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Edge Watch
The Edge Is Calling: Trey Hendrickson Hits Free Agency, And Seattle Should Be On Speed Dial
Five days from legal tampering. Seven from the start of the new league year. And the Seattle Seahawks’ edge rusher room just went from “championship-caliber depth” to “somebody call 911” in the span of about ten days.
Let’s walk through the wreckage. DeMarcus Lawrence, who wore #0 like a superhero cape all season and was instrumental to the Dark Side defense, is reportedly considering retirement. ESPN’s Brady Henderson told Seattle Sports 710 AM that Lawrence, 33 years old, a new father, a first-time Super Bowl champion, is in the kind of situation where “a guy could decide to ride off into the sunset.” Boye Mafe is an unrestricted free agent coming off a 2.0-sack season. The Seahawks aren’t exactly building a shrine. And Uchenna Nwosu, who literally sealed the Super Bowl with a pick-six, carries a $19.99 million cap hit that The Athletic’s Michael-Shawn Dugar flagged as the team’s top cap casualty candidate, even though cutting him would save $11.4 million.
Into this void walks Trey Hendrickson, the former Bengals edge rusher who Cincinnati declined to franchise tag on Tuesday. The Bengals couldn’t justify the $30.2 million tag cost. Hendrickson is now the consensus top free agent in the entire class. The Athletic projects a three-year, $99 million contract. Yes, he’s 31. Yes, he missed 10 games in 2025. But he also had 17.5 sacks in back-to-back seasons before that injury, and CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco specifically named Seattle as a team that proves why pass rushers matter in the Super Bowl era.
Here’s where it gets spicy. Stripehype, a Bengals site, mind you, published a piece Tuesday arguing that Seattle is Hendrickson’s “best free agency destination” and that it’s “plain as day to see.” Their logic: cutting Nwosu frees up roughly $11.5 million, and the Seahawks have the cap space and the defensive infrastructure to make Hendrickson an absolute terror alongside Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy II.
I don’t think Schneider signs Hendrickson. I think he wants to, and the math will be brutal. A $33M/year edge rusher when you still haven’t extended JSN and Witherspoon? That’s a spreadsheet that catches fire. But the phone call happens. The conversation happens. And if Lawrence retires and Nwosu gets cut, the calculus changes overnight.
The reliable piece here is Derick Hall. And Rylie Mills is fully healthy after his 5-snap Super Bowl cameo that produced a sack and two pressures. But “reliable” and “healthy rookie” don’t replace 17.5 sacks per year. Not in this division. Not with the Rams reloading.
Sleep with one eye on Schneider’s phone. The edge is calling.
SOURCES →
QB Room
Drew Lock Is A $2.25 Million Question Mark And PFF Says Cut Him. Here’s Why That’s Probably Wrong.
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That’s clean logic on a spreadsheet. In reality? It’s a fire alarm.
Lock threw three passes all season. Three! He appeared in five games. He spent the vast majority of the year doing exactly what a backup quarterback is supposed to do: being ready. When Darnold tweaked his oblique before the Divisional Round against the 49ers, Lock took first-team reps for two days and was ready to start a playoff game. That’s not nothing. That’s the entire job description.
The problem with promoting Milroe is that Milroe isn’t ready. He appeared in three games as a rookie and his signature moment was a fumble against Tampa Bay that got his specialty packages shelved for the rest of the season. Macdonald had “emphasized the team’s plans to use Milroe in select packages before halting this idea after a costly fumble back in October.” The kid himself has been gracious about the learning curve, talking about soaking up 15 combined years of experience from Darnold and Lock, but “soaking up experience” is not the same as “ready to win an NFL game in January.”
Look. $2.25 million is $2.25 million. In a world where Schneider is trying to extend JSN and Witherspoon while navigating the KW3 situation and potentially replacing an edge rusher, every dollar matters. But Darnold’s oblique scare proved that the distance between “Super Bowl contender” and “season over” is one bad hit. Lock is the insurance policy. Milroe is the long-term investment. You need both. Cutting Lock to save what amounts to a rounding error in a $301.2 million cap world would be the NFL equivalent of canceling your home insurance to save on the mortgage.
The smarter play: keep Lock for 2026, let Milroe develop for another year, and revisit this in 2027 when Milroe has had a full offseason as QB2 in practice. Schneider has never been reckless at the position. Don’t start now.
SOURCES →
AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
Five days to legal tampering. The legal tampering window opens March 9, when KW3’s phone becomes the busiest object on earth. CBS Sports notes Walker would become the fourth reigning Super Bowl MVP to enter free agency — the other three all signed with new teams. Comforting! CBS Sports
The Seahawks’ only real cap casualty? The Athletic’s Dugar says Seattle “doesn’t have any glaringly obvious cut candidates” outside of Nwosu and maybe Anthony Bradford (48.9 PFF grade). This is what winning the Super Bowl does — you want to keep everybody, and everybody wants to stay. What a novel concept. SI (Seahawks)
The Seahawks have seven restricted free agents to tender by March 11: LB Drake Thomas, WRs Jake Bobo and Cody White, TE Brady Russell, S A.J. Finley, snapper Chris Stoll, and DL Brandon Pili. Per the Spokesman-Review, Thomas, Stoll, and Russell are priorities to retain. Schneider loves his special teams core the way some people love artisanal coffee. Deeply, and with no apologies. Spokesman-Review
Bleacher Report floated trading Jalen Milroe to the Dolphins for a third-round pick. The logic: Miami needs a QB, Seattle needs draft capital. Heavy’s Jonathan Adams correctly notes this feels unlikely given how important backup QB depth is to a contender. Also, you drafted the man in the third round nine months ago. Let him cook. Heavy
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
The Rams are reworking Matthew Stafford’s contract as the 38-year-old MVP enters the final year of his deal, with $40 million due and a $48.3 million cap hit. McVay says they’ve had “great dialogue.” You know what else was great dialogue? The conversation Stafford had about getting traded to the Giants last winter before coming back. This is an annual tradition now, like Groundhog Day but with more zeroes. Meanwhile, Kliff Kingsbury is now the Rams’ assistant head coach. Yes, that Kliff Kingsbury, the one who went 28-37-1 as head coach of the Cardinals. The man who helped run Kyler Murray’s career into the ground is now advising Sean McVay. Truly the NFC West’s finest recycling program.
NINERS
The Brandon Aiyuk saga is finally, mercifully, approaching its conclusion. Adam Schefter expects the 49ers to release Aiyuk on March 11, the first day of the league year. No trade. No reconciliation. Just a clean break, one year after they gave him a four-year, $120 million extension. They voided his $27 million in guarantees after he essentially ghosted the organization during the 2025 season. He never played a snap. John Lynch said “it’s safe to say he’s played his last snap with the Niners.” This franchise is speed-running the dysfunction. The 49ers also had the NFL’s fewest sacks last year at 20. Twenty! The Seahawks had that many in their first eight games. But sure, San Francisco is a “sneaky contender” for free agents this offseason. Sneaky like a dumpster fire is sneaky.
CARDINALS
The Kyler Murray era in Arizona is officially over. The Cardinals informed Murray they plan to release him on March 11, ending a seven-year partnership that produced one playoff appearance, zero playoff wins, a torn ACL, a $230.5 million contract, and — after this season — a foot injury that ended his year after five games. Murray posted a farewell on social media, writing “I am sorry I failed us.” He went 38-48-1. The Cardinals will eat $54.7 million in dead cap. Their plan at quarterback is now Jacoby Brissett, and maybe Jimmy Garoppolo, because new head coach Mike LaFleur apparently wants to reunite the band. This franchise isn’t rebuilding. It’s performing an archaeological dig on its own rubble.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
On this date — March 4, 2022 — a Michigan State running back ran his 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. The Seahawks would draft him two months later in the second round. Who was he?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
Kenneth Walker III, who ran a 4.38-second 40-yard dash at the 2022 NFL Combine on March 4, 2022, and was selected by Seattle with the 41st overall pick.
THIS DAY IN SEAHAWKS HISTORY
2022
Kenneth Walker III Runs His 40-Yard Dash at the NFL Combine
On this date four years ago, Michigan State running back Kenneth Walker III ran a 4.38-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. Two months later, John Schneider selected him with the 41st overall pick. Four years, 3,555 rushing yards, 29 touchdowns, and one Super Bowl MVP later, Walker is now the hottest free agent running back on the market. The universe has a sense of timing.
THE MAILBAG
Will Schneider use any of the cap space on a veteran QB backup or just roll with whoever is behind Geno?
— Cap Space Carl in Capitol Hill
Hey Carl. Love the energy. Quick correction first — it’s not Geno anymore, buddy. Geno got traded to the Raiders last March. Our guy is Sam Darnold now. Sam “Three-Year, $100.5 Million, Super Bowl Champion” Darnold. I know, I know, it’s still surreal to type.
But your underlying question is real: what does the QB room look like behind Darnold in 2026? The answer is probably exactly what it looks like right now. Drew Lock is the QB2 at $2.25 million, and Jalen Milroe is the QB3 on his rookie deal.
PFF just floated cutting Lock to save that $2.25M, and I get the logic — Lock threw three passes all season. But Darnold’s oblique injury scare before the Divisional Round was a five-alarm reminder of why you keep a veteran backup on a championship roster. Lock took first-team reps and was ready to start a playoff game against the 49ers. That readiness has value you can’t replicate by handing Milroe the clipboard and praying.
Milroe’s development is real — he talks about learning from Darnold’s “next play mentality” and the QB room culture that Darnold built — but he appeared in three games, logged a handful of snaps, and his most notable on-field moment was a fumble that got his packages shelved. He’s not ready to be the primary backup on a team trying to repeat.
My prediction: Schneider keeps all three quarterbacks, eats Lock’s $2.25M happily, and finds his cap savings elsewhere. The QB room isn’t where you cut corners when you’re defending a championship. Save the penny-pinching for the seventh cornerback, Carl. Not the man who might have to start an NFC Championship Game.
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