Field Gulls
The Seattle Seahawks have long skimped on the offensive line, drafting and developing young trench players before letting them move on to greener fields, and larger paychecks, with other franchises.
From James Carpenter, Russel Okung and J.R. Sweezy from the Super Bowl seasons to Mark Glowinski, Ethan Pocic, George Fant and Damien Lewis during the post-greatness years of the Pete Carroll era, a competent offensive line could have been assembled from former Seahawks plying their trade for other franchises.
That, however, appears to have changed recently, with John Schneider and the Seahawks front office extending both tackles selected in the 2022 NFL Draft in recent months. First it was Abe Lucas, who signed a three-year, $46M contract extension on the eve of the 2025 season, with left tackle Charles Cross inking a four year contract extension just after the conclusion of the year.
Now the details of the Cross extension are known, and those details shine a bright light on the continued evolution of the Seattle front office as old norms and standards give way as the franchise continues to evolve its operations.
Specifically, since hiring Joey Laine, who had spent time with both the Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints during his career, the Seahawks have increased their use of more complex contractual structures, including void years and option bonuses compared to the contracts handed out earlier in Schneider’s tenure.
With that said, the operating norms of the Seattle front office is not what fans are here to read about, so here are the details of how much the Seahawks are paying Charles Cross and how his contract will count against the salary cap in the coming years. Without wasting any further time, here are the basics of the contract:
That is a whole lot of numbers, and the cap impact will not be immediately clear for most. Thus, breaking the cap impact out by season yields the following:
2026: $10.88M ($1.69M base salary + $5M signing bonus proration + $3M 2026 option bonus proration + $1.02M in per game roster bonuses + $350k workout bonus)
2027: $23M ($13.63M base salary + $5M signing bonus proration + $3M 2026 option bonus proration + $1.02M in per game roster bonuses + $350k workout bonus)
2028: $21.1M ($10.13M base salary + $5M signing bonus proration + $3M 2026 option bonus proration + $1.6M 2028 option bonus proration + $1.02M...
