The Seahawks went into this offseason with 18 impending unrestricted free agents, and a few other players who were likely to be released. That’s a tremendous potential roster turnover, especially for a very young and rapidly improving squad.
At the time of writing this, OT Breno Gracomini has already been re-signed, and is projected to be the starter at RT when the season begins in 2012.
High Priority Free Agents: RB Marshawn Lynch, FB Michael Robinson, DE/DT Red Bryant, LB David Hawthorne
These 4 players must be resigned, if the Seahawks are going to avoid talking a step back in 2012. Lynch and Robinson are the primary focus of the offense, while Bryant and Hawthorne were essential components of Seattle’s run defense.
Other Free Agents: OL Paul McQuistan, LB David Voroba, LB Leroy Hill, LB Heath Farwell, DL Anthony Hargrove, LB Matt McCoy
The Seahawks would love to bring back most of the players from this group, especially McQuistan and Voroba. Leroy Hill is one of the last remaining members of the 2005 Super Bowl team and his departure won’t be a popular move if the Seahawks choose to let him leave. Unfortunately, his play in 2011 was quite poor, and an upgrade there is a big need for the Seahawk defense.
Free Agents Not Likely To Return: QB Charlie Whitehurst, DL Raheem Brock, RB Justin Forsett, OL Mike Gibson, DE Jimmy Wilkerson, S Atari Bigby, TE John Carlson
Most of the players on this list are because of ineffectiveness. Whitehurst, Forsett and Brock are likely to have difficulty finding job offers for next season. Bigby and Charlson are on here for an entirely different reason. Both are players who are good enough to start for many teams, even though they aren’t on top of the depth chart in Seattle. Both are likely to be given contracts from another team that the Seahawks won’t be able to match.
Restricted and exclusive-rights free agents: Roy Lewis, Steven Hauschka, Clinton McDonald, Kennard Cox
All 4 players from this group are expected to be back for training camp in 2012. It is also true that all 4 will have a lot of work to do in order to keep their roster spot for next season.
Players likely to be cut: CB Marcus Trufant, WR Deon Butler, WR Mike Williams, WR Ben Obomanu, TE Anthony McCoy
I expect Trufant to be released soon to save cap room, though he might be willing to take a substantial pay cut to remain with the team. The other 4 are not playing on cost prohibitive contracts, so they’ll likely not be cut until sometime during training camp. This gives each of them a chance to show enough improvement to hold on to their job.
Potential Free Agent Targets:
QB: Peyton Manning, Matt Flynn, Jason Campbell, Chad Henne
DE: Mario Williams, Cliff Avril
LB: Anthony Spencer, Dan Connor
The Seahawks 3 main needs for upgrades this offseason are QB, LB, and DE. At QB, they will look at both Manning and Flynn as potential starters, if that doesn’t matter, look for them to pick up a veteran backup like Campbell or Hanne.
The DE’s included might not even be available, as both are franchise tag candidates, but they are the type of playmaker the Seahawks will be hoping to acquire. The same is true for the 2 LB I’ve listed. I don’t actually expect the Seahawks to address both of these defensive needs via free agency, but I do expect them to address 1 of them and then use their first round pick in April’s draft to address the other.
Preview provided by Keith Myers. For more in-depth Seattle Seahawks coverage, visit 12th Man Rising.