Seahawks: Most expensive offense in the NFL?

Normally Davis Hsu would be the guy on the mic for anything to do with contracts, but I came across an interesting tidbit and decided to share it. I would never dare to step on his toes but I can't tell him what to write and we have literally never talked before. Should I send some story ideas to George R. R. Martin too?

"Okay so what if Tyrion Lannister was transported to.... Manhattan in 1965!"

The gift that Davis did provide me with in a recent article was a link to OverTheCap.com. I had not known about this website and now I am obsessed with it. They've got all sorts of information about contracts, salary cap, spending money, and so on. I decided to click on the link for positional spending, offense, 2013, and I saw that the Seahawks were at the top. I thought "Oh, how convenient! They already know the Seahawks are my favorite team!" But then after a few minutes I stopped being my dumb stupid self and realized that in reality Seattle was currently spending the most money on offense in the NFL.

By a lot.

With Percy Harvin updated (and also I believe being the most expensive addition on offense in the NFL so far) Seattle is currently spending $82,655,336 on offense in 2013. If you make .1% of that in salary (not one percent, point one percent) this year, you'll be making a cool $82,655. Not bad!

The next highest being spent on offense in the NFL is the Titans at $71,526,951. If you make .1% of that per year then I'm leaving you for Harold the banker. My mother always wanted me to marry Harold the banker. Now, these numbers might not be completely up-to-the-second but the difference is over $11,000,000 so there's a good chance Seattle is still in the lead. Nobody in the league is spending more on the tight end position than the Seahawks, thanks to Zach Miller's $11,000,000 cap hit. Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski combined are only carrying a cap hit of 6,823,000. Overall, the Patriots scored the most points in the NFL last year and are currently spending just $56.2 million on offense. There are still details to be worked out for them but that's some good planning for New England.

Again, Seattle is spending $82.6 million on offense alone. Going into free agency, the Browns had spent a little over $83 million total. The Colts were a little over $80 million. Right now the Raiders are listed at $77 million and what is really interesting is that Oakland has over $32 million in dead money for 2013. If they cut Carson Palmer, that number would go over $40 million which is almost as much as the Seahawks spend on their defense. ($45 million)

With Harvin, the Seahawks are spending the second-most in the NFL on wide receivers at a little over $20 million on the group. The Lions spend ~$22 million, with over $12 going to Calvin Johnson. The Vikings are down to $2 million. Sidney Rice carries a cap hit in 2013 of $9.7 million, which is more than 13 teams are currently listed as spending on their entire receiver positional group. Including the Packers, Bengals, Giants, Patriots and Broncos. That's going to change, OvertheCap still hasn't added Mike Wallace to the Dolphins. Wes Welker isn't signed. There's changes coming but still, you can see where Seattle is one of the biggest spenders on that group. If the cut Rice, they'll save $6.1 against the cap this year. It seems more likely that they would cut him next year; they'll save $7.3 in 2014 and $9 million in 2015.

Miller carries $7 million in dead money if you cut him this year, but only $2 million in 2014 and $1 million in 2015.

Russell Okung is also one of the most expensive players on offense, carrying cap hits of $9.5, $11.2, and $7.2 over the next three seasons. Overall, Seattle is spending the second-most on the offense line in the NFL as well. Max Unger carries a cap hit of $6 million, Breno Giacomini at $4.25, Paul McQuistan at $3.375, and James Carpenter at $2 million.

Marshawn Lynch is $8.5 this year, while Matt Flynn is $7.25. Of course it is interesting that Seattle is the most expensive offense in the NFL, while spending the 12th-fewest amount of dollars on the quarterback position. If they trade Flynn, they'll be in the same position as the Bengals and 49ers (two lowest spenders at quarterback) by having a non-first round QB that is still on his rookie deal. Then next year I believe that those two teams will have to re-negotiate with Andy Dalton and Colin Kaepernick, but it's dead cheap to have a franchise quarterback right now that was taken in 2011 or later.

How will that spending work out for Seattle next year? We don't know for sure yet. With almost the exact same team last year minus Harvin, Seattle was 9th in scoring, 17th in total offense, were efficiently 7th in net yards per pass attempt and 5th in yards per carry. Also we must note that as Russell Wilson got better and the offense evolved, Seattle scored 20 or more points in each of their last eleven games including playoffs. That was an average 31.6 points per game over the last eleven. The Denver Broncos scored 30.1 points per game and that ranked second in the league behind New England's 34.8 points per game.

And now they've got themselves a Percy Harvin. It wasn't cheap to get here and it probably means that Seattle will be defense-heavy in the draft again. Let's hope it's worth every penny.

(Here's a reminder of a blogger that said Seattle was "almost certain" to spend one of their first two picks on a wide receiver)

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