Seahawks Looking To Dump Richard Sherman’s Salary & Target CBs In Draft?

Michael Lombardi of TheRinger, who first mentioned that the Seahawks would be open to trading CB Richard Sherman for the right deal, said Thursday on “GM Street” podcast that he believes Seattle would dump Sherman’s salary if possible.

“It’s no secret. Now it’s being positioned that teams have called for Sherman,” Lombardi said. “Well, teams wouldn’t call for Sherman unless Seattle let it out that they were interested. So look, do I think it’s going to happen? The No. 1 thing fans have to understand is they paid Sherman a lot money and Pete Carroll’s defense — we talked about this on the podcast — paying a cornerback that much money. Is it really what he wants to do?”

“He thinks he can draft corners and this draft is filled with corners that fit Seattle’s system. Play the deep third of the field, jam at the line of scrimmage. I think if they can dump the salary, I think they would.”

“I think they’re going to draft guys,” Lombardi added. “I think they have to get their cap in order.”

On Wednesday, Seahawks HC Pete Carroll confirmed that they’re received trade inquiries from teams about Sherman.

“You either are competing or you are not,’’ Carroll said, via Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. “So we have always had to be open to every suggestion that comes along. There have been some teams that have called, and so we have talked about it. But he is extremely important to our football team. I don’t see anything happening at all. I don’t see anything happening with any of our players … it has been talked about. He is a great player and he can impact a team. I can see why people would be interested in him.’’

Seahawks GM John Schneider also told reporters (via Bob Condotta) they listen to many trade proposals every year and “98 percent” never happen.

For what it’s worth, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported that the Patriots were one of a few teams to inquire about a potential trade for Sherman before the signed Stephon Gilmore to a big-money contract at the start of free agency.

By trading Sherman, the Seahawks would only weaken the team’s cornerback depth, which is already a position of need for them. However, they would clear a lot of cap space and pick up some draft picks to use on cheaper options to build around moving forward.

Sherman, 28, is a former fifth-round pick of the Seahawks back in 2011. He’s currently in the fourth years of his five-year, $58.789 million contract that includes $40 million guaranteed and stands to make base salaries of $11.431 million and $11 million over the final two years of the agreement.

According to OverTheCap.com, trading Sherman would free up $9,231,000 of available cap space while creating $4,400,000 in dead money.

In 2016, Sherman appeared in all 16 games and recorded 58 tackles, four interceptions, a fumble recovery and 13 pass defenses. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 13 cornerback out of 112 qualifying players.

We’ll have more regarding a potential Sherman trade as the news is available.