SEATTLE – The Seattle Seahawks added a piece to their pass-rush and brought it back another Tuesday by agreeing to deals with Kerry Hyder and Benson Mayowa.
Agent Erik Burkhardt told Adam Schefter of ESPN that Hyder’s business is for three years and $ 16.5 million with an upside to $ 17.5 million with incentives.
Mayowa, who played for Seattle last season, is returning to the Seahawks on a two-year contract that is likely to include at least an additional year of nullification for salary cap purposes, a source told ESPN’s Brady Henderson.
Hyder and Mayowa will be 30 years before the start of next season.
Hyder set a career record with 8.5 sacks in 16 games with the San Francisco 49ers last season while playing under coordinator Robert Saleh, a disciple of Pete Carroll who commands a Seattle-like defense. The 49ers hired 6-2 and 270 pounds Hyder in free agency at the end of the season to be a rotating player who lined up as a tackle and submitted, but he became a starter due to the injuries of Nick Bosa and Dee Ford and was the 49ers ‘more productive defensive lineman while playing mostly on the edge.
Hyder had 8.0 sacks in 2016 with the Detroit Lions and 18.5 since joining the league as a Texas Tech non-hired free agent in 2014. He also played for the New York Jets and the Dallas Cowboys.
Mayowa had six sacks, seven tackles for loss, two forced fumbles and nine quarterback strokes in 13 games with the Seahawks last season, losing three games with an ankle injury. He made nine appearances, but saw a slight drop in playing time when the Seahawks switched to Carlos Dunlap, who became the starter.
Mayowa’s Pass Rush Win Rate as a leading defender of 16.2% was 24th among qualified players across the league and the best among Seahawks players. Hyder came in 39th with 11.3%.
Mayowa had the best mark of his seven-sack career in 2019 with the Raiders before meeting with the Seahawks last March on a $ 3.05 million one-year contract. After a slow start to their passing race in 2020, the Seahawks registered 37 sacks in the highest league in the past 10 weeks – with Mayowa receiving four during that period.
He began his career as a non-hired free agent in Idaho in 2013, spending his debut season in Seattle. He has 26 sacks in 100 career games over eight NFL seasons and has also played for the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals.
Dunlap remains out of contract after his release from the Seahawks earlier this month, which saved $ 14.1 million in cap space.
Pass-rush was the Seahawks’ greatest remaining need when entering the second week of free agency. Hyder and Mayowa join a group that has LJ Collier, Rasheem Green, Alton Robinson and Darrell Taylor at the end with Jarran Reed and Poona Ford in the tackle. Taylor, a second-round pick last year, started practicing at the end of the season, but did not play as a rookie because of a college leg injury.
The Seahawks added a year of cancellation to the contracts they gave running back Chris Carson and center pivot Ethan Pocic last week, something the team had not previously done under the command of general manager John Schneider and vice president of player administration Matt Thomas. This mechanism reduces a player’s immediate salary cap charge by distributing the subscription bonus apportionment, but creates dead money in the future, so that it is equivalent to asking for space for the cap of future years.
ESPN’s Nick Wagoner information was used in this report.