Before heading into their summer break, the Seattle Seahawks took care of one last bit of contractual business this week, restructuring the contract of defensive lineman Dre’Mont Jones to create $7.4 million in salary cap space for the 2024 season. Jones signed a three-year contract worth $51.5 million in March, 2023 – the largest the Seahawks have handed out to an external free agent after he played his first four years in Denver – and was due a base salary of $11 million for this season. The Seahawks turned $9.875 million of 2024 salary into a bonus – the maximum allowed since players have to earn at least a minimum salary each year.
They added two void years in 2026 and 2027 at the end of his contract, as well. Turning the salary into bonus allows the Seahawks to spread $9.875 million over what are now four remaining years of the deal, or $2.485 million each year. That drops his cap number from $18.1 million for this year to $10.7 million but adds $2.485 million to the 2025 cap and pushes another $4.937 into 2026.
This appears designed to give the Seahawks the space it needed to get through the season. The Seahawks had just over $1 million in cap space before making this move, less than any other team. Now, they have $8.5 million in cap space, according to OTC, 27th overall. Teams typically need about half of that amount for basic necessities to get through the season for items such as the 16-man practice squad – which is assembled once the regular season begins with all players paid a minimum salary of $12,500 each week, which counts against the cap – and salaries/payments for players on injured reserve.
