Seattle Seahawks’ NFL free-agent signings 2021 – Seattle Seahawks Blog
The independent NFL agency is up and running and we are tracking all major signatures, trading and releases of the 2021 Off-Season with analysis from our NFL Nation reporters and grades from our experts. The new league year began on March 17th, which means that the signing of the free agent contract can then be made official. The first round of the 2021 NFL draft begins April 29th on ESPN.
The Seahawks’ off-season was already eventful before the calendar changed to March. You have a new offensive coordinator in Shane Waldron and an unfortunate quarterback in Russell Wilson who has been the subject of trade speculation.
The situation with Wilson adds intrigue to the way the Seahawks approach the free hand. You need to balance Wilson’s desire for offensive upgrades with her other roster needs – including cornerback, pass-rusher, and running back – and fill all of those gaps with limited resources. Seattle starts its free agency with a cap space of around $ 20 million and has only four picks in the April draft, with no first or third place finishers.
Here’s a breakdown of all of the Seattle Seahawks’ 2021 NFL free-agent signatures and how they will affect the season ahead:
The Seahawks have signed a new two-year contract with Ford.
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What it means: The Seahawks will keep one of their young rising playmakers in the group for at least the next two seasons. They haven’t done enough of that in the past few years. Ford is only the fourth domestic player to be acquired since 2013 to earn a multi-year second contract from the team. Another is Jarran Reed, who Ford has started for the past two seasons. The Seahawks have a strong defensive tandem in Ford and Reed, but they need a primary pass-rushing threat following the release of Carlos Dunlap. Their current Edge players are made up of some nice complementary pieces, but none of Dunlap’s calibers.
What’s the risk: Ford would be back in Seattle one way or another in 2021. It was just a matter of whether he would be advertised as a restricted free agent or a multi-year contract. The two-year deal means the Seahawks will pay Ford earlier than necessary, but a year-long tender would have put him on track to reach the free agency next March if another strong season and the expected increase in the NFL’s salary cap were possible made it a lot more expensive to re-sign. What is not clear is what its cap will be in 2021 compared to a first round ($ 4.766 million) or second round ($ 3.384 million) call.
Ahkello Witherspoon is the size the Seahawks on the corner covet. Joe Camporeale / USA TODAY Sports
What it means: The Seahawks have a candidate to replace Shaquill Griffin, who is heading to Jacksonville. At 6-foot-3, Witherspoon has the length Seattle prefers in its outside corners and comes from a 49ers defense coordinated by Pete Carroll’s student Robert Saleh, which should make his transition to Seattle easier. The Seahawks like Witherspoon’s athleticism, awareness, ball arts and the sense of urgency with which he plays. DJ Reed Jr. showed enough last season to get back on the line on one side, but the Seahawks had to create competition for Tre Flowers on the other, at least considering how up and down he was. Quinton Dunbar is a free agent after his eventful off-season and injury-related season, another reason cornerback was a need.
What’s the risk: Durability was an issue at Witherspoon, who has played 47 out of 64 possible regular season games and never more than 14 in any of his four NFL seasons. Witherspoon had injuries and occasional cover errors in and out of the 49ers line-up. Financial details of his one-year contract weren’t available, but it’s likely a low-cost bet on a player Seattle believes will advance by age 26.
The Seahawks signed a one-year contract with the former Rams.
What it means: Everett is not an attacking lineman, but his addition should make Russell Wilson happy as it gives Seattle’s passing game another weapon for DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. Everett was a logical free-agent target for the Seahawks as they needed another close end and Everett was linked to new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, who trained him with the Rams. Everett’s knowledge of the Waldron system should help ease the offensive transition in Seattle, especially if field work is again restricted during the off-season program. The Seahawks have what it takes to be a nice tight-end group provided Everett continues his rise, Will Dissly stays healthy and Colby Parkinson, last year’s fourth round pick, makes a jump after a nondescript rookie season. The Seahawks are also high on 2020 UDFA Tyler Mabry.
What’s the Risk: ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that Everett’s deal is up to $ 7 million and $ 6 million is fully guaranteed. That’s roughly what the Seahawks gave Olsen last year for a deal that didn’t go through. The big difference between the two is that Olsen was 35 at the time and had missed 18 games in the last three seasons. Everett turns 27 in June and has only missed three games in his four-year career. In the last three seasons his reception and reception value has increased, which indicates an ascending player. And it never hurts to pluck from a division rival.
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What it means: The Seahawks brought back one of the core members of one of the best special forces in the league last season. Bellore’s 11 special team tackles last year were the fourth most in the NFL according to official league statistics (teammate Cody Barton was relegated to second place at 13). That earned Bellore a Pro Bowl nod. He also plays fullback but has only played 64 offensive snaps in the last two seasons, according to the Pro Football Reference. The new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron is from the Sean McVay system, which does not use a full-back. Obviously, the Seahawks are bringing back more to Bellore for their specialty teams – who finished third in the 2020 DVOA rankings by Football Outsiders – than for their backcourt.
What’s the Risk: The Seahawks are unlikely to be sending a significant amount of money to Bellore, which they paid in 2019 with a minimum salary of $ 930,000 and in 2020 with $ 1.05 million. Whatever they pay him in 2021, it is money that cannot be used for larger needs such as edge rusher, tailback or center. But the Seahawks can always move to create more leeway. At that rate – after signing Ahkello Witherspoon and Gerald Everett, re-signing Bellore and Poona Ford and trading for Gabe Jackson after starting a free agency with around $ 17 million – it looks like this like they have to do that.
The Seahawks are expected to convert their launch center to a one-year contract.
What it means: The Seahawks are bringing back last year’s center and someone they consider a solid starter. Pocic ranked 16th in ESPN’s Pass Block Win Rate as the center in 2020 and found a home there after playing guard for his first three seasons. Details of his contract give a better indication of how committed the Seahawks are to Pocic as the launch center in 2021. It’s possible for it to be an inexpensive fallback option if they can’t find a better alternative through the draft (they only have three tips as of now) or later in the free agency (which would likely require them to free up cap space ). But as of now, the Seahawks have filled the two immediate openings in their offensive line by swapping the guard, Gabe Jackson, and bringing Pocic back.
What’s the Risk: Russell Wilson had guard and center in mind as the two positions the Seahawks were supposed to improve when he publicly urged the team to improve their pass protection. While he had to be content with Seattle’s deal for Jackson, he may not have been as excited about the prospect of Pocic’s return as the starter in the middle. That said, the Seahawks could do a lot worse than Pocic. He only got a shot in the middle last season, in part because there was disagreement within the organization about where he was best to play. So it’s reasonable to believe that at just 25 years old he could still grow into that position.
The Seahawks signed a three-year contract with Carson that will expire after two years.
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What it means: Carson’s re-signing caters to one of the Seahawks’ biggest remaining needs, and at a reasonable cost that helps their tough capping situation. And yes, running back was a need for the Seahawks, even if Rashaad Penny from the first round in 2018 was under contract for at least one more season. Carson was the better player and will be the starter in 2021 as long as he stays healthy. Both had problems with it. If both can stay on the field, Seattle has what it takes to make an excellent one-two punch that came to life in 2019 before Penny tore up his ACL. That the Seahawks used the cancellation year mechanism in Carson’s contract shows a willingness to break organizational norms in order to save leeway. They need to free up more money to meet their remaining needs. At the top of that list: an edge rusher.
What is the risk: As is so often the case with running backs, the risk with Carson is his injury history. He has missed 19 out of 64 possible regular season games in four years, including four in 2020 with an ankle sprain. But it’s not as much of a risk as it would have been had the Seahawks given Carson a franchise tag or signed him into a longer contract, similar to the one Aaron Jones got from the Green Bay Packers. Carson will receive a fully guaranteed $ 5.5 million grant in 2021 with the chance to earn up to $ 6.9 million with incentives. That’s better than many running backs are in a depressed market for the position, but it will be good value for Seattle if Carson can repeat his form for 2018-2019.