Veteran DE Mario Edwards to sign with Seahawks
Published 1:30 am Thursday, May 11, 2023
By Bob Condotta / The Seattle Times
The Seattle Seahawks had said they were not done addressing to what has appeared their biggest need — the defensive line.
And 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 to The Seattle Times that the signing is expected to happen. But it may not become official until next week.
Edwards, 29, is listed at 6-3, 280 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 likely 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 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.
Seattle will also need to use some of that space to sign seven draft picks who have yet to sign their rookie contracts.
As of Thursday afternoon, three have signed — Morris, first-round pick receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and seventh-round pick running back Kenny McIntosh.
Smith-Njigba’s signing was reported Thursday by the NFL Network. 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 a fifth year on the contract following his third NFL season in 2025.
Seattle’s draft picks are gathering for the team’s rookie minicamp this weekend at the VMAC in Renton.
