How does new salary cap impact Seahawks’ offseason?

The NFL has set its salary cap for the 2024 season, with the Seattle Seahawks and the rest of the league’s 32 teams receiving a record increase of $30.6 million with the cap at $255.4 million.

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How does all that newly available money impact what the Seahawks may do with their roster this offseason?

On Monday’s edition of Bump and Stacy on Seattle Sports, Stacy Rost asked her co-host, Michael Bumpus, that exact question.

Bumpus, a former NFL wide receiver who is now a host and analyst for the Seahawks Radio Network, has an interesting way of looking at it.

“Surprisingly, no,” Bumpus responded when asked if the new salary cap changed the way he looks at the Seahawks’ roster.

And why is that?

“Because I think you still have to figure out what you can do with Jamal (Adams), and I think most people think they’re on the same page with that,” Bumpus continued. “I think that you still have to do what you can to keep Leonard (Williams), and I think you still have to do what you can to keep Jordyn (Brooks). I look at the tight end room the same way. Alright, how many of those are you going to keep? I don’t think it forces you to do anything. I think it allows you to look elsewhere a bit more.”

That’s where things could get interesting. Perhaps it makes the Seahawks a player in the market for linebacker Patrick Queen, for example, who just made his first Pro Bowl in his fourth season with the Baltimore Ravens.

“Only thing it does is it says alright, go ahead and make a bid for Queen. But with that, Baltimore’s gonna make a higher bid for Queen, and so is everyone else in the league who’s looking for a linebacker,” Bumpus said.

The record increase to the cap also helps Seattle’s quarterback situation, according to Bumpus.

“I look at Geno (Smith) and I still think he’s on a good deal because next year he’s only going to count for about 11% of of the salary cap.”

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The way Bumpus sees it, the new cap doesn’t change much in terms of how Seattle will handle the top of its roster.

“I love that there’s more money to be spent, but I look at the top 5% of the roster and I go, alright, you still gotta do what you can to keep those guys. It’s the guys who are coming off the bench, who are running down on special teams and all that, how many of those guys can you fill in? How many quality guys can you fill in in those roles? So no, I look at the roster the same.

“You still keep Geno, got to figure out what to do with Jamal, you want to keep Brooks, you want to keep Leonard, you have to look at the tight end room. The offensive line I think they’re gonna hit the draft for that. So no, as crazy as it seems to add $30 million to that thing and to see the possibilities, I still feel the exact same way about the Seahawks roster.”

Listen to the full conversation in Four-Down Territory, which is the second segment in the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post from Monday’s edition of Bump and Stacy. And for more on the salary cap, listen to Bump and Stacy’s discussion with Yahoo Sports’ Jori Epstein in the player below.

More on the Seattle Seahawks

• Seahawks Draft: Analyst says Texas’ Byron Murphy has best D-tackle tape
• Three reasons not to worry about Seahawks coaches not attending combine
• Bumpus: Two offensive players the Seahawks should target in first round
• Rost: Which young Seahawks need to break out in 2024?
• Seattle Seahawks GM Schneider: Why new coaching staff won’t be at combine

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