Seahawks sign safety Rodney Thomas II
On day four of the NFL’s free agent negotiating period the Seahawks made their first signing of a player from another team — safety Rodney Thomas II of the Colts.
Thomas agreed to a one-year deal with the Seahawks, according to multiple reports and confirmed by The Seattle Times. He becomes the first external free agent to agree to a deal with the Seahawks since the negotiating period opened on Monday.
Thomas helps fill out a safety spot that was low on depth at the end of the 2025 season and took a hit when starter Coby Bryant signed with the Chicago Bears.
The Seahawks return Julian Love and Ty Okada as prospective starters at the two base safety spots and has Nick Emmanwori listed as a safety, though he plays mostly at nickel and dime and in linebacker-type roles.
Thomas, a seventh-round pick of the Colts out of Yale in 2022, started 25 games for Indianapolis in 2022 and 2023 before spending the last two seasons mostly as a backup and rotational player as well as a special teams regular. He had just one start the last two seasons.
After playing 1,678 snaps on defense his first two seasons he has played 248 the last two seasons while seeing action in every game.
The 6 foot 2, 196 pounder saw most of his time last season as a free safety with 125 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. Most of those snaps came as “an extra deep safety in three-safety packages,” according to IndyStar.com. He played two defensive snaps against the Seahawks in their 18-16 win over the Colts at Lumen Field on Dec. 14, with one quarterback hit.
Thomas also saw most of his action in his two seasons as a starter at free safety. Thomas earned season grades from Pro Football Focus of 54.3, 58.2 and 56.5 before charting a 73.5 last season.
He has 114 tackles and six interceptions in four years with the Colts. His first career interception came in 2022 against former Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson in a game against Denver when he picked off a pass in the fourth quarter and returned it 35 yards. That play helped the Colts rally for a 12-9 overtime win.
The Seahawks re-signed free agent A.J. Finley to fill out the safety spot earlier this week. The only other safety on the roster is Maxen Hook, who spent the 2025 season on the practice squad. They ended the 2025 season with just four safeties on its 53-man roster after both Jerrick Reed II and D’Anthony Bell were waived in moves to get other players on the 53-man and then were claimed by other teams (Reed by the Titans and Bell by the Panthers).
The contract details for Thomas were not immediately revealed. However, OvertheCap.com estimated that Thomas will not count against the Seahawks as a free agent signee in terms of the formula to determine compensatory picks for the 2027 draft.
Teams are awarded comp picks for overall free agent losses and the Seahawks are currently projected to get four — a fourth and three fifths. That would give them 12 picks in 2027.
However, OvertheCap.com estimated that Thomas’ signing will not rank highly enough to count as one of the 32 free agent signees who will factor into the comp pick formula.
Loading up comp picks for the 2027 draft has appeared to be a priority for Seahawks general manager John Schneider, who said at the NFL scouting combine last month that the team views that year’s draft as stronger than 2026.
The NFL officially awards the comp picks in March of each year, so how many Seattle gets and in which rounds in 2027 won’t be definitively determined until next March. But OTC has proven to be reliable in projecting comp picks using what is known of the NFL’s formula.