Trade deadline talk, changes in the Seahawks defense Sunday, and more in our weekly Twitter mailbag. Let’s get to it.
@ColdWunz asked: Do you think Seattle likes what they see out of Mike Jackson and Tre Brown enough to trade Sidney Jones?
Interestingly, ESPN reported Tuesday that the Seahawks are indeed dangling Jones in trade talks before the Nov. 1 deadline.
And it makes sense as Jones is a veteran who could help a team with an immediate need at corner. For now, he appears on the outside looking in with the Seahawks, with Jackson having emerged as the starter at left corner and rookie Tariq Woolen on the right side.
Seattle also has Artie Burns and Justin Coleman as veteran backups, though, Burns is dealing with a groin issue that held him out Sunday, as well as Isaiah Dunn, with Xavier Crawford on the practice squad.
And then there is Brown, who became a starter midway through last season but remains on injured reserve while recovering from knee surgery last November. It remains unclear when Brown will be back — the team can open his three-week practice window at any time.
But it will be interesting to see what kind of market there would be for Jones. Seattle, recall, got him from Jacksonville for a sixth-round pick. But that was before the season and at a time the Seahawks suddenly had a need for corners.
And due in part to a lingering concussion, Jones has played in just three games this year with 45 snaps overall — 11 Sunday against Arizona.
But Jones is on just a one-year contract, so if Seattle were to get an offer, it would make sense to consider it.
@ourrealtor4life: Do you think the Seahawks will make any moves before the trade deadline?
Never say never, but this doesn’t feel like a year where there’s necessarily a major move coming, unlike 2019 (Quandre Diggs) or 2020 (Carlos Dunlap), when Seattle added significant players at or near the deadline.
For one thing, the Seahawks have little salary cap flexibility.
In fact, in a move designed mostly just to get through the season, the Seahawks last week created about $1.7 million in cap space by converting the rest of the base salary of guard Gabe Jackson for the rest of this season into signing bonus, according to OvertheCap.com. Jackson was due about $3.5 million in base salary for the rest of 2022. Converting that to bonus allows the Seahawks to spread the cap hits of that over the final two seasons of Jackson’s contract — 2022 and 2023 — or about $1.7 million each year.
That pumped up Seattle’s cap space for the rest of the 2022 season from about $1.5 million to about $3.2 million.
Seattle had been near the bottom of available cap space but as of Sunday was listed as 23rd.
Redoing Jackson’s contract was not thought to be aimed at making any specific move but at creating more space to get through the 2022 season and having flexibility to cover injured reserve, practice squad elevations, among other things.
And this is a season that has seemed aimed in part developing the team’s younger players and building a core for the future — this might not be a year when the Seahawks want to use significant future assets such as draft picks or cap space in future seasons for the present.
In other words, no, I don’t see them going after Christian McCaffrey and his $19.5 million cap hits in 2023 and 2024, especially with Kenneth Walker III looking like he can be the “bell cow” running back the rest of the way.
@carter_pivnick asked: The defense looked better on Sunday: How much of that has to do with Cody Barton’s snap count, and if so do you see Seattle defense playing this personnel and/or well going forward?
Barton did indeed see his lowest snap count of the year Sunday — 28 — after he had played 46 or more in each of the first five games.
And that was mostly because the Seahawks went with a three-safety look often in passing downs, subbing in Josh Jones for Barton.
According to Pro Football Focus, Jones played 23 snaps — 21 in pass coverage — and on all of the snaps, Seattle had its other safeties (Quandre Diggs, Ryan Neal) on the field. Jones had played only 14 snaps against New Orleans.
Of Barton’s snaps, 16 came in coverage and 12 in run defense, on a day when Arizona had 47 drop backs and 24 runs.
Generally, when Jones came in the game, he played safety and Neal moved up to take Barton’s spot in the box, essentially playing inside linebacker.
This was actually the plan the Seahawks had in mind for Jamal Adams this year and moved away from for a few games after Adams was injured. Now, they are going back to it with Neal healthy.
Coach Pete Carroll on Monday called Barton’s usage “just how the game plan came to us.”
And given Arizona’s struggles running, there’s probably some truth that the Seahawks wanted to go with more nickel and dime looks against the Cardinals pass — Arizona passed on 18 of 22 plays in the fourth quarter, for instance, when Seattle appeared to be using more of its nickel and dime sets.
So, I’m not sure this is quite the indictment of Barton that people may perceive it, though obviously change was in order after the Lions and Saints games.
I think using three-safety looks more was in the works all along and something Seattle can get back to more now with Neal healthy, and liking Jones in a third-safety role, and will probably always be somewhat dependent on each week’s game plan.
But we’ll see what each week brings.
@brianinptown asked: What happens with Jamal Adams at the end of the season?
The hope is he gets healthy and comes back to a starting — and starring — role in 2023. The question, I assume, is referring to whether the Seahawks could do anything to get out of Adams’ contract.
The answer, without getting too complicated, is not really in 2023.
Adams has a dead money hit of $21.3 million with no cap savings if he is released. He also has a non-guaranteed base salary of $11 million, $2.56 million of which becomes guaranteed five days after the Super Bowl and is guaranteed for injury now. So, in other words, the Seahawks would probably save only $8.44 million in cash, assuming he got the $2.56 million based on injury.
Given that, and the team’s already hefty investment in Adams in terms of draft picks and the $21 million signing bonus that was part of his contract signed in August 2021, everything points to Adams being back in 2023.
But after that, his contract is structured in a way that it makes it much more realistic for Seattle to try to get out of it, depending on how Adams performs once he returns.