For most NFL fans, the Friday after the Super Bowl marks the beginning of the long, football-less stretch known as the offseason-a time when hope springs eternal, rosters get reshaped, and every team starts dreaming about next year. But in Seattle, that Friday carries a little more weight. It’s not just the start of the offseason-it’s a key date in the Seahawks’ financial calendar.
Under general manager John Schneider, the Seahawks have long operated with a very specific approach to contracts, one that walks a tightrope between player satisfaction and ownership’s financial preferences. At the heart of this strategy is a clause in the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement known as the funding rule. And while it may sound like something out of an accounting textbook, it has real implications for how Seattle structures its deals.
Let’s break it down.
The funding rule-Article 26, Section 9 of the 2020 CBA-requires teams to place certain amounts of guaranteed money into escrow. Specifically, if a team guarantees more than $15 million in future salaries to players, the league can require the team to deposit the excess amount into a separate account. The idea is to protect players by ensuring that the money they’re promised is actually available down the line.
For many teams, that’s just a cost of doing business. But for the Seahawks, whose ownership has historically been more cautious with cash flow, it’s a line they’ve been careful not to cross. That’s why you rarely see Seattle hand out fully guaranteed salaries beyond the first year of a contract.
Instead, Schneider and his front office have developed a workaround: they offer what are essentially guaranteed second-year salaries that vest-or become fully guaranteed-shortly after the season ends. That key vesting date? The Friday after the Super Bowl.
This approach allows Seattle to offer players the financial security they’re looking for without triggering the escrow requirement. It’s a clever bit of cap management that’s become a hallmark of Schneider’s tenure.
Take Percy Harvin’s deal, for example. When the Seahawks traded for him from the Vikings, they gave him a six-year, $67 million contract that included $25.5 million in guarantees.
But only $14.5 million of that was fully guaranteed at signing-a $12 million bonus and $2.5 million in 2013 base salary. The remaining $11 million was injury-guaranteed for 2014, with the stipulation that it would become fully guaranteed the Friday after Super Bowl 48.
That structure gave Harvin peace of mind while keeping the Seahawks out of escrow trouble.
Fast forward to today, and the Seahawks are once again preparing for a Super Bowl-this time against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 60, just eight days away. And once again, that Friday after the big game looms large. Several of the contracts Schneider has handed out since the end of the 2024 season follow the same structure, with significant chunks of 2026 base salary set to vest into full guarantees on that date.
For fans tracking the team’s cap situation-especially those speculating about potential cuts-this date is critical. One name that’s been floated as a possible cap casualty is Cooper Kupp. But if the Seahawks don’t make a move before that Friday, his 2026 salary becomes fully guaranteed, and the cap savings from releasing him drop to just $500,000.
So while most of the league will be turning the page to the offseason, the Seahawks’ front office will be facing a series of high-stakes financial decisions. In Seattle, the real action doesn’t stop when the confetti falls-it just shifts from the field to the front office.