Seattle Seahawks: Building Your 2022 NFC West Champions
Andrew Elderbaum
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The 2021 season is over, and the Seattle Seahawks have to make some major decisions. Luckily I’m here to make them for Pete and John. Ladies and gentlemen, your 2022 Seahawks.
General Manager John Schneider has been reading my stuff and asked me to help fix the Seattle Seahawks. I’ve been given carte blanche to make any moves I want, and he’ll take all the blame. Now, I know what Dan Snyder feels like. Anyway, it’s going to be an eventful offseason. Let’s get things started with a bang.
Item 1 – Trade D.K.
I’m trading D.K. Metcalf to the Cleveland Browns for their first-round pick (number 13 overall). Cleveland is a deep team that lacks a big-play receiver. They hope to get from him what they couldn’t from Odell Beckham Jr.
This deal will upset some of the 12’s because he’s very popular, but the rest have come to realize Metcalf is fine for what he is. Unfortunately, D.K. is more than a little overrated. Tyler Lockett is the Hawks’ true top target, and D.K. never did find that same connection with Russ. We’ll also swap fourth-round picks and drop back five spots to finish the deal.
Move 2a and 2b – Staying home
Next, I’m taking $20M of our $56M cap space to keep Quandre Diggs and Duane Brown in Seattle. Brown will get $9M guaranteed with a roster bonus worth another $1.5M. If the 36-year-old tackle starts 12 games in 2022, a second-year guarantee kicks in with the same terms.
Diggs will need a four-year deal with three of them guaranteed at an AAV of about $10M. His broken leg in the season finale at Arizona knocks about $1.5M off what he might have commanded, but the injury isn’t career-threatening. If his surgery goes well, the Pro Bowl safety should be back in plenty of time for OTAs in the late spring. These deals should provide some stability as we take Coach Pete’s “re-tool” comments to heart.
Some Seahawks players got snubbed from All Pro…. Especially my man Quandre Diggs ?♂️ pic.twitter.com/QcK4peutMa
— Sports ON Tap Seattle ? (@SONTSeattle) January 15, 2022
Item 3 – Retainers
We’ll let Al Woods, Ryan Neal, Ethan Pocic, and Rasheem Green know we’d love to have them back and offer them some market-rate deals. If they take the offers, great; if not, we’ll let them see what’s out there and come back to us. Gerald Everett probably didn’t love his 2021 role and will look for an offense that throws more. Will Dissly is a better fit for what the Seattle Seahawks want from a tight end, and he’ll be cheaper. Uncle Will stays in Seattle.