Will Graham Succeed In Contract Year?
- Gregg Bell of The News Tribune wonders if Seahawks tight end Jimmy Graham will have a big year for himself as he enters the final season of his $40MM contract. For what it’s worth, coach Pete Carroll is talking him up after watching him in practice this summer. “He’s so much more of a complete player than maybe we thought he would even become, really,” Carroll said. “So, he surprised us. He and Russell are really tuned in. They spend a lot of time together.” Graham is earning $10MM in 2017, making him the highest-paid tight end in the NFL. If he hopes for another big deal, he’ll have to reprise or best his numbers from last season. In 2016, his second season with the Seahawks, Graham had 65 catches for 923 yards and six scores. In his best seasons with New Orleans, Graham twice topped 1,200 yards.
Details On Austin Davis' Deal
- Austin Davis will receive a $30K bonus if he is on the Seahawks‘ roster for the first game of the regular season, a league source tells Sheil Kapadia of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The quarterback’s one-year deal is worth $855K overall with $50K guaranteed in the form of a signing bonus. It’s a minimum salary benefit deal, meaning the cap charge for 2017 is just $695K. Davis was signed earlier this summer to duke it out with Trevone Boykin for the role of Russell Wilson‘s primary backup.
Minor NFL Transactions: 6/20/17
Today’s minor moves:
- After waiving him with an injury designation last month, the Seahawks have cut fullback Malcolm Johnson from injured reserve, tweets Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. Johnson, 24, was originally a sixth-round draft choice of the Browns in 2015. He managed nine receptions in 19 games with Cleveland before joining Seattle’s practice squad last year.
Fred Jackson To Participate In July Showcase
Fred Jackson is still looking for an NFL job and he’s hoping that a mass audition next month will help make that happen. Today, the Spring League announced that it will host a special showcase game in California on July 15 featuring the former Bills running back (via PFT). 
In addition to Jackson’s debut, controversial defensive end Greg Hardy will also be making his return to the upstart league. Anthony “Boobie” Dixon, who was in Buffalo with Jackson in 2014 and 2015, will also be on hand at Napa Memorial Stadium in Napa, California. The game will be contested between the “Spring League California” and “Spring League East” teams. Terry Shea will coach the California team while Donnie Henderson will coach the East squad.
“The Spring League Showcase will provide the NFL with additional opportunities to evaluate players just before the start of training camps,” Spring League CEO Brian Woods said in the press release.
Jackson spent the 2015 season with the Seahawks and had just 26 carries for 100 yards and 32 receptions for 257 yards and two touchdowns. Last year, he was out of football. Still, at the age of 36, Jackson is out to prove that he can perform at a high level. Jackson’s last quality season as a runner was arguably back in 2013 when he ran for 890 yards off of 206 carries (4.3 yards per carry average) with nine scores. In 2014, he had a career-high 66 catches for 501 yards but didn’t fare as well carrying the ball.
Between 2011 and 2013, Hardy averaged 56 tackles and 10 sacks per season season. Even in a down year with Dallas in 2015, he ranked as the league’s 28th-best edge defender out of 110 qualified players, according to Pro Football Focus. However, NFL teams have stayed away from Hardy due to all of his baggage.
Jeremy Lane Looks Like RCB Starter
- The Seahawks have a pair of cornerbacks that have suffered severe injuries in recent years, but while DeShawn Shead rehabs, Jeremy Lane looks like the starter opposite Richard Sherman. Pete Carroll said Shead is recovering well from the ACL and meniscus tears sustained in January, but with the re-signed player unlikely to be ready for Week 1, the team may be turning to Lane. “He’s physically as fit as he’s been in a long time,” Carroll said, via Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. “Remember, he had a really difficult offseason a couple years back (following knee and arm injuries in Super Bowl XLIX) and it’s taken him almost a couple years to overcome all of that, and he’s back to full form.” The Seahawks drafted Shaquil Griffin in the third round and moved rookie sixth-rounder Mike Tyson from safety to corner, but those first-year talents look to enter camp as depth pieces behind Lane.
Latest On Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas
A report earlier this offseason indicated that the Seahawks’ Richard Sherman requested a trade, but the cornerback denied that was the case on Wednesday.
[RELATED: No Extension Talks Between Seahawks, Kam Chancellor]
“It’s just a conversation they have every year. I guess this year, more people knew about it,” Sherman said (via the Associated Press). “It’s a conversation they have every year — everybody’s open, everybody’s available. They just made sure I knew, and you guys found out. Pretty open about it. It was never a situation where anybody asked for it. It was just a conversation.”
Regardless of whether the seventh-year man asked out of Seattle, the club did shop him, as each of Sherman, general manager John Schneider and head coach Pete Carroll have acknowledged as much. The Seahawks were unable to find anyone to bite on their reportedly lofty asking price, though, so the four-time Pro Bowler is set to helm the team’s Legion of Boom secondary once again in 2017. Sherman seems content do that, as the 29-year-old doesn’t harbor any ill feelings against Seattle and suggested the team was only doing its due diligence in placing him on the block.
“If somebody comes with two first-rounders, I wouldn’t blame them in the least, you know? I wouldn’t blame them at all,” he stated (per Sheil Kapadia of ESPN.com). “It’d be another crazy trade. Who was it that got traded like that? Herschel Walker or something like that? But it’s just conversation. I think we have a fantastic relationship and always have. And it’s always been transparent to have those communications and not have them in a rude or discourteous way, but just professionally.”
While there were questions earlier in the offseason over whether Sherman would be a Seahawk in 2017, concerns existed that teammate and safety Earl Thomas, a fellow member of the Legion of Boom, wouldn’t play at all. The 28-year-old considered retirement after suffering a season-ending broken tibia in December, and he explained to 710 ESPN Seattle earlier this week why he nearly called it a career after seven years.
“I’m a speedster. So when I initially broke it, I’m like, ‘Dang, my career’s over with.’ That’s why I sent the tweet out,” said Thomas (via Kapadia). “Obviously I was very disappointed. I felt like I was having the best year of my career. But as you go through it, you learn, you understand that you can bounce back. And that’s where I’m at at this point.”
Unsurprisingly, financial reasons played a part in Thomas’ decision to return. Discussing when he decided to put off retirement, Thomas said: “I couldn’t tell you exactly at what point. It was a little bit of everything. I just felt like it wasn’t time. I saw Eric Berry get that huge deal. There’s never enough of that. So just a lot of things that made me come back.”
Berry, a fellow safety who’s the same age as Thomas, re-signed with the Chiefs on a six-year, $78MM contract in February. Thomas still has two years remaining on the four-year, $40MM pact he inked in 2014, but the five-time Pro Bowler will cash in again if he bounces back from his injury to continue performing at a star-caliber level. While Thomas still hasn’t fully recovered, “he’s doing way beyond what we thought he could be,” noted Carroll. Thomas expects to be on the field when Seattle opens its season in Green Bay on Sept. 10.
Seahawks Haven’t Discussed Extension With Kam Chancellor
Although head coach Pete Carroll yesterday indicated the Seahawks are inclined to work out an extension with safety Kam Chancellor, Seattle has not formally reached out to Chancellor regarding a new contract, as Chancellor explained to reporters, including Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times (Twitter link).
“We would very much like to work something out,” Carroll said Tuesday. “We’re working at it. And that’s really all we’ll say. But we are working at it with every intention of taking care of business. It takes awhile. Things take awhile. His frame of mind and our frame of mind are in a really good place. And we’re going to work hard to get something done. We’ll see if we can.”
Chancellor, who notably held out until Week 3 of the 2015 campaign in the (ultimately failed) hopes of landing a new contract, is scheduled to earn a base salary of $6.8MM and count for ~$8.125MM against the cap in 2017 before becoming a free agent next spring. The 29-year-old Chancellor started 12 games a season ago, playing on roughly two-thirds of Seattle’s defensive snaps while grading as the league’s No. 3 safety, per Pro Football Focus.
Pete Carroll Focused On Chancellor Extension
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll told reporters today that he’s focused on finalizing a long-term extension with safety Kam Chancellor.
The four-time Pro Bowler is entering the final year of his contract. The defensive back held out for two games during the 2015 season before signing a new four-year, $28MM deal with the Seahawks. In late May, our own Connor Byrne discussed Chancellor’s extension candidacy.
Eddie Lacy Passes Seahawks Weigh-In
Eddie Lacy is slimming down and cashing in. The Seahawks running back passed his scheduled weigh-in on Monday morning, a source tells ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler (on Twitter). 
Now that Lacy has tipped the scales at 250 lbs or less, he’ll earn a scheduled $55K bonus. Per the terms of his contract, Lacy has monthly scheduled weigh-ins through the offseason and during the regular season. Lacy made weight in May, registering below 255 pounds, giving him his first $55K payout.
Lacy’s free agent deal is worth $2.865MM guaranteed but he can add on $2.685MM through incentives, a portion of which is tied to his weight. Lacy has earned a rep as a bruising power back, but his conditioning has often been criticized, so the Seahawks gave him extra motivation to stay trim.
The former Packer reportedly weighed in at 267 pounds during one free agent visit, so he’s already shed a significant amount of weight this offseason. The goal for Lacy is for him to play at 245 lbs during the season and he is right on the doorstep of that.
Photo via Pro Football Rumors on Instagram.
Seahawks Notes: Lacy, Joeckel, Fant
Eddie Lacy‘s next weight test will come on Monday, Sheil Kapadia of ESPN.com reports, noting that the Seahawks running back must be at or below 250 pounds to earn a $55K bonus. Lacy made his May weight requirement, at or under 255 pounds, and collected the $55K bonus after the scale read 253 pounds. The goal remains for the fifth-year running back to be at 245 during the season. Lacy has come a long way from earlier this year, when the former Packers ball carrier reportedly weighed 267 pounds during one UFA visit. Guaranteed $2.865MM, Lacy can collect up to $2.685MM through incentives — the weight program being part of that package. This latest weight date coincides with Seattle’s minicamp, which begins Tuesday.
Here’s more from the Pacific Northwest.
- We didn’t hear much about other suitors for Luke Joeckel prior to the former No. 2 overall pick reaching a one-year agreement with the Seahawks, but an anonymous executive confirmed — via Mike Sando of ESPN.com (Insider link) — the tackle/guard generated some interest despite an underwhelming Jaguars tenure and an injury-marred contract year. “We were all in it for Joeckel, too,” the exec said. “Joeckel had a market.” The Seahawks gave Joeckel an $8MM deal featuring $7MM in full guarantees. The latter number may well have come from Seattle having to beat out competition for the 25-year-old lineman.
- The Seahawks may be evolving on Joeckel’s position. In April, Pete Carroll said Joeckel would begin at left tackle. Now, he’s playing more left guard after unconventional NFLer George Fant has convinced the Seahawks he’s a viable option to stay at left tackle, per Kapadia. Fant, who went from eighth grade to his rookie NFL season without playing football, has gained more than 20 pounds this year. Kapadia reports the former Western Kentucky basketball player is up to 320 after suiting up at 296 last season. Joeckel is still receiving looks at tackle and guard, but Kapadia notes guard will probably be where he plays.
- Seattle also followed through with the move of shifting Mark Glowinski from left to right guard and Germain Ifedi to right tackle, per Kapadia, who identifies Glowinski as being more comfortable on the right side. The third-year player started 16 games at left guard last season but played some right guard as a rookie.
- John Schneider has not used the franchise tag option to retain a player since his first year as Seahawks GM, when he tagged Olindo Mare in 2010, but Jimmy Graham is due to be a free agent in 2018 and has been tagged before. The tight end’s bounce-back 2016 season shows he could have value for a third NFL contract, and Roy Cummings of FanRag Sports writes that it wouldn’t be costly for the team to use the tag on Graham next year. Graham will make $10MM in 2017 after earning $9MM last season. The tight end tag number came in at $9.78MM this year, so a Graham tag in advance of his age-32 season in 2018 would not cost the Hawks much more than they’re already paying him. Seattle is projected to possess $34MM-plus in cap space next year, but this is without contracts for Kam Chancellor or Justin Britt on the books.