Getty The Athletic's Michael-Shawn Dugar called Seattle Seahawks kicker Jason Myers a potential cap casualty.
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he Seattle Seahawks are in a relatively good position with the NFL salary cap. Spotrac reports the team sits with the eighth-most salary cap space in the league as of Feb. 24.
But it’s been documented this offseason that the Seahawks don’t have a lot of wiggle room to restructure contracts in order to create even more space if they need to. The space they do have could be mostly gone if the Seahawks elect to re-sign free agent safety Quandre Diggs, cornerback DJ Reed, and offensive tackle Duane Brown. Including Brown, Seattle has three starting free agents along its offensive line.
To create more salary cap space, The Athletic’s Michael-Shawn Dugar proposes the Seahawks could cut kicker Jason Myers.
“Seattle isn’t desperate for salary cap space, and because the team doesn’t typically spend big in free agency, the front office doesn’t have many bad contracts it needs to dump in the name of saving cash,” Dugar wrote. “As for the expensive vets they do have, restructures are more likely than cuts or trades.
“But one place to save $4 million is at kicker. One year after hitting all of his field goal attempts, Myers’ accuracy dipped significantly in 2021.”
Seahawks to Save $4 Million Cutting Jason Myers Before June 1
It’s important to note that Myers’ may have been Dugar’s choice to be a cap casualty for the Seahawks by default. As Dugar wrote, the team isn’t in a bad cap situation, but in The Athletic’s article, “Possible salary cap casualties for every NFL team,” each team had to have a potential player cut to save salary space.
Myers signed a four-year, $15.45 million contract with the Seahawks in March 2019. He is entering the final year of that deal after experiencing his worst season in Seattle.
Spotrac reports Myers will count as $5 million against the salary cap for the 2022 season. He comes with a dead cap hit of $1 million, which means the Seahawks could save $4 million by cutting him before June 1.
Dugar wrote that defensive end Benson Mayowa, defensive lineman Kerry Hyder and running back Chris Carson are other potential cap casualties for the Seahawks. But Spotrac reports none of those players can offer the same cap relief that cutting Myers would.
Jason Myers Struggled Badly in 2021 NFL Season
Teams expecting to contend for a championship don’t typically cut kickers to save money unless the kicker has given them reason to doubt their abilities. Myers did that during 2021.
After making all 24 of his field-goal attempts in 2020, Myers went 17 for 23 during the 2021 season. With a 73.9% field-goal percentage, Myers was 31st in accuracy on field-goal attempts among kickers with at least 10 attempts in 2021. That percentage was also Myers’ worst since the 2017 season.
In three years with the Seahawks, Myers has posted an 85.3% field-goal percentage. The top 10 most-accurate kickers last season all posted a percentage of 90% of better. Myers has been better than 90% during a season twice in his seven-year career.
While cutting Myers will offer some salary cap space, whether the Seahawks view that as an option will likely come down to who the team can get at kicker instead and at what price.