Rost: Seattle Seahawks’ free agent strategy hasn’t been a strong suit

The Seattle Seahawks on Tuesday missed out on one of the top free agent guards available, Will Fries, a reality that rightfully frustrated some fans considering Seattle cleared over $60 million in cap space by Sunday evening and had a clear and obvious need up front.

But as both a defense and a critique: free agency isn’t really a strong suit for the Seahawks.

Seattle Seahawks add WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling in free agency, per report

They’ve rarely made a massive addition early in the signing period — 2023’s addition of Dre’Mont Jones at three years, $51.3 million was the richest free agent contract ever handed out by general manager John Schneider — and that has, in their defense, saved them from some franchise-altering flops.

The Jets gave Le’Veon Bell a four-yearm $52 million deal in 2019, and he gave them three touchdowns and 3.2 yards per carry. The Texans signed Brock Osweiler to a four-year, $72 million deal in 2016 for … some reason, and he played a single season. Just last offseason, the Falcons gave Kirk Cousins a four-year, $180 million deal last offseason only to bench him for his heir apparent, former UW Huskies star Michael Penix Jr., late in the season.

The Seahawks have saved themselves those costly missteps. And have, at least, made a couple impactful signings since 2022, namely Geno Smith (who re-signed with the team in 2022 after testing free agency) and Julian Love.

So, they haven’t lost a ton of money, but they haven’t found a ton of contributors, either. An admittedly incomplete list of free agent signings since 2017 leaves plenty to be desired:

• 2017: Michael Wilhoite, Eddie Lacy, Luke Joeckel, Bradley McDougald, Dion Jordan, Troymaine Pope
• 2018: Barkevious Mingo, Ed Dickson, DJ Fluker, Mike Davis, Tom Johnson, Shamar Stephen, Jaron Brown, Maurice Alexander, Akeem King
• 2019: Ziggy Ansah, Cassius Marsh, Nate Orchard, Mike Iupati, Jason Myers
• 2020: Phillip Dorsett II, Chance Warmack, BJ Finney, Cedric Ogbuehi, Brandon Shell, Greg Olsen
• 2021: Akhello Witherspoon, Gerald Everett, Kerry Hyder Jr.
• 2022: Uchenna Nwosu, Artie Burns, Austin Blythe, Quinton Jefferson, Geno Smith
• 2023: Devon Bush, Dre’Mont Jones, Julian Love, Evan Brown
• 2024: Pharoah Brown, Tyrel Dodson, Jerome Baker, Nick Harris, Rayshawn Jenkins

Of that list, the only players to become full-time starters were Fluker (2018-19), Iupati (2019-20), McDougald (2017-19), Myers (2019-present), Nwosu (2022-24), Jones (2023-24), Love (2023-24) and Smith (2022-24). Of that group, only Myers, Nwosu and Love are still with the team.

You’d give the Seahawks a pass here if there wasn’t a very recent example of a team finding incredibly impactful contributors from free agency: the Eagles signed running back Saquon Barkley and linebacker Zack Baun last offseason and awarded both new contracts this month. Barkley, who’d always been a star, was a clear and obvious target. But Baun was a special find: a former third-round pick who’d mostly been a special teamer for the Saints and spent a bit of time with the Ravens before signing a one-year deal with the Eagles. He became one of Philly’s best defensive players in a championship season.

A team isn’t built on free agency; it’s a just a tool for success that’s used in different ways by different organizations. It’s probably why Schneider doesn’t love throwing money at a problem. More often, key trades and draft hits cement the foundation of winning teams.

But every team needs a return on resources somewhere, and unexpected contributors are often subtle keys to success (Smith for the Seahawks in ’22, Baun for the Eagles in ’24). The Seahawks aren’t the only team to shy away from overspending on free agents. But they are staring at a 10-year NFC championship appearance drought, a second consecutive season missing the playoffs, and an offensive line that’s been one of the worst in football for far too long.

Improvement needs to come somewhere, and if it’s not going to be with free agent success this year, there’s all the more pressure on Schneider to make the moves to follow worth it.

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