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Free Agency Fallout
The 2022 Draft Class Just Walked Out the Door. Schneider Kept the Receipt.
Day 1 of the tampering window opened like a fire sale at a championship car dealership. Within 90 minutes of the phones lighting up, Kenneth Walker III agreed to join the Kansas City Chiefs on a three-year deal worth up to $45 million. Coby Bryant followed him out the door to the Chicago Bears on a three-year, $40 million contract. And by Monday evening, Boye Mafe had signed a three-year, $60 million deal with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Three members of the 2022 draft class. Gone in a single day. Let that one breathe.
But Schneider didn’t just stand at the window watching. The Seahawks locked up cornerback Josh Jobe on a three-year, $24 million deal, a guy ESPN’s Brady Henderson noted produced some of the best coverage numbers of any corner in 2025 while overtaking Woolen on the depth chart. And the big one: Rashid Shaheed re-signed for three years and $51 million with $34.7 million guaranteed, keeping the playoff hero who scored three special teams touchdowns during the Super Bowl run in Seattle.
The math here is cold but coherent. The Seahawks let the high-priced departures walk knowing they have Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Devon Witherspoon extensions looming. They kept their dynamic returner and their ascending corner. They let the market overpay for the rest. That’s how you manage a championship roster under a hard cap. It doesn’t feel good. It just works.
The Seahawks now have their top three receivers from 2025 back for 2026. Their starting corner tandem of Witherspoon and Jobe is intact. But the running back room is barren and the edge rush is a crisis. Tomorrow the new league year opens. The real work starts now.
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Edge Crisis
Nobody Will Pay Trey Hendrickson What Trey Hendrickson Thinks He’s Worth. That Might Be Seattle’s Opening.
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Enter the Trey Hendrickson standoff. Adam Schefter reported on ESPN’s Get Up that Hendrickson has spoken with several teams but nobody has met his asking price. He’s 31, coming off a core muscle injury that limited him to seven games in 2025, and he sees himself in the class of Danielle Hunter ($40M/yr) and Jalen Phillips ($30M/yr). Meanwhile, the Cowboys, who were considered the frontrunner, traded for Rashan Gary from the Packers and are now expected to be out on Hendrickson unless his price drops.
That matters for Seattle. Not because the Seahawks are likely to pay $30-plus million per year for a 31-year-old pass rusher. But because every team that exits the Hendrickson sweepstakes makes the Jonathan Greenard trade more likely to happen on Seattle’s terms. Minnesota is sitting on $45 million in cap problems and has already told Aaron Jones and Javon Hargrave they’re gone. Greenard wants a raise from his $19M/yr deal despite posting just three sacks in 12 games last year. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported the Eagles formally inquired. The asking price is a Day 2 pick.
Schneider has a second-rounder. The question is whether he’s willing to spend it on a pass rusher who needs a new deal and had a down year, or whether he’d rather roll with Hall, hope Lawrence returns, and pray Rylie Mills takes a leap. Given the state of this edge room, the answer should be obvious.
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Backfield
The Running Back Room Is George Holani and a Prayer. Brian Robinson Jr. Is Still Out There.
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What Seattle currently has: George Holani, an exclusive rights free agent who carried the ball 22 times for 73 yards last season while mostly playing gunner on special teams. Kenny McIntosh. Cam Akers. Velus Jones Jr. Jacardia Wright. If you’re reading those names and thinking “who?” you understand the problem.
Brian Robinson Jr. remains the most prominent available back linked to Seattle. He spent 2025 with San Francisco after being traded from Washington, rushing for 400 yards on 92 carries at 4.3 yards per clip. Spotrac projects his market value at just $3.1 million annually. That’s a bargain for a 225-pound back who can handle early downs while Charbonnet recovers. The Lions, Broncos, and others are also circling. Seattle needs to move when the new league year opens tomorrow at 1 PM Pacific.
If Robinson signs elsewhere, this becomes a draft problem. And Schneider only has four picks. The margin for error here is thinner than the roster depth chart at running back.
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AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
Riq Woolen is expected to sign elsewhere, per ESPN, with the Rams and 49ers both sniffing around. Fox Sports projected Woolen to LA, noting he’d need to smooth things over after trash-talking Sean McVay’s sideline during the NFC Championship. Imagine getting an unsportsmanlike penalty for running your mouth at the guy who’s about to overpay you. Only in the NFL. Heavy
The Seahawks are reportedly trying to re-sign safety A.J. Finley after losing Coby Bryant to Chicago. Finley emerged as a quality depth piece on the championship defense. The secondary lost Bryant’s four interceptions but kept Jobe’s 12 pass breakups and Witherspoon’s everything. The safety room just went from deep to concerning in about four hours. Field Gulls
Coby Bryant signed with the Chicago Bears on a three-year, $40 million deal, per CBS Sports. Bryant posted four interceptions on a championship defense in 2025. The Bears, currently rebuilding around Caleb Williams, looked at Seattle’s Super Bowl roster and said: give us the secondary piece. It’s fine. The Seahawks have Devon Witherspoon and Josh Jobe. It’s fine. CBS Sports
NFL teams spent roughly $2.3 billion in the first wave of 2026 free agency on Monday. The Seahawks’ share? About $75 million on Shaheed and Jobe. Schneider’s spending restraint is the financial equivalent of ordering water at a restaurant where everyone else is getting bottle service. Except his team has a ring and most of theirs don’t. NFL.com
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
The Rams are assembling the entire Kansas City Chiefs secondary like it’s a Build-A-Bear workshop. After trading for Trent McDuffie (4-year, $124M extension, highest-paid CB ever) last week, they signed his former teammate Jaylen Watson on a three-year, $51 million deal Monday. Two Chiefs corners in L.A. to face the team that just beat the Chiefs’ cornerbacks in the Super Bowl. Sean McVay watched his secondary get torched all 2025, looked at the NFC Championship loss to Seattle, and said: “Give me literally anyone from Kansas City.” He now has two of them. Good luck with the other 52 roster spots.
NINERS
The 49ers signed Mike Evans. The 32-year-old future Hall of Famer who played just eight games last season due to a broken collarbone. Three years, $60.4 million, with $16.3 million guaranteed. San Francisco looked at a wide receiver who hasn’t been healthy since 2023 and said, “Yes, this is who we trust to replace both Brandon Aiyuk AND Jauan Jennings.” Evans posted 11 consecutive 1,000-yard seasons to start his career. That streak ended last year. Kyle Shanahan is betting it starts again at age 33. In a run-first offense. With Brock Purdy. Good luck with that.
CARDINALS
The Garoppolo-to-Arizona dream is dead. SI reports talks between the Cardinals and Jimmy G “hit a snag,” forcing Arizona to pivot to Gardner Minshew on a one-year deal worth up to $8.25 million. The Cardinals chased Garoppolo because he knew Mike LaFleur’s system. When that fell through, they signed the guy who once wore a headband and a jockstrap to a press conference. Their 2026 QB room is now Jacoby Brissett (1-11 as a starter) and Minshew, with the No. 3 pick in April to draft someone who might actually win games. This franchise is performance art.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
Steve Largent retired as the NFL’s all-time leader in receiving yards and receptions in 1989, and his jersey number was the first ever retired by the Seahawks. What number did Largent wear?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
80. Largent wore No. 80 throughout his entire 14-year career with the Seahawks (1976-1989). It was retired by the team in 1992.
Got a Take? Got a Question? Got a Conspiracy Theory About the Sale?
Drop your mailbag questions, hot takes, and coping mechanisms into the submission box. We read everything. We answer the good ones. We silently judge the rest. What should Schneider do with the edge rush? Is Brian Robinson Jr. the answer? Should we just start Rylie Mills at running back? Send it.
See you tomorrow. — The Rooster