Michael Dickson

Seahawks To Extend P Michael Dickson

The Seahawks are locking down their punter long-term. Michael Dickson agreed to a four-year extension to stay in Seattle on Friday, ESPN.com’s Mark Sanchez tweets.

It is a four-year, $14.5MM add-on for the fourth-year punter, with Mike Garafolo of NFL.com confirming the former quarterback’s report (via Twitter). This will tie Dickson to the Seahawks through the 2025 season. The former fifth-round pick will see $10.6MM in the contract’s first two years.

Performance-based incentives could take the contract north of $4MM per year, Garafolo adds (via Twitter). Rams perennial All-Pro Johnny Hekker resides as the NFL’s highest-paid punter, at $3.75MM per year.

The first of three punters drafted in 2018, Dickson quickly became one of the NFL’s best at the position. The strong-legged Australian earned first-team All-Pro recognition as a rookie and in 2020 averaged a career-high 49.6 yards per punt.

Dickson became the rare specialist to leave for the draft after his junior season, doing so after winning the Ray Guy Award in 2017 and finishing as the Big 12’s special teams player of the year as a sophomore. He now looks like the Seahawks’ long-term successor to Jon Ryan, who held this gig from 2006-2017.

Seahawks Notes: Wilson, Carroll, Dunlap

One of the reasons for the trade rumors swirling around Seahawks QB Russell Wilson — and perhaps the primary reason — is Wilson’s relationship with head coach Pete Carroll, which appears to be strained. Apparently, his relationship with Carroll’s sons hasn’t been much better.

According to a tweet from The Athletic, Wilson believes Carroll and his sons, Nolan and Brennan, answer to no one (Nolan serves as the team’s WRs coach, and Brennan had been working as the run game coordinator before accepting a position at the University of Arizona). And, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes, Wilson is 100% correct.

Former owner Paul Allen “stayed deep in the background” when he was alive, and his sister, Jody Allen, has largely done the same since she inherited the team. Some league sources believe the Seahawks are essentially run by the Allens’ parent company, Vulcan Inc., which in turn defers to the head coach as the club’s de facto CEO. So while Jody Allen could intervene in light of the Wilson trade rumblings, her track record suggests that she will not do so, and that Pete Carroll will ultimately be the one to decide whether to deal Wilson.

While Wilson himself has said he does not expect to be dealt, Florio believes the 32-year-old will ultimately request a trade either this year or next. If QB and HC do not mend fences soon, it’s easy to envision such a scenario.

Now for more from the Emerald City:

  • Unlike Florio, Brady Henderson of ESPN.com does not believe Wilson will be traded. One of the reasons for that is the fact that — as our Sam Robinson wrote several days ago in the piece linked above — a trade will leave $39MM in dead money on the Seahawks’ cap. While a post-June 1 trade will allow the team to spread out that hit and actually create $19MM in 2021 space, Seattle is lacking a first-rounder and third-rounder this season, so a Wilson trade might be more beneficial if it happened prior to this year’s draft and not after June 1.
  • Still, Henderson believes the ‘Hawks will make a trade that both sheds some salary — the team has less than $8MM of cap space relative to the $180MM floor — and adds some much-needed draft capital. There is no indication as of yet that Seattle will look to trade players like Carlos Dunlap, Bobby Wagner, or Jamal Adams, but Henderson could see it happening.
  • As of now, though, Henderson predicts that the club will cut Dunlap and look to re-sign him to a less expensive contract — the former Bengal is due to carry a $14.1MM cap hit in 2021 — while restructuring the contract of franchise icon Wagner and extending 2020 trade acquisition Adams.
  • Proven performance escalators for several 2018 draftees have played a role in Seattle’s cap crunch. Since he earned a Pro Bowl nod in his rookie season, punter Michael Dickson has a $3.384MM salary for 2021 — the amount of the second-round RFA tender — while cornerback Tre Flowers is due to earn $2.183MM since he met the snap count requirement for the Level One PPE (Twitter link via Henderson). If you need a refresher, OverTheCap.com offers a comprehensive explanation of PPEs.
  • Presently, the Seahawks’ highest draft choice is their second-rounder (No. 56 overall). Given the state of the club’s offensive line, and Wilson’s recent comments in that regard, most mocks have Seattle selecting an OL with that pick, as Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times observes. Ohio State guard Wyatt Davis and Tennessee guard Trey Smith would be worthy Day 2 selections.

Seahawks Notes: Baldwin, Jordan, Thomas

Seahawks wideout Doug Baldwin is currently dealing with a knee issue that will force him to miss a couple of weeks, coach Pete Carroll told reporters today.

“We’re gonna give him a couple weeks here before we bring him back out to make sure that we’ve ramped him back up properly,” Carroll said (via ESPN’s Brady Henderson). “He came into camp a little bit off and we just want to make sure that we take care of him. We know exactly what’s going on. He’s doing some special treatments to make sure that we’re taking care of him, and we want to bring him back into shape so we can really get him ready for the long haul.”

Meanwhile, Carroll didn’t sound as optimistic about the recovery of defensive end Dion Jordan, who is sitting on the physically unable to perform list. The head coach described the veteran’s injury as a “stress issue,” although the latest ailment isn’t attributed to Jordan’s offseason knee surgery.

“It’s gonna be a while,” Carroll said. “The word is it’s gonna be a while. He’s got a little bit of healing to do, so it’s gonna be a while.”

Let’s take a look at some more notes out of Seattle…

  • Carroll also told reporters that there’s been zero communication with safety Earl Thomas (via The Seattle Times’ Bob Condotta on Twitter). The veteran continues to hold out as he pushes for either a new contract or a trade, and reports have continually connected him to the Cowboys. However, we heard earlier today that Seattle wasn’t going to give away the Pro Bowler for nothing, while the Cowboys aren’t intending on overpaying to acquire Thomas via trade.
  • Peter King of Football Morning in America believes the most general manager John Schneider could get for Thomas would be a conditional 2020 third-rounder from either the Cowboys or Raiders. King even puts in specific conditions: if the safety makes at least 10 starts, Seattle receives a third-rounder. If he doesn’t, Seattle will receive a fourth-rounder.
  • Punter Jon Ryan, the longest-tenured member of the Seahawks, saw his team select fellow punter Michael Dickson in the fifth-round of this past year’s draft. While the 36-year-old understands that his stint in Seattle is likely coming to an end, he admitted to Condotta that the team’s selection also provided some motivation. Ryan also discussed how the punter’s holding duties could play a role in who makes the roster, especially since the Seahawks are auditioning a righty (Jason Myers) and lefty (Sebastian Janikowski) for their kicking gig. This sentiment was echoed by special teams coordinator Brian Schneider“That’s a huge part (of the job) and Jon’s been so consistent over the years,” Schneider said. “Dickson hasn’t done a whole lot of it, but he’s very talented. He’s got great hands, he’s caught a lot of balls, and so he’s done a really nice job, too.”

Draft Pick Signings: 5/4/18

Here are Friday’s draft signings.

  • On the same day the Packers cut Justin Vogel, their 2017 punter, they signed fifth-round pick J.K. Scott. Vogel requested to be waived, Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com tweets, because of the odds seemingly stacked against him to win the Green Bay job against a highly (for a punter) drafted rookie rather than catching on elsewhere before a training camp begins. This clears the way for Scott, whom the Packers selected at No. 172 overall out of Alabama. Green Bay also signed the long snapper drafted in the seventh round, Hunter Bradley, who played at Mississippi State.
  • The Jets signed sixth-round running back Trenton Cannon on their first day of rookie minicamp. Cannon played at Division II Virginia State.
  • The Seahawks also announced they signed draft picks Will Dissly, Jacob Martin and Michael Dickson. Dissly will stay in Seattle after playing at the University of Washington. The Seahawks selected the blocking tight end in the fourth round. One of the six linebackers Seattle either drafted or signed as a UDFA, Martin arrived in the sixth round out of Temple. Dickson (Texas) ended up as the first punter drafted this year, going off the board at No. 149.

Broncos Deal No. 149 To Seahawks

Entering this third draft day without a pick in the sixth or seventh rounds, the Broncos acquired one after trading their No. 149 choice to the Seahawks.

Denver dealt its fifth-rounder to Seattle in exchange for the No. 156 pick and a seventh-round selection (No. 226), Mike Klis of 9News reports (on Twitter). The Seahawks used their new choice to take Texas punter Michael Dickson, who won the Ray Guy award last year as Division I-FBS’ best punter.

Dickson is the first punter to go off the board in this year’s draft and will certainly push incumbent Jon Ryan, who has been Seattle’s punter since the 2008 season. Ryan’s under contract through the 2019 season and will make $3.2MM this year; it’s certainly possible the Seahawks will opt to save money at that spot this season and send Ryan, who will turn 37 later this year, elsewhere.

The Seahawks met with Dickson at the Combine and apparently made him do a staring contest. The Australia native was named MVP of the Texas Bowl and won the Ray Guy award via unanimous vote.