The Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks have six starting-caliber players who are set to become free agents when the NFL’s 2026 league year begins next Wednesday: running back Kenneth Walker III, wide receiver/returner Rashid Shaheed, safety Coby Bryant, edge rusher Boye Mafe, cornerback Riq Woolen and cornerback Josh Jobe.
Huard: Jobe is most likely free agent the Seahawks re-sign
And while Seattle currently has the sixth-most salary cap space in the NFL at approximately $58.1 million, according to Over the Cap, a significant chunk of that is expected to go toward long-term contract extensions for star 2023 first-round draft picks Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Devon Witherspoon.
As a result, ESPN senior NFL reporter Jeremy Fowler told Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk on Wednesday that he expects most of the Seahawks’ six top pending free agents will be too expensive to retain.
“They’re in a situation where they are going to lose a lot of players,” Fowler said. “Like, that’s just the reality. They’re going to lose some tough ones, because their free agency class is really good.”
The 2 most likely to re-sign
In particular, Fowler believes the price tags for Walker, Mafe and Woolen will be too expensive for Seattle. Fowler said Shaheed is a “priority” for the Seahawks to re-sign, but that they’ll have competition from other teams.
That leaves Bryant and Jobe as potentially the most palatable for Seattle, in terms of cost.
“Josh Jobe, I think, will be easier to return. Good player, but not huge money,” Fowler said. “Coby Bryant’s gonna do really well, but would like to stay in Seattle. So can you find one of (those two) options in that next tier to keep?”
The silver lining
If the Seahawks do end up losing most of their pending free agents, they could gain future draft capital in the form of compensatory picks.
Compensatory picks are awarded to teams who lost more qualifying free agents than they gained during the previous offseason. The picks are spread between rounds 3-7 based on a league formula that takes into account a player’s average annual salary, snap count and postseason awards.
“The way I see it is Seattle is going to lose a bunch of good players, and they’re going to get a bunch of comp picks for it in the future, and they’re going to use those to package and draft and bring in new players in,” Fowler said.
A surprise move?
Fowler also didn’t rule out the possibility that general manager John Schneider and head coach Mike Macdonald have a surprise up their sleeves.
“There might be a surprise that they have somewhere,” Fowler said. “I just feel like Mike Macdonald is good at zigging when other people expect a zag. He has a vision for his team that might not be the consensus, that might be creative and new.
“So if they added a whole new player and spent money at a position you didn’t expect, that wouldn’t surprise me either.”
Listen to the full conversation with ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler at this link or in the video at the top of this story. Tune into Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
Seattle Seahawks offseason coverage
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• What Brock Huard makes of Seahawks’ Ken Walker situation
• A possible replacement if Seahawks don’t re-sign Walker
• Report: Seattle Seahawks not tendering restricted FA Jake Bobo