Report: Seahawks tender RFA Jeron Johnson
Mar 5, 2014, 10:56 AM | Updated: 11:45 pm
By Brady Henderson
The Seahawks have reportedly placed a second-round tender on backup safety Jeron Johnson, one of the team’s restricted free agents.
The tender, reported by Mike Garafolo of FOXSports.com, amounts to a one-year offer worth a little over $2 million and it gives Seattle the right of first refusal with Johnson. If any other team signs Johnson to an offer sheet, the Seahawks have the option to match it and retain him. If they don’t, they’d receive the other team’s second-round pick as compensation.
The second-round tender is an indication that the Seahawks feel Johnson, 25, will generate some interest as an unrestricted free agent. He’s backed up starting strong safety Kam Chancellor and contributed on special teams since signing with Seattle as an undrafted free agent out of Boise State in 2011. He had two sacks and returned a blocked punt for a touchdown in 2012 but appeared in only seven games in 2013 due to injuries to both of his hamstrings.
The second-round tender reportedly carries a value of $2.187 million. The Seahawks could ask Johnson to take a paycut if he signs it and remains with Seattle, which the team did last offseason with its three unrestricted free agents.
Wide receiver Doug Baldwin is the Seahawks’ most notable restricted free agent. Backups Lemuel Jeanpierre and Michael Morgan are the others.