With one of the NFL’s premier pass-rushers currently locked in a stalemate with his organization, I wanted to discuss the financial side of a possible Trey Hendrickson acquisition by the Seahawks. Most likely any trade would need to have an extension commensurate with his value included.`
Rob wrote some thoughts down last week and this quote helps make the case that John Schneider should be making inquiries about a trade package for Hendrickson:
It’s hard to shake the thought of what a truly outstanding ‘EDGE’ could do for this team though. He could be the kind of acquisition that takes you over the top, as we saw with the moves the Rams and 49ers made in the trade market to reach Super Bowls. The NFC is still somewhat open in terms of who can really push to make the Championship game. This could be a rare opportunity.
I want to chime in a bit as well. From my perspective, if the Seahawks are figuring a ceiling of 11-13 wins this year and/or the next year with the roster they have right now, adding a piece like Hendrickson would put them firmly in the NFC discussion to go very deep into the playoffs.
Why?
Hendrickson can win you games.
Last season in Week Nine vs Las Vegas Hendrickson recorded this ridiculous stat package:
- Four sacks and nine pressures
- Four tackles for loss
- Seven QB hits, including three QB knockdowns
- A pass defensed and a sack/fumble that Cincinnati recovered
It was a tour de force performance that earned him an historic 95.9 PFF grade. The Raiders had eleven drives and by my count Hendrickson killed at least four of them himself with an impact play.
Remember that insane two-game stretch Leonard Williams had last year in back-to-back games? Hendrickson matched that in this game alone.
Ah, but that was against a lowly Raiders team. How do we know Hendrickson can turn it on against the best in the NFL?
Glad you asked. Have a look at his stat line for the Bengals’ breakthrough win against the Chiefs in the 2021 AFC Championship game. About 90% of Hendrickson’s snaps that day were against Pro Bowl Left Tackle Orlando Brown.
How did he do?
- 1.5 sacks and four pressures
- One TFL and two QB hits
Granted, it was not as impressive as his Raider game but consider this — the Bengals were getting shredded by Patrick Mahomes. At halftime he had 220 yards passing on 18/21 attempts and three touchdowns. The Bengals were down 21-10 in Kansas City and everyone was booking the Chiefs for their third straight Super Bowl appearance.
The change Defensive Coordinator Lou Anarumo made at halftime was inspired. For most of the second half, in passing situations, he only rushed three players – mixing in the occasional fourth as a blitzer – and dropped eight into coverage. Mahomes and the Chiefs could not adapt and were kept out of the end zone for the second half and overtime. Hendrickson was one of the three rushing and was a terror. Every time Mahomes looked over his shoulder, Hendrickson was there. He got his sack-and-a-half in the fourth quarter, twice killing Kansas City drives. The Chiefs drove to the Bengals’ seven-yard line late in the game but back-to-back sacks of Mahomes forced them to settle for a Field Goal and go to Overtime.
Imagine your Defensive Coordinator coming to you at halftime and telling you they are going to flood coverage and not only will you have no help rushing the passer but you will also probably be regularly double-teamed. Plus, you need to find a way to be just as effective, if not more so, if the team was going to beat this dynasty of a franchise on their turf and advance to the Super Bowl. Hendrickson understood the assignment and delivered. That is clutch.
It is not hard to envision Mike Macdonald asking Hendrickson to do just that in a critical game. To provide pressure while allowing Macdonald to deploy versatile weapons like Coby Bryant, Devon Witherspoon and Nick Emmanwori.
This has been a shameless plug to warm you up to the idea of paying Hendrickson a lot of money. Because that is what it is going to take to get him to Seattle.
However, the Seahawks can bring Hendrickson into the fold without severely crippling their ability to make other important financial moves. How?
A Mutually Beneficial Contract Proposal
Let’s establish the facts: Hendrickson is 30 years old and will be 31 in December. He is set for a $16 million cap hit this year and is out of contract in 2026. He was the NFL’s sack and pressure leader last season and came in second place in voting for Defensive Player of the Year to Patrick Surtain.
He has rightly earned a new contract with a huge raise in pay. It is fair to say that this will be his best bite at the apple.
The top-five edge rushers’ contracts in the league average $34.67 million per season with Myles Garrett leading the way at $40 million annually.
What I am proposing for Hendrickson is this: A two-year, $74 million extension with $52.25 million guaranteed. Hendrickson takes his spot as the second-best paid pass rusher behind Garrett and the Seahawks get their game-changing defensive player.
Actually no, that is not the contract I would have the Seahawks sign. But that is how the initial details on my proposal would be reported by the Adam Schefters and Ian Rappports. It would be celebrated by the NFL community as an underrated player getting his just rewards, the Seahawks making a bold statement to get them where they want to go and by fans of other teams as the Seahawks losing their minds and desperately unloading dump trucks of money on a player in his 30’s.
The real details of the contract would be this: The two years added would be an extension that absorbs the $16 million 2025 cap number into the contract to make it a three-year $90 million contract. The amount fully guaranteed at signing would be $36.25 million, made up of a $35 million signing bonus and $1.25 million of guaranteed salary. It also includes a 2026 Roster Bonus of $10 million and $6 million of salary that are both guaranteed for injury, with a February or March 2026 vesting date.
I added two void years to defer $14 million of the signing bonus.
Have a look at how the cap hits laid out in this scenario:
It is structured somewhat similarly to the Sam Darnold contract — two void years to manage the early cap hits, a nuclear option to escape the contract after one year and flexibility to restructure and push cap hits out if they desire.
Hendrickson gets $36.25 million in the first year and a strong shot at another $22 million in the second year of the deal and has his great work rewarded.
Essentially, this contract is a two-year, $58.25 million deal that is financed over three seasons.
The Seahawks cap $37.25 million in Hendrickson’s age 31-32 years and have $21 million of dead money if they want to move on in the third year. Two full years of Hendrickson would cost them $58.25 million but the dead cap would hit in the third year of the deal. They could even post-June1 cut him in 2027 to spread the contract over four years.
The 2026 cap hit of $29 million is workable and at this point something the Seahawks could afford. They currently have $58 million in cap room per OTC and could nearly double that with some obvious cuts, restructurings and extensions.
However, if the Seahawks felt the need to pick up some more cap room, the team could restructure Hendrickson’s 2026 compensation to take his cap hit down to $13.475 million. It would clear up $15.25 million of cap room in 2026.
The $58.25 million then becomes split as $21.725 million for the first two seasons and a $36.525 million dead cap hit in 2027.
Here is how it would look on paper:
I get that nobody would be excited about the Seahawks socking themselves with $36 million in dead cap money in 2027. If Hendrickson does not live up to expectations, it would hang around the team’s neck like a millstone in fan’s minds.
However, the cap is increasing so rapidly now, pushing out some money into future years is almost a necessity to stay competitive. Last year, the cap increased by over 13%. This year it increased by over 9%. $36 million in 2025 cap dollars will be the equivalent of about $43 million in 2027 cap dollars – except the money stays at $36 million. It is better than an interest-free loan – teams will gain cap money by financing their expenditures in this manner. The trick is to get maximum value in those cheap seasons and keep drafting well.
Furthermore, 2027 will still see the 2024 and 2025 draft classes (Byron Murphy, AJ Barner, Christian Haynes, Tyrice Knight, Grey Zabel, Nick Emmanwori, Elijah Arrojo, Jalen Milroe, etc) plus two more classes on rookie contracts, and any players from the 2023 rookie class the Seahawks extend (Devon Witherspoon, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Derick Hall, Zach Charbonnet) will have relatively low cap hits in the first year of their extensions.
I said it before and I’ll say it again: the best way to manage your salary cap is to draft well. Adding Hendrickson would be reaping some of the rewards for doing just that in the last three years.
It is a very healthy price the Seahawks will have to put on their salary cap if they want to add Trey Hendrickson. We have not discussed what they would need to send in trade to acquire him, which also needs to be factored.
Yet as we have been talking about for years and years, winning starts in the trenches. A fearsome defensive line can keep the team’s head above water as they adjust to a new Offensive Coordinator, Quarterback and integrate the impact rookies into the lineup. They also can give the ball back to the offense with a short field – something that Russell Wilson and Geno Smith rarely had the last few seasons. Add in a new approach to the running game and suddenly the Seahawks become a lot harder to play against.
They might not make significant gains in the wins column but they will be much harder to beat and that is what matters in the playoffs.
The opportunity to acquire a field-tilting piece should be carefully examined as a real opportunity. The Seahawks have the ability to fit Hendrickson into their plans.
