Two of the Seahawks’ three visitors Thursday will end up signing. Hours after Devin Bush committed to Seattle, CBS Sports’ Josina Anderson reports Julian Love will do the same.
Love will sign a two-year, $12M deal with the Seahawks, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. This represents an intriguing addition, as the former Giants safety is only going into his age-25 season and will now do so for a team rostering Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs.
Adams suffered a torn quad tendon in Week 1 of last season, but the former All-Pro is still tied to the league’s third-most lucrative safety contract. Diggs is also in the top 10 at the position, having re-signed with Seattle last year. The Seahawks already had the highest-paid safety tandem in football; Love joining the duo represents a staggering commitment to the position. Before Love’s addition, Seattle had $39.7M committed to its safety position. No other team has more than $31M, in 2023 cap dollars, tied to that spot.
Three-safety looks would appear to be in the offing for the Seahawks unless the team is making unexpected plans to jettison one of its well-compensated incumbents, and Love is coming off his best season. He played 1,006 snaps for a depleted Giants secondary last year, and DC Don Martindale used Love all over the formation. Love’s versatility figures to help the Seahawks keep their three safeties on the field together often.
The Giants negotiated with Love prior to the legal tampering period and were in talks with the young defender after that point, but it did not sound like the sides were too close on terms. That said, the $6M-AAV point would seemingly not have been too much higher compared to where the Giants were willing to go. But Big Blue has an Xavier McKinney extension to consider. That stood to affect their Love offer, and the former fourth-round pick will head to the Pacific Northwest.
Pro Football Focus slotted Love 44th overall among safeties, which is a middle-of-the-pack placement among regulars at the position. But Love commanded a midlevel market after his solid Giants contract season. The Notre Dame product finished with 124 tackles — nearly double his 2021 total — and intercepted two passes. Love also forced a fumble and deflected five more. It will be interesting to see how the Seahawks deploy their new DB, presuming Adams recovers in time for Week 1.
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