Before the Seattle Seahawks could sign their major picks from the 2023 NFL draft, they had to create some salary cap room.
This morning we learned that the team has created several million in salary cap space for this coming season by tweaking the contract of wide receiver Tyler Lockett. According to Spotrac, they converted $8.535 million of Lockett’s base salary to a signing bonus, which frees up $5.69 million.
The #Seahawks converted $8.535M of Tyler Lockett's 2023 salary into signing bonus, clearing $5.69M of cap space this season.
Lockett's Future Cap Hits
(dead cap)
2023: $11M ($29M)
2024: $26.7M ($19.8M)
2025: $26.7M ($9.8M)https://t.co/d4fwzIy5C8— Spotrac (@spotrac) May 11, 2023
Lockett is still under contract through the 2025 season.
According to the latest figures, Seattle was -$4,394,734 over the cap before this move, so it should put them at about $1.5 million – which is not enough to sign either of their first-round picks.
In other words, expect more creative salary cap moves to come. Two of our best ideas are giving Uchenna Nwosu an extension and restructuring Jamal Adams’ deal. Odds are they’ll have to make a couple of painful roster cuts before this is over, though.