In some respects, the posting of an item on PFT operates like a bat signal.
Stymied in our effort through usual channels to get a full breakdown of quarterback Sam Darnold’s three-year, $100.5 million deal with Seattle, we posted a little while ago that the numbers aren’t available.
And, within 20 minutes, the numbers arrived.
Per a source with knowledge of the terms, here’s the rough breakdown:
1. 2025 compensation: $37.5 million, fully guaranteed.
2. 2026 compensation: $27.5 million, $17.5 million of which is guaranteed for injury and becomes fully guaranteed in the week after Super Bowl LX.
3. 2027 compensation: $35.5 million, non-guaranteed.
The deal also includes $2 million per year for individual performance, $2.5 million per year for postseason performance, and $500,000 per year for team performance.
The structure allows the Seahawks to escape the contract after one year and $37.5 million. While it’s generally frowned upon for teams to scrap contracts when the guarantee flips from injury-only to full in the early days of the waiver period, that’s what the Raiders did with Derek Carr in 2023. (The good news for the player is that it gives him a head start on free agency, by more than a month.)
If the Seahawks pick up the second year of the Darnold contract at $27.5 million, it’s a two-year, $65 million deal. That’s an average of $32.5 million per year.
The upside of $5 million per year could push the total value of the contract from $33.5 million per year to $38.5 million per year. Unlocking those payments would entail the kind of player/team performance that would make the Seahawks more than happy to pay every penny.
Bottom line? If Darnold regresses in 2025, he could be released after only one season. And the Seahawks will be out only $37.5 million. With Geno Smith apparently looking for much more than $37.5 million per year on a new deal in Seattle, the strategic decision to pivot from Smith to Darnold makes sense — even if it ultimately puts the Seahawks back in the market for a quarterback a year from now.
Six days ago, the Seahawks struck a deal with quarterback Sam Darnold. He has since signed it.
And the details of the deal remain under lock and key.
Dozens of contracts have been filed and dissected over the past week. To date, Darnold’s hasn’t shown up. Anywhere.
We’ve shaken the trees we usually shake in search of contract details. We shook it again this morning, after sharing with the source the theory that it’s being kept hidden. The source agreed.
It can’t stay hidden forever. The goal might be to delay it past the point at which most will noice.
It was reported as a three-year, $100.5 million deal. The biggest question is whether it has a year-to-year structure, like the three-year, $75 million base deal signed by Geno Smith in 2023.
Depending on the amount of full guarantees in 2026, it’s possible that Darnold is getting one year to show that last year wasn’t an aberration, and that the Seahawks will be able to cut Darnold loose if he reverts to a ghost-seeing pumpkin without Kevin O’Connell, Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and T.J. Hockenson.
If so, that would show he didn’t have a very robust market, with no one presumably offering him multiple years of fully-guaranteed compensation.
Regardless of the specific reason(s), the fact remains that, despite many of the deals being available for analysis and comment, Darnold’s deal remains a question mark.
It can’t stay under wraps forever. Whenever it surfaces, we’ll break it all down.
The Seahawks have added some depth to their secondary and a contributor on special teams.
Seattle is signing free agent cornerback Shemar Jean-Charles, according to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.
Last year Jean-Charles played in nine games for the Saints, starting two at cornerback and also contributing on special teams.
Jean-Charles was a 2021 fifth-round pick of the Packers who played two years in Green Bay and also briefly played for the 49ers. He has played more on special teams than on defense in his NFL career, and the Seahawks will hope to get some contributions from him both at cornerback and in kick coverage.
DeMarcus Lawrence and Micah Parsons had a disagreement after Lawrence signed with the Seahawks. Lawrence said during an interview after his signing that he was never going to a win a Super Bowl in Dallas.
Parsons took offense on social media, and Lawrence responded back, setting off a battle of words.
On Saturday, Lawrence had much nicer words for the Cowboys and their fans in a goodbye letter.
“I have had the honor and privilege to wear the star and call myself a Dallas Cowboy for my entire NFL career,” Lawrence wrote. “There has never been a moment since the day Jerry Jones called to draft me that I haven’t loved every person in the Dallas community, every fan that supports the Cowboys across the world, and every player, coach and staff member of that incredible organization. I never truly believed that the day would come when I would go and sign with another team. We had always hoped that my family and I would get to finish our careers as Cowboys. Sadly, it just wasn’t meant to be. A new chapter begins. I leave for Seattle with excitement, the same passion for the game I love and determination to prove my way of football to a new organization and fan base. I can’t wait to play for the 12s and lead the Seahawks to victory. This is not the end of my life as a Dallas Cowboy or North Texas resident, but it is a new beginning and chapter for me and my family. I hope you hold us in your prayers and wish us well on our next journey, and we will see you soon. 90 out!”
Cooper Kupp is staying in the NFC West.
According to multiple reports, Kupp has agreed to a three-year contract with the Seahawks. Those reports peg the compensation at $15 million per year.
The move continues the offensive overhaul that the Seahawks have embarked upon this offseason. Quarterback Geno Smith and wide receiver DK Metcalf were traded while wide receiver Tyler Lockett was released. Sam Darnold is now the signal caller and Kupp will join Jaxson Smith-Njigba as his top targets in the passing game.
Kupp was released by the Rams earlier this week after missing significant chunks of time due to injury in each of the last three years. Moving to Seattle means that the 2021 offensive player of the year is now set to face his former team twice in the regular season. We’ll learn when those games will be played later in the offseason and they’ll be even more meaningful as a result of Friday’s move.
UPDATE 6:46 p.m. ET: Kupp has confirmed that he plans to sign with the Seahawks.
Free agent guard Teven Jenkins is set to be in Seattle for St. Patrick’s Day.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Jenkins is slated for a visit with the Seahawks on Monday. It’s the first reported visit for Jenkins since the start of the new league year on Wednesday.
Jenkins was a 2021 Bears second-round pick and started 38 of the 45 games he played in Chicago. The Seahawks saw Laken Tomlinson depart for Houston in free agency, which opened up a spot that Jenkins could fill on their offensive line.
Jenkins is No. 69 on PFT’s list of this year’s top free agents and one of a dwindling number of unattached players in that group.
Last Friday, when the Seahawks agreed to trade quarterback Geno Smith to the Raiders, there’s no way the Seahawks didn’t know that they’d be signing quarterback Sam Darnold — tampering rules be damned.
On Sunday, when the Steelers agreed to trade for Seahawks receiver D.K. Metcalf, the Steelers apparently didn’t make similar advance arrangements.
And that they’ve now committed to Metcalf on a multi-year deal with a total average at signing of $30 million annually, they still don’t know who’ll be throwing passes to Metcalf.
They should have done it in advance. While it would have been tampering (the NFL doesn’t care, except in that one case in 1,000 when it does) to strike an advance deal with a player due to become a free agent on Wednesday, they could have finalized something with the quarterbacks who were still on the roster: Justin Fields and Russell Wilson. They also could have finalized something with Aaron Rodgers, since he had permission from the Jets to talk to other teams.
The quarterback position is far too important to just wing it. Especially when the Steelers have done something they’ve never done before by paying close to top-of-market value to a player who has not previously played for the team.
And it’s clear that the Steelers are winging it. They’re currently waiting for Rodgers. If he goes to the Giants or Vikings, then what?
All teams have a list of potential targets, at every position. Need a receiver? Check the list. Inside linebacker? Check the list. Long snapper? Check the list.
It’s one thing to check the list for a backup quarterback, or if the starter suffers a season-ending injury in October. In March, when a team has no starter, there has to be a more focused plan than looking at the next name on the list.
Before trading for Metcalf, they needed to have a deal in place (even if it meant tampering to do it) with someone they were confident could implement the plan to get full value out of Metcalf.
They’re now playing a game that’s equal parts chicken and Russian Roulette with their quarterback prospects for 2025. And even if it all works out, Steelers fans have spent the past few days not waving their Terrible Towels but wiping the sweat from their brows with them.
But that’s what happens when a team does something it’s never done before. Certain details can get lost in the shuffle. Like nailing down a strategy at quarterback before making an investment in a receiver that has no chance of providing a solid return without a quarterback who can get the ball in his hands on a reliable and repeated basis.
The Dolphins are adding a tight end.
Per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, Pharaoh Brown has agreed to a one-year deal with Miami.
Brown, 30, spent last season with the Seahawks. He appeared in 15 games with seven starts and recorded eight catches for 65 yards. He was on the field for 27 percent of offensive snaps and 47 percent of special teams snaps in games played.
Having entered the league as an undrafted free agent in 2017, Brown has played 87 games for the Raiders, Browns, Texans, Patriots, and Seahawks. He’s caught 72 career passes for 751 yards with three TDs.
While one team appears to be out on Cooper Kupp, another candidate to sign him has emerged.
Per Mike Silver of TheAthletic.com, the Saints are making a push to sign Kupp.
Kupp doesn’t have the connections to the coaching staff of the Saints like he does with the Seahawks and Cowboys. But he would still be a welcome addition to a team that did not have a receiver catch more than 32 passes last season. Chris Olave led the group’s wideouts with 32 receptions for 400 yards while playing only eight games due to injury.
In 2024, Kupp caught 67 passes for 710 yards with six touchdowns in 12 games.
Kupp is reportedly nearing a decision on his destination after being officially released by the Rams this week.
Thursday’s unexpected Twitter tussle between Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence apparently wasn’t completely unexpected by those who cover the team. Some have said in the aftermath of the skirmish that trouble has been brewing between the two.
Which raises some questions.
At the core, it seems possible — it not likely — that one or more veteran Cowboys developed resentment for Parsons not long after he joined the team. He may have rubbed some, like Lawrence, the wrong way. And that feeling may have lingered between these teammates until the point at which they were no longer teammates.
And then, boom, on Lawrence’s official first day as a Seahawk, it hit the fan.
It didn’t help that Lawrence took a shot at the Cowboys, even if he’s stating the obvious about whether he ever would have won a Super Bowl in Dallas.
Here’s the deeper question. Is the Parsons-Lawrence dynamic an exception? Are there other players with whom Parsons would have beef, and vice versa, if/when those players become former Cowboys? Or if (unlikely, but possible) Parsons becomes a former Cowboy?
When it comes to great players, organizations should and usually do put up with anything/everything that would cause consternation or distraction if it came from a lesser performer. That doesn’t mean he’ll be beloved in the locker room. Last year, Cowboys safety Malik Hooker publicly questioned Parsons’s podcast habit. Parsons took to social media to voice his objection to Hooker’s words.
Parsons arrived as a hotshot rookie in 2021. Did something happen to create turmoil? Did the vets not like the way he carried himself? Was it a failure to know his place, at least at first? A lack of sufficient self-awareness as to how new guys should behave?
That’s part of the basic dynamics of an NFL locker room, and it’s ultimately up to the head coach to smooth over anything that can get in the way of the ultimate goal of winning.
Whatever the solution (it usually includes sending clear messages to one or more players about how things will be), the roots of Parsons vs. Lawrence were permitted to fester and quietly grow. Now that Lawrence is gone, the mutual issues between the two players have bubbled over.
Here’s the question for the Cowboys: Was Lawrence the only one, or is he simply the first?
Or, given the things Hooker said last year, the second?
