ESPN insider shares a guess on Seahawks' plans with key defender for 2025

The Seattle Seahawks were going to have to make a tough call regarding outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu this week. Nwosu's contract included a $6 million injury guarantee to hit the books on Friday. However, at the last minute the team was able to delay that guarantee, buying them more time to figure out how to get under the salary cap.

There are a lot of moves that general manager John Schneider can make to get there, including contract extensions for quarterback Geno Smith and DK Metcalf, a pair of moves that would save around $37 milion in cap space total for the 2025 season.

Seattle can also buy some wiggle room by restructuring the contracts of some role players, including Nwosu himself. That's what Seahawks ESPN beat reporter Brady Henderson is guessing will happen.

One possible reason for pushing back the trigger date would be to buy time to work out a restructured deal. I don't know if that's the case, but it would make sense. My *guess* is Nwosu will be back in '25.

GM John Schneider is on @WymanAndBob on @SeattleSports in a moment.
— Brady Henderson (@BradyHenderson) February 15, 2025

According to numbers at Over the Cap, a restructure of Nwosu's contract could save the team a little over $6.6 million for the year. That would bring them down to roughly $10 million in the red in effective cap space.

A restructured deal for Nwosu might be the team's best choice. Injuries have kept him on the sidelines for all but six games in each of the last two seasons. However, when healthy Nwosu is one of the NFL's most well-rounded edge defenders and his absence was keenly felt on the field- especially after his midseason pectoral tear in 2023.

While there is a case to cut Nwosu given his inabiity to stay on the field, it wouldn't make much sense from a cap perspective. A pre-June1 cut would only save Seattle $2.15 million and would cost over $19 million in dead money - making that a non-starter. A post-June 1 cut is better but still not ideal - saving $8.66 million and costing $12.5 million in dead money.

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