Who Could Be Seahawks Next Restructure Candidate?

Seattle Seahawks receiver DK Metcalf turns upfield after catching a pass during training camp at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center. Credit: Corbin Smith/Emerald City Spectrum

With the start of the new league year just around the corner, general manager John Schneider and the Seattle Seahawks have started the process of cleaning up their finances in preparation for free agency and the upcoming NFL Draft.

Kicking off the festivities, Seattle restructured the contract of defensive tackle Leonard Williams on February 6, converting a chunk of his base salary for 2025 into a roster bonus to open up more than $14 million in cap relief for 2025. Even with that move, however, more needs to be done for the team to be able to conduct business once free agency begins on March 12, as OverTheCap.com estimates that they are still more than $12 million over the NFL’s mandated cap.

After restructuring Williams’ contract, could Schneider go that route again in coming weeks as part of his blueprint to put the Seahawks in a better position cap-wise prior to free agency? Diving into the team’s books, here are five potential restructure candidates to watch leading up to a new league year:

Uchenna Nwosu

In the two years since Nwosu signed a massive extension, the veteran edge defender has been ravaged by injuries. First, he missed the final 11 games of the 2023 season with a torn pectoral muscle. Then, after wrapping up a lengthy recovery from that injury, he suffered a sprained knee thanks to what he deemed a dirty block by Browns guard Wyatt Teller, missing the first four regular season games before a brief return lasted just 20 plays in a loss to the Giants before he tore his left quad.

Due to those durability concerns, the Seahawks may not be in a rush to kick more money down the road on Nwosu’s contract, as a restructure would increase his cap hit to $24 million in 2026. However, he just turned 28 years old and found his groove in the final five games after coming back from his latest injury, including generating four pressures and a sack in a Week 17 win against the Bears in Chicago, starting to resemble his 2022 self when he set career-highs with 9.5 sacks and 17 quarterback hits.

Rolling into the offseason with a clean bill of health, Seattle likely will be counting on Nwosu to re-emerge as a foundational defender up front in coach Mike Macdonald’s scheme. If the team still views him in that light, with him still being in the prime of his career, restructuring him to open up more than $6 million in cap space could be a smart move.

DK Metcalf

Typically, players entering the final year of their contract aren’t eligible for restructures. But in the case of Metcalf, who opted for a three-year contract to hasten his next opportunity to potentially hit the market, the Seahawks added three void years onto his deal when they extended him in July 2022, which creates an opportunity for the team to convert a portion of his salary into a signing bonus spread out over the additional voided years if they wish.

If Seattle opts to go this route, restructuring Metcalf’s final year on his current deal would create more than $12 million in instant cap relief, putting the team close to compliance and setting the stage for a couple other moves to put them in a healthy spot before free agency kicks off. But doing so would also incur dead cap hits of more than $6 million for the next three voided seasons, making it seem less plausible due to the long-term ramifications.

With that said, if the Seahawks can’t sign Metcalf to an extension before free agency opens on March 12 and chooses not to trade him, it would make sense to consider a restructure to create immediate funds to address other positions of need on the roster, as doing so would not curtail the front office from continuing to negotiate a new contract with the star wideout in ensuing months leading up to the start of the 2025 season.

Dre’Mont Jones

Metcalf isn’t the only current Seahawk with a soon-to-be expired contract featuring voided years, as the front office added two of them to the tail end of the deal as part of a restructure executed on the veteran defender’s contract last summer to open up cap space. Choosing to do it again before free agency begins would create $9.886 million in instant cap space, the second-largest potential restructure option at Schneider’s disposal right now.

But while it’s possible that another restructure could be orchestrated, unlike Metcalf, Jones hasn’t come close to playing up to the three-year contract he signed to join Seattle in 2023. After a disappointing first season with the organization, though he did have 45 pressures per Pro Football Focus charting, he failed to match his 4.5 sacks from the year prior along with producing just seven tackles for loss and one swatted pass, once again struggling to produce the type of impact plays expected from a player carrying a top-five cap hit on the roster.

Since he has the ability to play multiple spots along the defensive line and has flashed in spurts, the Seahawks could bring back Jones either on his current deal or with a short extension to lower his cap hit. But if the team wants to maximize savings, releasing the underachieving defender would open up $2 million more in cap space, and that alternative seems much more likely than another restructure for a player who hasn’t met expectations to this point.

Roy Robertson-Harris

Statistically, Robertson-Harris wasn’t necessarily a game changer after the Seahawks acquired him from the Jaguars prior to the trade deadline, as he didn’t record a sack and had only five pressures and a tackle for loss in 11 games. But he provided Macdonald’s front line with invaluable reps rotating into the lineup as a 3-tech defensive tackle and 5-tech defensive end while also playing quite a few snaps outside of the opposing tackle, outplaying his numbers with sound gap play as a run defender while doing the dirty work on stunts to open up opportunities for teammates.

Since Jacksonville ate a chunk of his contract as dead cap with bonuses already paid out, Seattle is only on the hook for a $6.6 million cap hit for Robertson-Harris in 2025. That’s a hefty price tag for a player who hasn’t produced more than 3.5 sacks in a single NFL season, and choosing to release him would take the entirety of his cap hit off the books, manufacturing a substantial chunk of change that can be used to potentially sign multiple players and/or incoming rookies.

But if the Seahawks want to keep Robertson-Harris, opting to restructure his contract would make his 2025 cap hit much more manageable for a quality rotational reserve, dropping his cap number to $2.591 million. As another plus, due to voided years in 2027 and 2028, restructuring would add less than $1.5 million in cap hits per season through 2028, making this possibility seem like a far more realistic one.

Jason Myers

In terms of cap creation, restructuring Myers would barely put a dent in Seattle’s current situation, as the move would generate only $1.8 million in relief. But such a decision shouldn’t be completely ruled out, as every penny counts when it comes to offseason roster building, and close to an extra $2 million could be the difference in whether or not the team can afford to re-sign a prioritized free agent such as linebacker Ernest Jones or possibly defensive tackle Jarran Reed.

Most likely, however, a restructure for Myers would happen after the draft or even prior to the start of the season, as Schneider historically has tried to find ways to add a bit more financial cushion in August and September to provide flexibility to make a deal at the deadline if necessary.