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The Ravens Stole Trey Hendrickson While Seattle Was Still Doing Math. Now There’s One Name Left On The Board.
Here’s how fast the edge rusher market moved this morning. The Ravens backed out of the Maxx Crosby trade on Tuesday night after Crosby failed his physical. By Wednesday morning, Baltimore had pivoted to Trey Hendrickson and agreed to a four-year, $112 million deal with $60 million fully guaranteed. Just like that, the best edge rusher in free agency was off the board before the new league year even opened.
The Seahawks were never publicly linked to Hendrickson at his price point, but his departure matters enormously. With Boye Mafe already in Cincinnati on a three-year, $60 million deal, Hendrickson was theoretically the last premier free agent pass rusher available. Jonathan Jones of CBS reported a $10 million per year gap between Hendrickson’s asking price and what teams were offering as recently as Monday. The Ravens, apparently, didn’t care about the gap. They just closed it.
Which brings us to the one name still circled on the whiteboard: Jonathan Greenard. The Vikings pass rusher has been on the trade block for over a week now, with Adam Schefter saying on The Pat McAfee Show that a deal is “probably more likely than not.” Seahawks reporter Corbin Smith reported that Seattle is among the teams that have formally inquired, and that “half the league” has called Minnesota. The price? A second-round pick and a Day 3 pick is reportedly the sweet spot. Greenard earned $19 million this season and had 12 sacks in his first year with the Vikings in 2024, though a shoulder injury limited him to 3 sacks in 12 games last year.
There’s urgency here that didn’t exist 24 hours ago. With Hendrickson off the board, teams that missed on him will pivot to Greenard. The Vikings know this. Their leverage just went up. And $4 million of Greenard’s 2026 base salary becomes guaranteed on March 13, so if Minnesota wants to trade him, they want to do it soon. Schneider has the No. 64 overall pick. He has the capital. The question is whether he pulls the trigger before someone else does.
Meanwhile, DeMarcus Lawrence still hasn’t told the Seahawks whether he’s coming back. The edge room right now, if Lawrence retires: Derick Hall and vibes. That’s the room. Hall, Uchenna Nwosu (who could still be a cap casualty at $11.4 million), and whatever John Schneider can conjure between now and April. The Hendrickson signing didn’t just remove an option. It compressed the entire timeline.
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New League Year
The New League Year Is Here. The Ink Is Drying. The Roster Looks Different.
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Here’s the ledger as we know it. Gone: Kenneth Walker III (Chiefs, three years, up to $45 million), Boye Mafe (Bengals, three years, $60 million), Coby Bryant (Bears, three years, $40 million), Riq Woolen (Eagles, one year, up to $15 million). Retained: Rashid Shaheed (three years, $51 million, $34.7 million guaranteed), Josh Jobe (three years, $24 million), Drake Thomas (two years, $8 million), plus the tenders on George Holani and Ty Okada.
The receiver room is set. JSN, Cooper Kupp at $13.5 million, Shaheed, and Tory Horton give Sam Darnold and new coordinator Brian Fleury a full toolbox. ESPN noted that getting proper value out of Shaheed’s deal means Seattle needs to use him more on offense than the 29.33 scrimmage yards per game he averaged over 12 regular-season games after the trade from New Orleans. But that trade was always about more than receiving stats. Three return touchdowns, including one in the divisional round, earned him this money.
The secondary absorbed some real hits but isn’t in ruins. Witherspoon and Jobe are locked in at corner. Woolen’s departure to Philly stings, but his one-year deal was a bet-on-himself move after he wasn’t happy with multi-year offers. Julian Love and the safeties return. The Seahawks let the market dictate the price, and the market told them Woolen at $15 million for one year wasn’t their fight.
The glaring holes: running back (George Holani, a prayer, and the draft), edge rusher (Derick Hall and a question mark), and whatever DeMarcus Lawrence decides to do with his remaining years. John Schneider told reporters at the Combine that the goal is to keep as much of the roster intact as possible. He did that where he could. The positions where he couldn’t are the ones that will define the next six weeks.
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AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
The Maxx Crosby trade is dead. The Ravens backed out Tuesday night after Crosby failed his physical. The Raiders issued a two-sentence statement dripping with barely concealed fury. One anonymous GM told NFL Network this was “very much bull—- on Baltimore’s part.” The Raiders committed nearly $300 million in free agency partly with Crosby’s $30 million salary off the books. If those deals can’t process, this gets very ugly very fast. Bleacher Report
Riq Woolen officially becomes an Eagle. The one-year, $15 million deal gives Philly a freakish athlete opposite Quinyon Mitchell, and gives Woolen a chance to bet on himself for a bigger contract next March. He allowed a 27.6% completion rate in man coverage last season, the lowest by any defender since at least 2018, per Next Gen Stats. The Eagles run man 24.5% of the time. That’s not a coincidence. That’s a casting call. NFL.com
Brian Robinson Jr. is a free agent today and the 49ers haven’t ruled out re-signing him after he backed up McCaffrey on 17% of snaps. Spotrac projects his market at roughly $3.1 million per year. The Seahawks, Broncos, and Lions have all been floated as potential destinations. Seattle’s running back room is currently George Holani and existential dread. Pick up the phone, John. 49ers Webzone
Geno Smith is officially headed back to the Jets. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported the Raiders are trading the veteran QB to New York in a late-round pick swap. The man who resurrected his career in Seattle, got traded to Vegas, and is now going to the Jets. Sometimes the NFL isn’t a circle. It’s a corkscrew. NFL.com
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
The Trent McDuffie trade from Kansas City officially processes today, making the former Husky the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history at $31 million per year on a four-year, $124 million extension. The Rams gave up one of their two first-round picks for a two-time Super Bowl champion and two-time All-Pro. Credit where it’s due: that’s a good football player. It’s also a direct market-setter for Devon Witherspoon’s upcoming extension, which means the Rams just made Schneider’s math harder. The NFC West arms race has a new price tag, and it starts with a 3 and a 1.
NINERS
The 49ers signed a 32-year-old wide receiver coming off an eight-game season caused by a broken clavicle and a concussion, and they’re paying him $60.4 million over three years. Mike Evans is a future Hall of Famer. He’s also the oldest and most banged-up addition in a receiver room that lost both Brandon Aiyuk and (probably) Jauan Jennings. The Mercury News asked whether this was “desperation or genius.” We’ll go with door number one. Kyle Shanahan’s offseason strategy continues to be “buy high, hope for health, and pray the cap doesn’t notice.”
CARDINALS
Arizona’s quarterback search has officially entered the bargain bin. Malik Willis went to Miami. Jimmy Garoppolo talks hit a snag. The Cardinals signed Gardner Minshew, who is on his sixth team in seven years and is coming off a knee injury in Kansas City. They also signed Tyler Allgeier to a two-year, $12 million deal, because when the Seahawks need a running back and the Cardinals sign one, the universe is clearly just being petty. Jacoby Brissett remains technically under center. Somewhere in the desert, Marvin Harrison Jr. is staring at his phone and wondering what he did to deserve this.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
The Seahawks used the Russell Wilson trade haul to draft six players in 2022, including Charles Cross, Boye Mafe, Kenneth Walker III, Abraham Lucas, Coby Bryant, and Tariq Woolen. Five of those six are now gone from the team after this week’s free agency exodus. Who is the only remaining member of the 2022 draft class still under contract in Seattle?
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Charles Cross, who signed a multi-year contract extension on Tuesday. He has started 62 games over four seasons at left tackle.
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See you tomorrow. — The Rooster