The Seahawks made their choice, and it wasn’t a hard one.
Seattle let Boye Mafe walk this offseason, then moved quickly to lock up Derick Hall on a three-year extension worth as much as $42 million beyond 2026. That decision drew a B- offseason grade from ESPN’s Seth Walder, who argued the team should have flipped the script: trade Hall, trim the cost of an extension, and use that money to bring Mafe back.
But that’s not really how the Seahawks operate.
John Schneider and the front office have shown they’ll let a player hit the market if the price climbs past their number. They weren’t going to chase Coby Bryant, and they weren’t going to do the same for Mafe.
Cincinnati got Mafe on a three-year deal worth as much as $60 million, and Seattle wasn’t going to meet that kind of number. Even if Schneider might have been willing to pay him in the teens annually, that still wouldn’t have matched what the Bengals were prepared to spend.
And while Mafe’s raw production last season looked modest - just two sacks - that didn’t erase his value. The same goes for Hall, who also finished with two sacks last season but means far more to the defense than that total suggests.
Hall’s case is built on more than numbers. He had eight sacks in 2024, he fits Mike Macdonald’s scheme, and he brings value on all three downs.
Seattle clearly believes that kind of complete edge presence matters more than chasing the bigger outside payday. At an average of $9 million less per year than what Cincinnati gave Mafe, the extension looks like a sharp piece of business.
Walder’s idea of trading Hall also runs into the same problem. Without Hall, the edge group would have gotten older and Seattle still would have needed to pay Mafe more, even though the two players are pretty comparable. Both can help against the run and the pass, but the Seahawks chose the cleaner, more sensible path by keeping Hall.
Maybe Mafe explodes in Cincinnati and puts up 10 or more sacks this season. If he does, good for him.
He was a good player and a good person in Seattle. But even if Hall only ends up with three sacks, he could still be more valuable to the Seahawks than Mafe is to the Bengals.
In Other News...
Lumen Field Is About To Host A Massive USMNT Turning Point
Lumen Field has already delivered one of the biggest soccer moments in its history, with the United States men beating Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 in a World Cup knockout-stage match in Seattle. For a program that has spent more than two decades waiting to clear this particular hurdle, the result felt like more than just another win on the bracket.
The next round now brings a higher-stakes test, with a quarterfinal berth on the line and the kind of tension that usually exposes every small mistake. Seattle will also have to host the match with one of the teams most important attacking pieces unavailable, which adds another layer of intrigue to a night that already figures to carry serious weight. [Read more 🡒]
Seahawks Just Got A Huge Offseason Signal From DeMarcus Lawrence
DeMarcus Lawrence arrived in Seattle with the idea that a change of scenery might finally line him up with a real shot at a Super Bowl, and his first season with the Seahawks suggested the fit was more than a one-year experiment. The former Cowboys edge rusher made an impact on the field and quickly became a steady presence in the locker room, giving Seattle both the production it needed and a veteran voice younger defenders could lean on.
Lawrence has also made clear he wants to keep building here, which matters for a defense that already treats him like a cornerstone. He has been working with players such as Derick Hall and Nick Emmanwori, and his influence has even helped Seattle in the veteran market, giving the Seahawks another layer of credibility as they try to stack talent around a group that still has room to grow. [Read more 🡒]