The Seattle Seahawks look ready to compete for a playoff spot and maybe even contend for a championship one week into the season. On film and according to the advanced stats they have the best defense in the NFL right now and their offense isn't too far behind. However, resting on your laurels is a good way to fall behind the competition in this league and the front office isn't standing pat.
On Tuesday the team gave itself some room to make moves by restructuring the contract of star wide receiver DK Metcalf. According to FIeld Yates at ESPN, the move saves the team around $9.5 million in salary cap room for the 2024 season. Let's break down what it might mean for the Seahawks and what they might do next.
Seattle Seahawks 2024 cap space update
According to the latest figures available at Over the Cap, the team now has a little over $13.24 million remaining in cap room for the rest of the year. That puts them roughly in the middle of the pack (ranking 14th) of the league in this department. It's a pretty decent amount of space at this time of year and gives them plenty of room to find some upgrades for their 53-man roster as they prepare to make a run at the San Francisco 49ers and attempt to win the NFC West for the first time since the 2020 season.
Seahawks' greatest roster need
If the Seahawks are looking to use that new-found cap space to bring in some outside help, the best use of it would be addressing their most-pressing need, which is right tackle. In Sunday's season opener George Fant suffered an injury in the first quarter that knocked him out for the rest of the game and will likely mean he'll spend at least several weeks on the sidelines. That means until they find someone better Stone Forsythe will start at right tackle, which is pretty far from an ideal situation.
Potential Seahawks free agent targets
Unfortunately, right now the team's free agent options at this position are extremely limited. At the moment Spotrac only has two players listed as available under right tackle: 32-year old Billy Turner and 34-year old David Quessenberry. Neither one of them is likely to move the needle much compared to Forsythe, so general manager John Schneider will have to look elsewhere for help at this position.
Trade options for the Seahawks
It's quite a pickle that Seattle is in this early in the season at a critical position, and there may not be any realistic options that will help them get through while Fant is out. Our best idea is exploring a trade for Cincinnati Bengals right tackle Trent Brown. Seattle made a push to sign him in free agency a couple of years ago, so we know there's interest on their part.
The drawback here of course is that the Bengals will be in no mood to trade a guy they just signed. However, that calculus may change if Cincinnati continues to struggle. They were upset by the New England Patriots in their season opener and only scored 10 points. If the Bengals keep losing, they might be motivated to be sellers at the NFL trade deadline after Week 9. If the Seahawks are still a potential playoff team at that point and Abe Lucas is still out then they should make an offer for Brown, who has a cap number under $4.4 million for this year.
The trade deadline might as well be 20 years in the future, though. The Seahawks will most likely have to make do in the meantime and hope that Fant recovers fast.
