Seahawks Player Control Chart

I wanted to see when the Seahawks lose club control over their players. Some of the players below will not make the 53 man roster but I included them anyway just in case. Below are listed the years in which each Seahawks player can hit Free Agency:

2012 (22)
Raheem Brock, Red Bryant, John Carlson, Paul Fanaika***, Justin Forsett, Mike Gibson***, David Hawthorne, Leroy Hill, Kelly Jennings, Roy Lewis***, Marshawn Lynch, Matt McCoy, Jeff Reed, William Robinson***, Isaiah Stanback, Junior Siavii, Charlie Whitehurst, Jimmy Wilkerson,  Tyler Polumbus, David Vobora, Michael Robinson, Atari Bigby 

2013 (8)
Alan Branch, Deon Butler, Chris Clemons, Aaron Curry, Clint Gresham, Tarvaris Jackson, Cameron Morrah, Max Unger

2014 (18)
Brandon Browner*, Dominique Byrd*, Kam Chancellor, Colin Cole, Dexter Davis, Robert Gallery, Jameson Konz, Anthony McCoy, Paul McQuistan, Ben Obomanu, Josh Pinkard, Golden Tate, Walter Thurmond, Marcus Trufant, Mike Williams, Ricardo Lockette**, Josh Portis**, Doug Baldwin, Jeron Johnson

2015 (12)
James Carpenter, Kris Durham, Mark Legree, Lazarius Levingston, Byron Maxwell, John Moffitt, Richard Sherman, Malcolm Smith, Earl Thomas, Leon Washington, K.J. Wright

2016 (5)
Brandon Mebane, Zach Miller, Russell Okung, Sidney Rice, Jon Ryan

*I assumed Browner and Byrd's contracts were 3 years- as that is typical for a future/reserve deal
**Lockette and Portis- I was not able to find data so I assumed three year contracts.
***Restricted free agent

2012 Decisions

Raheem Brock could be a year by year decision. Don't bank on him being back as he is getting older. John Carlson will likely be free to walk with the big dollars paid to Zach Miller. I don't see the Seahawks retaining both Forsett and Lynch- I could see one or the other kept- and another RB introduced via the draft or Free Agency. At the linebacker spot- perhaps they extend Hawthorne in 2011. We will see how Leroy Hill performs. Neither of them will command huge dollars to retain in my opinion.

On the backup Offensive Line- Fanaika, Gibson and Will Robinson are all in the same boat- all are restricted free agents. Polumbus is probably structured somewhat similar. None of them are huge decisions. Kelly Jennings is on a year by year trial basis. Roy Lewis is a restricted free agent. Matt McCoy may not make the 2011 53 man cut along with Stanback. Whitehurst will likely be gone with either the success of Tarvaris and/or the arrival of the 2012 drafted QB. Junior Siavii and Jimmy Wilkerson are older players that if re-signed would play on short, affordable deals.

The biggest decision in 2012 will be how much they pay Red Bryant. I think they get it done because I think he is more valuable to the Seahawks scheme than he is to most teams in the NFL. I don't think he gets Mebane-type money.

2013 Decisions

As you can see, in 2013, the Seahawks do not have that many decisions to make. Butler will unlikely be with the team. Curry will likely already be gone. Chris Clemons will be 31 years old, and I doubt if they do re-sign him that it would be on a large contract. Morrah will likely not be a major decision point. If they have the 2012 Drafted QB- then Tarvaris would not be a big priority at that point. The only bigger two questions would be whether you re-sign Unger and Alan Branch. They both have two years to show what they can produce.

Conclusion

With about $18M in cap room today and a growing salary cap- the Seahawks will have a lot of flexibility in 2012 and 2013. More money can be freed up with the contracts of Curry and Trufant after 2011 concludes. Whitehurst will come off the books in all likelihood but be replaced by a similar salary with a 2012 first round draft pick at quarterback. Once you get past the 1st round- the rest of the 2012 drafted rookies get paid roughly half a million per year. The Seahawks should have the ammunition to take one or two "Sidney Rice" type shots at Free Agency per year in 2012 and 2013. The front office has done a great job of managing the cap to this point and we have flexibility in the near term.