Can Seahawks Afford to Re-Sign Ryan Neal?

A high-energy, versatile defender who has outplayed his contract value each of the past three seasons, Ryan Neal deserves a significant pay bump as a restricted free agent. But can the Seattle Seahawks pay the toll heading into free agency?

With the NFL legal tampering period set to commence on Monday and free agency officially opening two days later, the Seattle Seahawks have already taken care of several in-house free agents, including the biggest domino by re-signing quarterback Geno Smith to a three-year extension.

After signing Smith, kicker Jason Myers, guard Phil Haynes, and special teams ace Nick Bellore to new deals, Seattle will enter free agency with $20.196 million in cap space and several quality players poised to hit the market. Among those who could potentially become available, the organization has three days to make a decision on whether or not to tender safety Ryan Neal.

One of the unsung heroes in a surprising 9-8 season for the Seahawks, Neal once again filled in beautifully for injured starter Jamal Adams, earning Pro Football Focus' highest grade among qualified safeties. Stuffing the stat sheet, he racked up 66 tackles, an interception, two forced fumbles, four tackles for loss, a sack, and six pass breakups in coverage, proving himself to be a jack of all trades flying all over the field.

As a clear sign his stellar play had not gone unnoticed nationally, Neal earned three first place votes and 14 points in All-Pro balloting, finishing sixth at the position and ahead of teammate Quandre Diggs, who received 12 points of his own.

Based on his impressive production and Adams lengthy injury history, re-signing Neal would seem to be a must for the Seahawks. When asked about the possibility of bringing him back, general manager John Schneider expressed interest in keeping the versatile safety, citing not only his football skills but leadership presence as well.

"We'd love to have Ryan back," Schneider said at the NFL combine. "He's a good player, flies around. He just throws his body around too, and he's got a lot of juice. In the locker room, he's a great locker room guy. Really developed into a strong leader."

But while the Seahawks want to retain Neal, Schneider already has financial limitations heading into free agency. After finalizing Smith's extension, the franchise currently has less than $10 million in effective cap space to work with when accounting for future draft picks and the first 51 players signed on the roster.

If Schneider wanted to roll the dice, Seattle could place an original round tender on Neal with first right of refusal, meaning the team could match any offer sheet from another interested team. Priced at $2.627 million, this would be the most affordable option for re-signing him. However, if the Seahawks didn't match an offer sheet, they wouldn't receive any compensation in return.

Historically, Schneider has preferred second round tenders with priority undrafted free agents, including offering such a qualifying deal to Haynes last year. It's a bit more expensive and would cost $4.034 million to place the tender on Neal, but any team signing him to an offer sheet would have to fork over a second round pick as compensation.

If the Seahawks wanted to all but ensure Neal would be on the roster next season, Schneider could also up the ante with a first round tender at $6.005 million. Given the team's financial situation, that route seems unlikely if not impossible.

With $32 million already invested in Adams and Diggs alone next season, paying Neal anything more than $3 million as a reserve safety could be viewed as a luxury for Seattle right now considering other needs on both sides of the football. Why pay a player low-end starter money if he's expected to only play a small portion of defensive snaps?

But at the same time, Adams hasn't shown he can stay healthy since arriving in a trade from the Jets three years ago, missing a grand total of 25 regular season games. The team loves to deploy three safety nickel and dime packages frequently and planned to use Adams as a linebacker in some packages with Neal and Diggs also on the field last year. Letting Neal walk would not only leave the Seahawks with far weaker depth at safety, but they would lose invaluable flexibility schematically without him as well.

Keeping the bottom line in mind, Schneider's best course of action would be to place a second round tender on Neal. Even considering how well he performed last year, the chances of another team handing him an offer sheet in exchange for a precious second round pick would be quite low. He has more value to the Seahawks than anyone else in that sense.

Just like a franchise tag, the tender would also allow Seattle additional time to negotiate an extension with Neal as well, potentially lowering his cap hit a bit for 2023 in the process while locking him up for multiple seasons. This would give the franchise a quality insurance policy with the potential to move on from Adams next offseason if he doesn't bounce back with a strong season and/or stay healthy.

At the end of the day, paying more than $4 million for a third-string safety may seem like a poor usage of limited funds and Schneider may have a difficult time pulling the trigger with so many other pressing needs. But if recent history has been any indication, allowing Neal to walk and choosing not to tender him before Wednesday's deadline would be a gamble the Seahawks simply cannot afford to take.

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