Seahawks restructure DL Shelby Harris’ contract

The Seahawks reworked the contract of one of their newest acquisitions. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports (via Twitter) that the team agreed to a restructure with defensive linemen Shelby Harris. The move creates $3.26M in cap space. 

ESPN’s Brady Henderson details that, to create that added space, Seattle converted just over $6.5M of Harris’ 2022 compensation into a bonus (Twitter link). As a result, his cap hit for the upcoming season is $4.78M. The move also has an effect on the final year of his deal, however. Henderson’s colleague Field Yates tweets that $2M (out of a base salary of $8.5M) has also been converted to a roster bonus for 2023. That year, Harris’ cap hit is scheduled to spike to $12.2M.

The 30-year-old played sparingly with the Raiders, which drafted him in the seventh round in 2014. He found much more success in Denver, however, becoming a full-time starter with the Broncos in 2019. Expressing his desire to finish his career in the Mile High City on multiple occasions, Harris signed a three-year, $27M deal last March. He continued to play at a high level in 2021, totaling 49 tackles and six sacks. However, his tenure came to an end this offseason when he was included in the package Denver sent to Seattle for Russell Wilson.

As a result of this restructure, the Seahawks now rank in the top 10 in the league in terms of cap space, with just over $17M available. Long mentioned as a potential landing spot for Baker Mayfield or, to a lesser extent, Jimmy Garoppolo, Seattle also has the matter of a D.K. Metcalf extension to attend to. The latter task may have become more complicated by the wideout’s current unexcused absence from minicamp. In any event, they have some added flexibility to work with for the remainder of the offseason.