Heaps: 5 players Seahawks need to be cautious about re-signing

The Seahawks have a number of key players set to hit free agency, headlined by Pro Bowlers Quandre Diggs and Duane Brown.

Rost: Top free agents who could fill Hawks’ biggest needs

Diggs and Brown are two of five pending free agents former NFL quarterback Jake Heaps believes the Seahawks absolutely must retain, along with tight end Gerald Everett, running back Rashaad Penny and cornerback D.J. Reed.

While Heaps thinks Seattle has to bring those five back for 2022, there are a few other pending Seahawks free agents he feels the team must be cautious of potentially overpaying should they choose to try and re-sign them.

“(Be) cautious about and don’t go overboard, don’t try and get in bidding wars,” Heaps said during 710 ESPN Seattle’s Jake and Stacy on Tuesday.

The first? A young defensive end.

“Rasheem Green, I love the fact that he’s continuing to develop, he’s an extremely young player, but I just don’t see him as a blue chip talent player,” Heaps said of the 24 year old who had a career-high 6.5 sacks in 2021. “I don’t think you need to spend an excess amount of money to bring him back. I believe there are better players, more impactful players in the market that you could use that money towards. But I would certainly love to have Rasheem Green back if the market played itself right.”

Heaps also thinks the team should proceed with caution with another defensive lineman, this one an older player.

“Al Woods is another player that you (need to) look at his age (35 in March). Yes, he had a very good year last year in the scheme change that they made, but would you take Al Woods or would you take (Bears free agent defensive tackle) Akiem Hicks?” Heaps said.

Heaps said Woods brings a lot to the table for the Seahawks but that the team has a younger player who does many of the same things in Bryan Mone, who Seattle can bring back as as a restricted free agent.

“So you have to make some sacrifices,” Heaps said. ” … I think if you don’t get Al Woods at the right price, well, you have Poona Ford, you can get back Bryan Mone and that leaves you room to go out and get a more premier defensive tackle on the market.”

Two members of the secondary are also players Heaps thinks the Seahawks need to avoid overpaying.

“Another guy that I would look at is (safety) Ryan Neal,” he said. “I would love to have Ryan Neal back, and I do believe that you’re probably going to get a lot of interested teams in Ryan Neal because he’s a playmaker and he’s a good, solid football player who has played a lot of snaps here in Seattle over the past two seasons. But I would not overextend, I would not overpay to bring back Ryan Neal here in Seattle … And (cornerback) Sidney Jones is definitely another guy (in that same vein).”

The last member of Heaps’ list is a fan favorite on offense.

“(Tight end) Will Dissly, I would love to have back here in Seattle. We all love ‘Uncle Will,'” Heaps said. “But it has to be at the right price point for the Seattle Seahawks to feel comfortable in doing so.”

Listen to the full second hour of Tuesday’s Jake and Stacy at this link or in the player below.

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