Seahawks Free Agency

[MrS]

Hes a mismatch that we never take advantage of. 1 catch inside the 10 yard line, thats just atrocious. They would rather use him as a decoy and feed kearse unwarranted targets.

 

[Uhsplit]

Use JG this year and let him walk next year. We should get something around a 4th round compensatory pick for his departure.

 

[NWPATSFAN]

Hes a mismatch that we never take advantage of. 1 catch inside the 10 yard line, thats just atrocious. They would rather use him as a decoy and feed kearse unwarranted targets.

The biggest problem with Graham beside his blocking is he can't seperate in the RZ. So unless Seattl wants to throw jump balls he's ineffective. A large number of his catches and yards came when RW would scramble leaving JG time to seperate downfield. He is and always has been a diva WR in a TE body. Fast but not quick.

 

[JMR]

CB Sam Shields released by GB. He's had concussion issues, but he is a pretty good talent. Neither young nor old at 29, may be worth a look due to Shead's injury.

 

[jerseyhawksfan79]

CB Sam Shields released by GB. He's had concussion issues, but he is a pretty good talent. Neither young nor old at 29, may be worth a look due to Shead's injury.

Read a little on the Packers board about Shields and it sounds like he's contemplating retiring due to his concussions which caused him to miss the season.

 

[dude82]

CB Sam Shields released by GB. He's had concussion issues, but he is a pretty good talent. Neither young nor old at 29, may be worth a look due to Shead's injury.

I honestly don't want the Hawks to look at anyone with a history of concussions like Shields has. If we sign him and he gets his bell rung again next season, I'm willing to bet he retires and leaves the Seahawks in the same position they were in before he signed. We definitely need an insurance policy for Shead, but I would prefer to draft someone or get someone without an injury history on the free agent market. I have a hunch he'll retire before next season anyway.

 

[jakedog56]

I don't see Graham going anywhere else this year. We are not tight up against the cap, we are not bringing in any big name FAs regardless of his status, and his contract can easily be restructured to benefit both him and the team.

People are seeming to forget that he has zero bonus/dead cap money because that is all on New Orleans. As it is, you can very easily give him something like a 4 year deal for, for example, $34 million with, say, $10 million in guaranteed money. That means that the guaranteed money would $2.5 million a year against the cap for 4 years. Then structure the yearly salary to be $5.5 million this year, $5.85 million in the second year, $6.15 million in the third year, and $6.5 million in the last year. That would be a total cap hit of $8.0 million this year ($2 million in savings from this year), $8.35 million next year, $8.65 million in the third year, and $9.0 million in the last year with only a $2.5 million cap hit remaining.

Why would Graham do this scenerio? Well, $10 million in his pocket this year would be a pretty good incentive, plus the opportunity to show people that he is fully recovered from his injury, and guarantee him money that he might not get if he (god forbid) blows out the tendon again. Plus it depends on how much he really wants to be in Seattle. There is no other place that he will be able to fly his seaplane into practice everyday!
Note that there are other ways to get creative on this (roster bonuses, work out bonuses, etc.)and you could bump up the bonus money to, say, $12 million or something to entice him a bit more.

The other option is to let him play it out and then negotiate or let him walk.

You need to remember that he was brought it kind of slowly. He only played 17 of 82 snaps in week #1. Also, he was quoted recently that he barely practiced in 2016.

I would think that the restructure is the best option for the Seahawks at this point. If he comes back and practices regularly, and stays healthy all year then he will most certainly surpass his already pretty decent 65 catch / 923 yard / 6 TD season that he had this year and then his price will go up.

So, in my mind, you risk the possiblity of injury and try to re-up him at what amounts to a slight discount in the short term, but more long term security for Graham himself.

I guess that we will see.

 

[MrS]

i think we could go big in FA, we wont be getting any comp picks so nothing will be at risk, except for the cap space. with a little finagling, we should have room for one decently big name FA.

 

[Logicallylethal]

Cutting Graham in a year where cap space isn't an issue would make no sense

Am I the only here who believes our offense will be potent next year?

We're not that far removed from 2015 when Russ was putting up Aaron Rodgers like numbers.

Doug Baldwin is a legit top 10 wide receiver. Imo he's the most underrated receiver in the league. Baldwin caught 74.6 % of his balls (94 rec 126 targets) ranking him 2nd among all wide receivers in the top 50 in yards. The years prior to that - 75 % (2015), 67 % (2014), and 68 % (2013).

The top 5 wrs in yards this year

TY Hilton - 58 %
Julio Jones - 64 %
Odell Beckham Jr - 59 %
Mike Evans - 54 %
Antonio Brown - 68 %

75 % is usually a territory only rbs get for their catch percentage. Baldwin does it as a WR.

Throw in a healthy Tyler Lockett, an emerging Paul Richardson, and Jimmy Graham 100 % healthy at the beginning of the year...

Would it be too far fetched to believe that Russ can put up numbers similar to 2015 again? Even with multiple lingering injuries all throughout the year, Russ still had a very good year passing the ball. He just made more mistakes and threw less touchdowns

And some of that has to do with the decline in the defense

More mistakes = Russ having to compensate for the defense, take more risk, play from behind a lot more often

Less touchdowns = Below average red zone scoring but also the defense's inability to force turnovers this year that have given our offense a lot of easy scoring opportunities since 2012

 

[Logicallylethal]

i think we could go big in FA, we wont be getting any comp picks so nothing will be at risk, except for the cap space. with a little finagling, we should have room for one decently big name FA.

I don't think we necessarily have to go big in free agency. We need to do what the Miami Heat did in 2013 when they lured Ray Allen with the prospects of winning a title. Or when the Broncos signed Demarcus Ware for a discounted price so he could play defense for a Peyton Manning led team.

There's going to be cap casualties and some veteran is going to be hungry for a chance for a Superbowl run. Seahawks are in a prime position to offer that.

 

[NWPATSFAN]

Everyone realizes that Seattle is ranked 21st in the league with just under $30 mil. It sounds like a lot until you factor in the top 10 teams are $50 mil up to Cleveland with $108 mil. There will be a lot of FA $ thrown around this season I think. Especially on O-linemen.NFL Salary Cap Space | Over The Cap

 

[chf]

NE has made an art form of convincing vets to take a pay-cut for a chance at a ring.

Seattle isn't on THAT level, but they're as equipped as anybody else besides NE.

 

[HaroldSeattle]

Everyone realizes that Seattle is ranked 21st in the league with just under $30 mil. It sounds like a lot until you factor in the top 10 teams are $50 mil up to Cleveland with $108 mil. There will be a lot of FA $ thrown around this season I think. Especially on O-linemen.NFL Salary Cap Space | Over The Cap

Yeah the cap space has been mentioned, don't think spendy free agents are in the cards this off season. Got do well in the draft and have the young players on the roster develop.

 

[NWPATSFAN]

Yeah the cap space has been mentioned, don't think spendy free agents are in the cards this off season. Got do well in the draft and have the young players on the roster develop.

They likely have just over $15m to splash around with. $10+ is required for rookies and the nest egg in case of injuries to sign new players.

 

[HaroldSeattle]

They likely have just over $15m to splash around with. $10+ is required for rookies and the nest egg in case of injuries to sign new players.

Course they could always make cuts, not that I think they should....

 

[NWPATSFAN]

Course they could always make cuts, not that I think they should....

Yep but then those players need to be replaced. I think it's shaping up to be a very interesting off season. Seattle may make a few cuts? At least the corps players are all pretty much signed.

NE has a lot of FAs they need to deal with. Butler is the # 1 priority in my opinion. Blount I'm torn on. Just reached that magical 30 y/o age. For the right price I sign him unless they think they'll get McCaffrey in the draft? I'm not sure BB invest a 1st in a RB though.
Hightower I think is gone. He got his rings now he'll want $.
Marty Bennett likely gone as well. Got a ring and with Michael getting paid he wants to eat at the same dinner table. Even started talking about it in the SB post game presser.
Branch and Mingo I think they can sign at a reasonable price.
The rest I can live w/o.

 

[HaroldSeattle]

Yep but then those players need to be replaced. I think it's shaping up to be a very interesting off season. Seattle may make a few cuts? At least the corps players are all pretty much signed.

NE has a lot of FAs they need to deal with. Butler is the # 1 priority in my opinion. Blount I'm torn on. Just reached that magical 30 y/o age. For the right price I sign him unless they think they'll get McCaffrey in the draft? I'm not sure BB invest a 1st in a RB though.
Hightower I think is gone. He got his rings now he'll want $.
Marty Bennett likely gone as well. Got a ring and with Michael getting paid he wants to eat at the same dinner table. Even started talking about it in the SB post game presser.
Branch and Mingo I think they can sign at a reasonable price.
The rest I can live w/o.

Resigning Blount would be a good idea if it can be done at a reasonable cost and by reasonable I mean a lot more then he played for last year. He had a career year and their are no other power RB on the Pats roster. Seems like both the player and team would want to come to a agreement.

 

[JMR]

It seems to me there will be enough cap space to bring in a competent vet OL or CB for some competition and depth at those areas. I am not sure I would want to blow big bucks on a name guy anyway.

 

[Anointed One]

It seems to me there will be enough cap space to bring in a competent vet OL or CB for some competition and depth at those areas. I am not sure I would want to blow big bucks on a name guy anyway.

Yeah, Clayton mentioned on Friday that the Hawks are interested in a FA DE that is a pretty big name... I turned the radio off before he came back from a commercial to mention the person he was referring to... Do you have any idea who that would be?

 

[JMR]

Yeah, Clayton mentioned on Friday that the Hawks are interested in a FA DE that is a pretty big name... I turned the radio off before he came back from a commercial to mention the person he was referring to... Do you have any idea who that would be?

Hmmm, not really though I did hear him a couple weeks ago field a question about whether the Hawks would go after Calais Campbell this off-season, and Clayton just flat out said NO. Just looking at who the other big names would be: JPP, Charles Johnson, Dion Jordan? Do we even have room at DE to add someone?