Super Bowl champions face a roster puzzle. Can GM John Schneider retain key starters and navigate a challenging free agency market with limited cap space?
The Seattle Seahawks just won Super Bowl LX. Now comes the Monday start of NFL free agency (with the "legal tampering period and signings beginning Wednesday) and with it another series of tasks.
Can Seattle "win'' again in trying to keep this roster together?
We might suggest that the Super Bowl champions, with their nine unrestricted free agents, boast six starter-level guys who are about to hit the 2026 market.
First, the nine unrestricted free agents ...
- S Cobe Bryant
- CB Josh Jobe
- T Josh Jones
- LB Boye Mafe
- WR Rashid Shaheed
- LB Chazz Surratt
- RB Kenneth Walker III
- CB Riq Woolen
- WR Dareke Young
The Tier 1 guys would be running back Walker III, wide receiver/returner Shaheed, edge Boye Mafe, safety Bryant, cornerback Riq Woolen and cornerback Josh Jobe.
Seattle has the salary cap space to do some business here (approximately $58 million). But in budgeting, new deals for standout 2023 first-round draft picks Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Devon Witherspoon must be figured in.
So we think Walker is gone (with the Chiefs and Giants among those banging on his door.)
We think Mafe will be involved in a league-wide bidding war.
We predict all involved might see a change of pace for Woolen to be beneficial.
And then ...
We know Seattle views Shaheed as a priority. And we think Bryant and Jobe might end up being affordable keepers.
Special-teams helpers Chazz Surratt and Dareke Young could also stay.
It is also worth noting that Seahawks general manager John Schneider reportedly dipped his toe into the Maxx Crosby Sweepstakes before the Raiders moved him to Baltimore for the crazy-high price of two first-round picks.
So Seattle won't necessarily be sitting on its hands here.
The NFL's new league year kicks off at 9 a.m. PT on Monday as teams can begin negotiating with free agents.
"Obviously, want to have everybody back," Scheider said recently. "When you get done with something special like that, you're like, 'Yeah let's run it back, let's run it back.'
But, he added, "It's going to be a challenge to figure this year's puzzle out. It's a really cool team and they're all special people. We're going to try to retain as many of those guys as we possibly can, as long as we can keep that collective 70 together.''