A year after the Seahawks cut Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs on the same day, they are removing another significant payroll chunk all at once. Four more Seattle regulars are out.
The team has announced it is releasing Dre’Mont Jones, George Fant, Roy Robertson-Harris and Rayshawn Jenkins. All four were acquired within the last two years, with Fant, Robertson-Harris and Jenkins added in 2024. Seattle entered Tuesday over the cap; these moves free up $27.25MM in funds ahead of the 2025 league year.
These releases only moved the Seahawks to $16.4MM in cap space, and they show how quickly value can decline. In particular, Jones came to Seattle as high-end free agent in 2023. The former Broncos draftee, who played both on the Seahawks’ defensive line and on the edge, is out two years into his three-year accord.
As the Broncos pivoted to Zach Allen during Sean Payton‘s first free agency at the wheel, the Seahawks rewarded Jones with a three-year, $51.53MM contract. Allen climbed to an All-Pro perch on his Denver pact; Jones did not make a similar leap on his. The Seahawks demoted the high-priced defender last season, as they used a first-round pick on Byron Murphy. (The team’s Leonard Williams acquisition also came after its Jones signing.) Though, Jones still started 23 games for the team during a two-season span. Jones, who totaled 8.5 sacks in his two Seattle slates, will land another opportunity soon, as he is only going into his age-28 season.
While Jones is the biggest name included in Tuesday’s round of Seahawks cap casualties, Fant closes out a second stint with the team. The older of the two Fants on the Seahawks’ 2024 roster, George struggled to stay healthy. The converted basketball player-turned-Jets tackle starter came back to his initial NFL team but only played in two games, landing on IR twice due to knee trouble. Opening the season as Seattle’s RT starter in place of the injured Abraham Lucas, Fant went down with a knee injury early in Week 1. The Seahawks saved an IR activation for him but did not see the 2024 free agency addition make it through his Week 9 return unscathed.
This was a theme for the Seahawks, who had re-signed Jason Peters (to the practice squad) as insurance. With Peters now retired and set to mentor Seahawks O-linemen, the team will need to look into more RT help, as Lucas has battled injury trouble for the past two seasons.
It is also unsurprising the Seahawks have released Jenkins, who was benched after he returned from IR midway through last season. The Seahawks gave Jenkins — a 2024 Jaguars cap casualty — a two-year, $12MM deal in the wake of cutting Diggs and Adams. Seattle, which benched Jenkins for Coby Bryant, allowed the veteran safety to seek a trade last week. Nothing materialized, and the eight-year veteran — a Chargers draftee who has started 89 career games — is back in free agency.
The Seahawks traded for Robertson-Harris early last season, obtaining him from the Jags for a 2026 sixth-round pick. The veteran interior D-lineman did not start for the Hawks and logged only a 25% snap share on defense with the team. Robertson-Harris, 31, had been attached to a three-year, $21.6MM deal signed by the Jags in 2023. He has 62 career starts on his resume.
Fant, 32, was tied to a two-year, $9.1MM accord. While the above-referenced cap savings do come out of these cuts, OverTheCap’s Jason Fitzgerald notes $18.4MM in dead money will as well.
“$18.4MM in dead money” Seahawks are bad at managing the cap, imo.
This is a dumb statement. Everyone has dead money unless they are a trash team. The fact they can easily move on from guys is a sign they are managing the cap well and leaving flexibility.
If you think it’s good practice to constantly have dead money, I guess we just have different opinions. Broncos moved on from $75M guaranteed to Russell Wilson, doesn’t mean it was sound franchise building. Hawks have a decent list of bad extensions within the past 5 years. Moving on cost real resources. The more you miss, the more it hurts. Just my thoughts on it.
There are only 7 teams without millions in dead money. 18.4M puts them at around the 10th highest. The Eagles have 29M in dead money and did pretty good.
The Hawks are not the Eagles. They have missed the playoffs several years now and they are over the cap (or had to cut a bunch of people to get under it) and they have no franchise QB. They are spending every dime they have available and still can’t make the playoffs. Maybe you think that’s sound franchise building, but I do not. It’s a bit weird to think the Hawks don’t deserve criticism right now.
I’m not saying that the Hawks don’t deserve criticism or they’ve been successful at building a competitive team. I’m saying that dead money doesn’t have as much to do with that and that there are plenty of successful teams with dead money on the books. It’s less about the dead money and more about how Seattle allocated the money in the first place.
“It’s less about the dead money and more about how Seattle allocated the money in the first place.” Handing out bad contracts leads to dead money. Which leads to less money to spend. It’s a vicious cycle.
Lol you’re right the Seahawks have won more games then the Eagles the last 15 years. In fact they have won more games the 2 dozen NFL teams in that timeframe.
You went back 15 years to finally have the advantage. Ha! Past 3 years; Eagles 39 wins, Hawks 28. The Eagles also have 2 Super Bowl wins in the past 8 years, whereas the Hawks have one in 48(?) seasons.
This sounds like they are gonna find a way to keep Lockett!
Lockett is long gone as he should be