAMS
DE Benson Mayowa — A Seahawk during the 2013 Super Bowl-title season, Mayowa returned on April 1 when he agreed to a one-year deal worth a guaranteed $3 million.
WR Phillip Dorsett: Dorsett agreed to terms with Seattle on a one-year contract on March 24. The contract is worth up to $1.047 million.
OL B.J. Finney: The Seahawks on Tuesday night were reported to have agreed to terms on a two-year deal with former Steelers guard/center B.J. Finney (details here). Finney has 13 starts in four years at center and both guard spots.
DE/LB Bruce Irvin: Seattle’s 2012 first-round pick, he is returning to his original NFL home, as he confirmed via twitter Wednesday, to add to Seattle’s pass rush after spending last year with Carolina. Details here.
Offensive tackle Brandon Shell: Seattle on Wednesday agreed to a two-year contract that turned out to be worth up to $9 million with $5.1 million guaranteed. Shell, who spent the last four years with the Jets, appears set to be the replacement for Ifedi, who last week signed with the Bears.
Offensive tackle Cedric Ogbuehi: Seattle on Wednesday also agreed to terms with Ogbuehi, a first-round pick of the Bengals who spent last year working as a reserve tackle with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Ogbuehi signed a one-year deal worth up to $2.3 million with $500,000 guaranteed.
Guard Chance Warmack: The Seahawks agreed to a one-year deal worth $1.047 million with Warmack, who has three years of starting experience at guard with the Titans.
PLAYERS ACQUIRED IN TRADE
Cornerback Quinton Dunbar: The Seahawks acquired Dunbar from Washington for a fifth-round pick on Monday.
WEDNESDAY MARCH 25 UPDATES
As the Seahawks continued to wait out the Clowney situation, about the only thing that happened was learning that Germain Ifedi had found a new team.
TUESDAY, MARCH 24 UPDATES
The Seahawks agreed to terms on a one-year deal with receiver Phillip Dorsett. The 5-10 speedster will be given a shot to be the team’s third receiver after Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf.
MONDAY MARCH 23 UPDATES
The Seahawks made their first trade of the offseason, dealing a fifth-round pick to Washington for cornerback Quinton Dunbar.
THURSDAY MARCH 18 UPDATES
Nothing yet of note as of 10:30 a.m.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18 UPDATES
Seattle brings back BRUUUUUCCEEEEEE
That the Seahawks might look to one of their own — 2012 first-round pick Bruce Irvin — to help their pass rush had been speculated throughout the offseason. It came to fruition Wednesday when the team agreed to terms with Irvin, who confirmed the news via twitter.
Seahawks’ odds increasing of keeping Clowney?
Wednesday marks the day when teams can officially begin to sign unrestricted free agents, and the day broke with a bit more buzz about where things may be headed with Jadeveon Clowney. More on that here.
TUESDAY, MARCH 17 UPDATES
Seahawks lose Jefferson to Buffalo
NFL.com reported late Tuesday afternoon that defensive tackle Quinton Jefferson had agreed to a two-year deal with Buffalo. Details here.
Nothing imminent on Seahawks and RB Isaiah Crowell
One of the few rumors involving the Seahawks early Tuesday involved free agent running back Isaiah Crowell. Ian Furness of KJR-AM 950 and Q13 in Seattle tweeted that the Seahawks and Crowell “may be close” to getting something done.
A league source told the Times, however, that nothing was imminent on a Crowell signing with the Seahawks and it sounds as if it’s not necessarily a certainty that anything will happen. Though in free agency, things can change quickly.
Crowell would make sense for the Seahawks as a depth/insurance addition at tailback with Chris Carson still rehabbing a fractured hip and Rashaad Penny a torn ACL, leaving only rookie Travis Homer as a healthy player currently on the roster. Carson is expected to be ready for the season but Penny may not be and coach Pete Carroll said at the NFL combine that the Seahawks would definitely add some depth at tailback.
Crowell would likely be the kind of low-cost, low-risk veteran it would make sense to add.
Crowell has 51 starts in five NFL seasons with the Browns and Jets and had a career-high 952 yards with Cleveland in 2016 when he averaged 4.8 yards per carry to rank ninth in the NFL. His career average of 4.3 yards per carry is ranked tied for eighth among active players, according to Pro Football Reference.
But he also missed all of last season with the Raiders with an Achilles tendon injury suffered during an offseason workout. He had signed a one-year deal with the Raiders worth $1 million and coming off such a significant ailment would undoubtedly sign a similar kind of contract with the Seahawks, if he does.
For now, though, it’s wait and see whether anything gets done.
A slower start
As of 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, there was not much to report about the Seahawks as the team had not made any moves.
But that’s not necessarily unexpected. The second day of the “legal tampering” always tends to be a bit slower as Monday is devoted to the revelation of a lot of moves that have been in the works for a while — a backlog of announcements, if you will.
But what we do know is Seattle on paper has less room to work with than it did on Monday. According to OvertheCap.com, Seattle has roughly $21 million in cap space, with Reed’s new deal including a $9.4 million cap hit for 2020 and then Seattle devoting about $9 million on Monday to tendering four restricted free agents — Jacob Hollister, David Moore, Joey Hunt and Branden Jackson. The Seahawks can make some moves to get some more room — cutting Ed Dickson and restructuring Justin Britt (which is easier to do now that the new CBA has been approved) — are two obvious ones.
But the overall number shows that even if the cap space can sound like a lot, it also can go pretty quickly just taking care of some obvious moves.
MONDAY, MARCH 16 UPDATES
Monday night update
It went from a fairly quiet day for the Seahawks to a pretty eventful night pretty quickly Monday.
In the span of about an hour it was reported that Seattle had lost George Fant, who agreed to a three-year deal with the Jets; kept Jarran Reed, who agreed to a two-year deal to stay in Seattle; and tendered restricted free agents Joey Hunt and Branden Jackson (as reported by ESPN’s Field Yates).
You can read here about the Reed move here, and Fant here.
Then late Monday night came news delivered by Luke Willson himself via Twitter that he would be back with the Seahawks for another season.
But that wasn’t all. More on what happened Monday below.
Seahawks place tenders on restricted free agents David Moore and Jacob Hollister
As of 4 p.m. Monday, the Seahawks hadn’t made any moves to add outside players to their roster.
But they had made two moves to keep a couple current players likely in the fold for 2020, placing tenders on restricted free agent receiver David Moore and tight end Jacob Hollister.
Hollister was reported by The NFL Network to get a second-round tender, meaning a salary of $3.2 million for the 2020 season and meaning that if he were to sign with another team the Seahawks would get a second-round pick back as compensation (and also the right to match).
Moore, meanwhile, got an original-round tender, meaning a salary of $2.133 million in 2020 and that Seattle would get a seventh-round pick in return were Moore to sign with another team.
Hollister was acquired from the Patriots for a seventh-round pick last April and ended up playing a key role at an injury-depleted position, making 41 catches, third-most on the team behind only Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf, for 349 yards and three touchdown.
Hollister’s return would seem to solidify Seattle’s tight end position with the team having signed veteran Greg Olsen last month to a one-year deal worth up to $7 million and expecting to have Will Dissly back from an Achilles injury in time for the beginning of the regular season. The Seahawks have also indicated they may re-sign free agent Luke Willson.
Moore was a seventh-round pick out of East Central (Okla.) in 2017 and has 43 receptions for 746 yards and seven touchdowns over the last two seasons.
Tendering Moore gives the Seahawks six receivers under contract/control for 2020 the others being Lockett, Metcalf, John Ursua, Cody Thompson and Penny Hart. Restricted free agents have until April 17 to sign offer sheets from other teams. Malik Turner is also an exclusive rights free agent meaning he will likely return, as well.
Seattle has three other RFAs — center Joey Hunt, defensive back Kalan Reed and defensive lineman Branden Jackson.
Teams have to tender RFAs by Wednesday at 1 p.m. PDT or they become unrestricted free agents.
Seahawks interested in free agent WR Phillip Dorsett?
Seattle is among a handful of teams showing interest in receiver Phillip Dorsett, according to ESPN’s Josina Anderson.
Dorsett would not qualify as an overly significant move as his career-high for receptions in five NFL seasons is 33 with the Colts in 2016. The 5-10, 192-pounder had 29 receptions for 397 yards and five touchdowns with the Patriots last season.
But he fits the mold of what it seems Seattle may realistically be looking for in free agency at the receiving position as a relatively low-cost veteran with a dependable track record of what to expect who could be an option as a third WR after Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf.
This is regarded as an exceptionally deep draft at receiver, which especially for the Seahawks and their needs to likely spend big free agent dollars elsewhere has led to the idea that they’d look for relatively inexpensive options at receiver.
Dorsett told Anderson the other teams showing interests in him are the Jets, Chargers, 49ers and Raiders.
Dorsett made $2.6 million last year with the Patriots on a one-year contract.
Jaron Brown was among the receivers Seattle tried as a third WR last season but he is also now an unrestricted free agent and considered as likely not to be back.
Seattle also had Josh Gordon on the roster for a while last season to fill that role but he was indefinitely suspended in December for violating the league’s substances of abuse policy. Gordon alluded to his status in a tweet Monday seeming to indicate he hopes he’s back with Seattle someday. But the Seahawks can’t count on that and are obviously going to explore other options.
Seahawks showing interest in free agent safety/corner Randall?
Anderson also reported that the Seahawks are among the teams showing interest in free agent safety Damarious Randall, and that of the teams showing interest in Randall, Seattle is one of three he wold “most likely entertain,” the others being the Raiders and Washington.
Randall is a five-year vet who played at Arizona State and was a first-round pick of the Packers in 2015 — Seattle was among the teams to have him in for a pre-draft visit that year.
He made $9 million last year with the Browns, who had picked up his fifth-year option as a first-round pick.
But he had sort of a rough 2019 season, missing four games with a hamstring injury and ejected from another.
Randall played a substantial amount of nickel corner with the Packers and it could be that the Seahawks would also look to him as a potential nickel with the ability to provide depth at safety.
Seattle had a merry-go-round at the nickel spot last year and ended the season with rookie Ugo Amadi. But the Seahawks had said they would bring in competition for that spot and have also already had a reported visit from veteran T.J. Carrie, who also played with the Browns last year.
Seattle could also just be viewing Randall as a corner and possible competition for Tre Flowers on the right side. Randall played both the left and right sides, as well, during his three years with Green Bay from 2015-17 before he was traded to Cleveland.
As expected, Seahawks use no tags
Monday at 9 a.m. at PDT also marked the end of the period when teams can use franchise or transition tags.
Fourteen franchise tags and one transition tag were used, including on the likes of Tennessee RB Derrick Henry and Dallas QB Dak Prescott, preventing them from becoming free agents.
Seattle had not been expected to use a tag and did not. Seattle has used one only once since 2010, last year on Frank Clark, which ultimately was done more as a device to enable the team to trade him later to the Kansas City Chief.
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