Field Gulls
There has been no shortage of change at the VMAC over the past 16 months, including the way the Seattle front office structures the contracts of undrafted free agents.
Many of the newest members of the Seattle Seahawks are on the field for rookie minicamp this weekend, looking to make an impression and put that first foot in the door towards making the roster out of training camp in August. Unfortunately, many of those in attendance will be unable to make it past cuts at the end of training camp, and will be left without the contracts signed with the team during the offseason.
However, even though the majority of the players at rookie minicamp won’t be on the active roster come September, several of the undrafted free agents the Seahawks signed in the wake of the draft will receive paychecks from the team during the season.
For example, according to multiple reports, undrafted free agent defensive end Connor O’Toole received a $30k signing bonus, along with a $234k base salary guarantee.
And O’Toole is not the only member of the undrafted free agent class to receive significant guarantees, at least according to Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 Houston.
In addition to the $264k of guarantees the Seahawks reportedly gave to O’Toole, they also gave significant guarantees to:
For those who might be concerned that the front office may be burning cap space by giving guarantees to players who might not even make the roster, there’s a simple reason that many of the guarantees across the league fall into the same range.
That simple reason is that the minimum salary for a member of a practice squad in 2025 is $13k per week, or $234k for the entirety of the 2025 season. Thus, when a team gives an undrafted free agent like O’Toole a base salary guarantee of $234k, they are simply guaranteeing the entirety of the practice squad salary for that player for the year.
Since those base salary guarantees are in the player’s contract, should another team claim the player off waivers at roster cuts at the end of training camp, the team placing the waiver claim would then become responsible for those guarantees and the Seahawks would be off the hook.
In addition, should a player with theses guarantees be released and then sign with the practice squad of another team for the 2025 season, Seattle would be on the hook for the guarantees during the 2025 season, but receive a salary cap credit in 2026.
For an example from 2024, undrafted free agent Jack Westover had a $25k signing bonus and $50k in base salary guarantees for the 2024 season. Westover was waived with an injury settlement at the end of training camp, before joining the practice squad of the New England Patriots in October. In Westover’s case the guarantees were covered by the injury settlement, however, had he not been injured and not received...
