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The Seahawks Hosted Dante Fowler at the VMAC. The Edge Rush Hunt Isn’t Waiting for Pittsburgh.
While the rest of the NFL is staring at mock drafts, the Seahawks brought a veteran edge rusher through the door. Per the NFL’s official transaction wire, Seattle hosted former No. 3 overall pick Dante Fowler Jr. for a free agent visit on Thursday. Fowler, 31, has 58.5 career sacks across 10 NFL seasons and played all 17 games for the Cowboys last year.
58.5
Career sacks for Dante Fowler Jr. across 10 NFL seasons with five different franchises.
The Durde connection is the thread here. Fowler played for Dallas from 2022-23 when Seahawks DC Aden Durde was the Cowboys’ defensive line coach, and DeMarcus Lawrence was in that same room. Per Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times, Fowler could be “a relatively low-cost player to add to the team’s pass-rush rotation” after Boye Mafe’s departure. Spotrac projects his market value at roughly $5.1 million on a one-year deal.
The numbers from 2025 aren’t flashy: three sacks, 10 quarterback hits in a rotational role. But PFF graded him at a career-high 77.6 overall, with a 14.1% pass-rush win rate that ranked 30th among qualifying edge defenders. He also played every game for the fourth straight season. Durability counts when your edge room is Nwosu, Hall, and hope.
Fowler isn’t the headline signing. He’s the insurance policy you buy when the Thibodeaux trade stalls and the draft board looks thin at edge. Teams commonly bring in veteran free agents before the draft, then circle back once everyone knows their roster better. The VMAC doors open for the offseason program in three days. The draft starts in six. The timeline is compressing fast.
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Analysis
Thibodeaux’s Price Is Falling. The Draft Might Be When It Happens.
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The math is simple. Thibodeaux is in a contract year. He registered 2.5 sacks over 10 games last season before a shoulder injury ended his year. Brian Burns and first-round pick Abdul Carter are locked in as the Giants’ starting edge rushers. New head coach John Harbaugh didn’t draft Thibodeaux, has no emotional investment, and recently told reporters “everyone is tradable.”
$14.75M
Thibodeaux’s fifth-year option salary for 2026 — still cheaper than most veteran edge rushers on the market.
Schneider already called the Giants, per Dan Viens of Seahawks Forever. The Giants told NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo they had no interest in trading Thibodeaux. But that was before the draft board crystallized. If New York drafts an edge rusher on Day 2, Thibodeaux becomes the most expensive backup in the building at $14.75 million. The phone might ring again.
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AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
Cliff Avril will announce Seattle’s Day 2 picks at the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh. The man who forced a safety 12 seconds into Super Bowl XLVIII gets to hand-deliver the next wave. Perfect casting. Seahawks.com
Daniel Jeremiah went on the Joel Klatt Show and essentially dared the Seahawks not to take Jadarian Price at 32. “How do they not take him?” he said. “They don’t have a starting running back.” Six days until we find out if Schneider agrees. Seattle Sports
The NFL’s offer to the referees union is a six-year deal averaging 6.45% annual raises. The average official made $385,000 in 2025. The NFLRA wants more. Replacement training starts May 1. The Fail Mary sequel nobody asked for inches closer. ESPN
Schneider has held pick 32 exactly once before: in 2014, he traded it to Minnesota (Teddy Bridgewater), then flipped those picks into more picks. He entered that draft with a Super Bowl trophy too. History rhymes. Seattle Sports
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
The Rams unveiled their uniform refresh on Thursday, and the headline is that they finally killed the gradient numbers everyone hated. They also retired the “Bone” alternate, removed the chest tag, and went monochrome on the logo. The CMO called it “a modern refinement,” which is front-office-speak for admitting the 2020 rebrand was a mistake without actually saying it. Six years of looking like a graphic design student’s first Illustrator project, corrected. Stafford turns 39 in February. The Nacua extension is still unsigned. But hey, the sleeves look better.
NINERS
An unnamed NFL executive told SI that the 49ers “sign hurt players” and San Francisco’s offseason proves it. Trent Williams turns 38 in July and still doesn’t have a new deal. The contract dispute drags on. Their first-round pick at No. 27 could go offensive tackle, pass rusher, or wide receiver depending on which mock you read, because the roster has so many holes nobody can agree on the biggest one. They open in Melbourne against the Rams, which at least gives Shanahan an excuse to complain about jet lag instead of explaining why Bosa and Warner only played 9 combined healthy games last year.
CARDINALS
GM Monti Ossenfort held a pre-draft press conference Thursday and acknowledged what everyone already knew: “We have a challenging division. We have the Super Bowl champs.” Arizona went 3-14, hasn’t addressed right tackle in free agency, and the No. 3 pick decision reportedly involves owner Michael Bidwill. The buzz is splitting between Miami OT Francis Mauigoa and trading down for more picks. Ossenfort says his job status won’t affect his mindset. It absolutely will.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
When the Seahawks won their first Super Bowl after the 2013 season, they picked 32nd overall in the 2014 NFL Draft — just like this year. John Schneider traded that pick to the Minnesota Vikings, who used it to select quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. But Schneider didn’t stop there. He flipped the acquired picks multiple times on Day 2, eventually drafting a wide receiver in the second round who would go on to score six touchdowns in his final Seattle season. Before joining the Seahawks in 2013 as a free agent, Cliff Avril spent his first five NFL seasons with one team after being selected in the third round of the 2008 draft. Which franchise originally drafted Avril?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
The Detroit Lions. Avril was selected in the third round (92nd overall) of the 2008 NFL Draft out of Purdue by Detroit. He spent five seasons with the winless 2008 Lions before signing with Seattle in 2013, where he won Super Bowl XLVIII and earned a Pro Bowl nod in 2016.
Got a Question for The Rooster?
Draft takes? Cap math? Unreasonable opinions about the edge rusher room? Send them to the mailbag. I read everything. I answer what I want. That’s the deal.
Three days to the VMAC. Six days to Pittsburgh. The visitors keep coming and the edge room keeps getting more interesting. Enjoy the weekend. Go Hawks. — The Rooster