The Seahawks All-Value Team for 2017

Seahawks Training Camp is nearly upon us, when players will jockey for position and the chance to prove their value. Which players, based on their salaries and performance potential, will deliver the most value to the team in 2017?

The Seahawks have been a successful franchise in the Pete Carroll/John Schneider era in part because they get some of the most value out of their players.

Many of the Seahawks core contributors–Russell Wilson, Richard Sherman, and Kam Chancellor, for example–were selected in the third round or later in the NFL Draft, and played out their rookie contracts as one of the best in the league at their positions.

A few more prominent and valuable Seahawks, such as the deadly defensive lineman duo of Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril, were brought in on shrewd free agent deals.

Now that many of these core players have been rewarded with large contracts, who is the next wave of smart free agent deals, impact rookies, and underrated players that will keep the Seahawks success sustainable in 2017 and beyond? I came up with ten such players.

Before I count them down, here’s how I identified “value:” Using Spotrac.com, I looked at the salaries of all the Seahawks players on the books for 2017 and tried to find players I thought would have a valuable impact on the team next season, but were on relatively cheap contracts.

You’ll see several players on rookie contracts on this list. As the current NFL Players Association’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) stands with the league, rookies are “locked in” on three- or four-year deals before they see the field. These contracts are incredibly low for impact players who thrive right away in the NFL out of college. If Ezekiel Elliott could renegotiate his contract with the Cowboys, for example, he’d likely make ten times (at least) what he makes now per year.

So this list will include several rookie, second-year, and third-year players who have to get past that pesky rookie contract to start making the money they could earn as impact players.

You’ll also see several short-term contracts on this list. While handing out a one-year deal may turn out to be a bad gamble if that player pans out and demands more money, it also can be an option to build strength and depth for next season. I wanted to focus on 2017 only for this list, so one-year deals are acceptable in this exercise.

Let’s start with one of those one-year fliers Schneider and company brought aboard.