DE Mario Edwards expected to sign with Seahawks
SEATTLE – The Seattle Seahawks had said they were not done addressing to what has appeared their biggest need – the defensive line.
They made good on their word Thursday by agreeing to a one-year contract with free-agent defensive end Mario Edwards.
A league source confirmed the signing is expected to happen, but it may not become official until next week.
Financial details were not immediately available.
Edwards, 29, is listed at 6-foot-3, 280 pounds and projects to play a defensive end role similar to that of Dre’Mont Jones, who was Seattle’s key free-agent signee in March.
Edwards, who started seven games for Tennessee last season, had a free-agent visit with the Seahawks in March. He had three sacks and 11 tackles with the Titans last season. He has 19.5 sacks in his career with a high of four in 2020 with the Bears. He is also regarded as a solid run defender, earning an above-average 72.7 run defense grade last year from Pro Football Focus.
Edwards has played in 99 games in his NFL career, entering the league as a second-round pick of the Raiders in 2015 out of Florida State.
The addition of Edwards will give Seattle five players who are either veterans or draft picks on their roster listed as defensive ends – Edwards, Jones, Jarran Reed, Myles Adams and fifth-round pick Mike Morris.
Seattle is expected to make an additional move or two to beef up its defensive line, particularly the nose tackle spot, where Seattle has fourth-round pick Cameron Young and veteran Bryan Mone. Mone is still recovering from an ACL injury suffered in December.
The news of the agreement with Edwards came after it was revealed that the Seahawks also executed a simple restructure on the contract of receiver Tyler Lockett.
As reported by ESPN, Lockett had $8.535 million of his $9.7 million base salary converted into a signing bonus. That allows Seattle to spread out the bonus over the life of the contract – which runs through 2025 – and saved the Seahawks $5.69 million against the salary cap for the 2023 season.
That gave Seattle $9.8 million in cap space for 2023, according to Spotrac.com.
Along with that cap space helping get an agreement with Edwards, it was needed for Seattle to sign the rest of its 10-man draft class. All rookies sign four-year contracts with dollar values slotted by where they were selected in the draft, and all predetermined via the league’s collective bargaining agreement.
Two rookies had signed before Thursday – Morris and seventh-round pick running back Kenny McIntosh. Four more were signed by Thursday afternoon – first-round receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Young, fifth-round center Olu Oluwatimi and sixth-round safety Jerick Reed.
Per the terms of the league’s collective bargaining agreement, Smith-Njigba, as the 20th overall pick, gets a four-year contract worth a total of $14.4 million with a $7.4 million signing bonus. Seattle also will have the right to exercise an option of a fifth year on the contract following his third NFL season in 2025.
The other four draft picks not signed will likely do so soon with the draftees gathering for the team’s rookie minicamp this weekend at the VMAC in Renton, Washington.