Huard: What a new development with Nwosu’s Seahawks contract says

Uchenna Nwosu’s contract situation with the Seattle Seahawks took an interesting turn Thursday.

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Nwosu was set to have a $6 million injury guarantee for the 2025 season trigger on his contract Friday, but the Seahawks and the veteran edge rusher appear to have pushed that guarantee back, according to ESPN’s Brady Henderson.

With Seattle facing a major salary cap crunch this offseason (OverTheCap list the team at roughly $16.7 million over in effective cap space), Nwosu is one of many candidates to have his contract restructured or to be cut to free up cap space. The USC product carries the fifth-largest cap hit on the roster for 2025 at just under $21.2 million, per OverTheCap. It comes after back-to-back injury-riddled seasons following a three-year extension worth up to $59 million that he signed with the team before the 2023 season, which keeps him under contract with the franchise through 2026.

What does it all mean for the team’s 2022 breakout star? Former NFL quarterback Brock Huard shared what he’s reading from the situation during his Blue 88 segment Friday on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.

“That is a lot of money that should be guaranteed today, but because of the last couple years, because of the injuries, because of the lack of production to meet the numbers that have been paid, the Seahawks want to kind of step back and rework this deal,” Huard said.

“Uchenna is smart enough to go, ‘They’re not just trying to screw me. They want me here. I think if we can be reasonable and find some middle ground here, I get where they’re coming from too.’”

Smart move?

Nwosu emerged as one of the Seahawks’ top defenders during their surprise run to the playoffs in 2022, his first season with the team. He led the team with 12 tackles for loss, 9.5 sacks and 26 quarterback hits while adding 66 total tackles and three forced fumbles.

But Nwosu has played in just 12 games in the two seasons since. He missed the final 11 games of 2023 with a torn pectoral muscle and 11 more games in 2024 while dealing with knee, thigh and quad injuries.

After missing 22 games over two seasons, Huard could see why Nwosu wouldn’t necessarily want to hit the free agent market this offseason.

“There’s 24 starting D-tackles in this upcoming draft, plus a whole lot of other edge guys, plus a whole bunch of edge dudes in this free agent (class),” Huard said. “I don’t want to be in that pool coming off my last two seasons.”

Huard ultimately sees the situation as one that shows Nwosu has trust in the franchise that the two parties will come together and get a restructured deal done.

“That comes with (Seahawks general manager) John Schneider being here 15 years. That comes with Nolan Teasley, their now assistant GM, being here (12) years. That comes with Aaron Hineline, now their college scouting director, being here almost 20 years,” Huard said. “Speaking of development and time on task, there’s just a lot of it. And to me, I read into this as a positive – positive of trust that we’re going to find a way to work this out.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

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