The 2023 NFL Draft will be held in Kansas City from April 27-29. Meanwhile, the Seahawks continue to adjust the roster in hopes of another playoff appearance. Here’s the best and worst of what they’ve done so far.
BEST | Re-signing Geno Smith
Smith has 11,199 career passing yards and almost half of them came last season. His 30 touchdowns and 4,282 yards in 2022 were both career highs. Smith’s play earned the AP Comeback Player of the Year award and a new contract from Seattle.
The team signed Smith to a team-friendly $75 million contract. The three-year deal includes a little over $27 million in guarantees, but if he plays poorly the Seahawks can release him in 2024 with just $8.7 million in dead money. The deal is filled with incentives, but at the moment Smith’s $10.1 million cap hit is half of what the Broncos owe Russell Wilson in 2023.
This throw by Geno Smith is actually insane pic.twitter.com/a1AvOHe9VO
— Garret (@FBallAnalysisYT) March 25, 2023
BEST | Adding Dre’Mont Jones
Jones is listed as a defensive end, but the Seahawks will move the former Bronco all over the line in 2023. The versatile 26-year-old has at least 5.5 sacks and 10 quarterback hits in each of the past three seasons and 133 tackles with 22 sacks for his career.
Seattle's defense needed help. It had the seventh-fewest sacks in 2022 while allowing the eighth-most points per game. A three-year, $51 million deal for Jones was a smart move, as were the additions of Devin Bush, Julian Love and Bobby Wagner.
WORST | Nick Bellore’s Contract
After eight years with the Jets, Niners and Lions, Bellore came to Seattle in 2019. The part-time fullback and linebacker has played well on special teams, but giving a two-year, $6.6 million deal to a 34-year-old with almost no offensive or defensive snaps seems a bit much.
WORST | Re-signing Drew Lock
Speaking of too much money, does anyone think Drew Lock could’ve gotten $4 million from another team? In three years with Denver, Lock completed just 59.3% of his passes with 25 touchdowns and 20 interceptions. The 26-year-old didn’t throw a single pass last season.
Baker Mayfield played 12 games for the Rams and Panthers last year. He’s thrown 53 touchdowns since Lock entered the league and also signed a one-year, $4 million dollar deal. Washington’s own Gardner Minshew was also available. The former Cougar has 44 career touchdowns against 15 interceptions, but will cost the Colts $3.5 million next year. Lock may know the system, but if Smith misses time in 2023, the team could regret not signing a more experienced quarterback.
More must-reads:
The Cleveland Browns will not be keeping four quarterbacks on their roster heading into the 2025 regular season, after all. The Browns agreed to a deal on Monday to trade Kenny Pickett to the Las Vegas Raiders, according to multiple reports. Cleveland will receive a 2026 fifth-round draft pick in return. Pickett spent just five months in Cleveland, as the Browns acquired him in a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles back in March. They gave up Dorian Thompson-Robinson and a fifth-round draft pick in that deal. There had been reports throughout the summer that Pickett was not exactly lighting it up in Browns camp. Joe Flacco has been named Cleveland's Week 1 starter, so rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders will now back the 40-year-old up. The Raiders needed a veteran quarterback after Aidan O'Connell fractured his wrist in the team's preseason finale over the weekend. O'Connell is expected to be sidelined for around two months. Pickett began his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who drafted him 20th overall in 2022. The former University of Pittsburgh QB started 12 games as a rookie and did not play well, finishing with 2,404 yards, seven touchdown passes and nine interceptions. Pickett started another 12 games for the Steelers in 2023 before being benched and later traded to Philadelphia. In total, Pickett has completed 62.4 percent of his career passes for 4,765 yards, 15 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.
The Dallas Cowboys have already been ravaged by injuries so far throughout training camp and the preseason slate. And now, thanks to injury, it appears that fans are going to have to wait to see one of the team's top draft picks in the 2025 season. According to reports from Cowboys insider Clarence Hill Jr., rookie cornerback Shavon Revel has been added to the Non-Football Injury List ahead of the team's Week 1 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles. In corresponding moves, the Cowboys will place both defensive end Peyton Turner and receiver Jonathan Mingo on Injured Reserve Designated To Return. Running back Phil Mafah will also be moved to injured reserve. Revel was placed on the NFI list as a result of a torn ACL, which was suffered during practice in Week 4 of his final season in college with the East Carolina Pirates. Because that injury occurred in college, and away from Dallas Cowboys facilities or team activities, Revel was placed on the NFI list instead of the PUP list. By being placed on the NFI List, Revel, who was selected by Dallas with the 76th overall pick in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft, will miss at least the first six weeks of the season. Fortunately for the Cowboys, it appears that starting corner Trevon Diggs should be back sooner rather than later. In other words, the team will have both he and DaRon Bland - their top two corners - as well as Kaiir Elam for their season opener, allowing Revel plenty of time to continue his recovery. In his career at East Carolina, Revel played in 24 games, making 70 total tackles, five tackles for loss, and three interceptions, with 15 pass breakups. He also earned an 83.5 PFF coverage grade in his last full season in 2023, and an 85.4 coverage grade in 2024 in the three games in which he appeared. In other words, whenever he does return to the fold for Dallas, he should be able to come in and be an immediate contributor to the defense. —
CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz reports the Packers are expected to release LB Isaiah Simmons. Simmons, 27, was a two-year starter at Clemson and won the Butkus Award as college football’s best linebacker in 2019. The Cardinals used the No. 8 overall pick in the 2020 draft on him. Simmons signed a four-year, $20,664,055 rookie contract that includes a $12,588,404 signing bonus. Arizona wound up trading him to the Giants in exchange for a 2024 seventh-round pick. He was testing the market as an unrestricted free agent after the Cardinals declined his fifth-year option in May 2023, and he opted to remain in New York on a one-year deal. Simmons then signed with Green Bay this offseason. In 2024, Simmons appeared in all 17 games for the Giants and made one start. He recorded 21 tackles and one forced fumble.
Current Miami Dolphins running back and former Tennessee Vols standout Jaylen Wright hasn't had the best month of August thus far. A pedestrian performance in the preseason compared to a strong one from Oklahoma State rookie Ollie Gordon II has some on social media calling for the latter to take over as the team's primary backup to starter De'Von Achane. Things took a turn for the worse this past week for Wright during joint practices with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Wright hobbled off the field with an apparent leg injury and didn't return. It was also enough to keep him on the sideline of the Dolphins' 14-6 win over the Jaguars on Saturday night in the team's final preseason game. Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel was asked after the game about Wright's status, and he said Wright is "week to week". Wright's injury appeared to be more than just a very minor tweak or something a player can shake off and keep practicing, as Miami Dolphins beat writer Omar Kelly noted that it "doesn't look good" when he was leaving the field on Thursday. A week-to-week prognosis could be an injured reserve situation to start the season, which we'll know soon enough, as the Dolphins have to cut their roster down to 53 players by Tuesday at 4:00 pm ET. If Wright heads to injured reserve, a decision will have to be made by then. It's an unfortunate update on a player who could have used some momentum at the end of the preseason heading to the start of the regular season. Now, it appears possible he might not even be in uniform for that.
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