How much the Seahawks are paying Laviska Shenault

Seattle moved quickly to add a potentially dangerous returner following the adoption of a new kickoff rule, and here’s how much Shenault will earn.

When the 2024 NFL season kicks off, kickoffs will look significantly different following the adoption by the league of a new way of kicking off. The change should return the prominence of the kick return, and likewise the importance of kick returners, and as such it was not a surprise when the Seattle Seahawks opted to add a versatile athlete with experience as a returner.

In signing Laviska Shenault the Hawks added a tackle-breaking, yards-after-the-catch machine who could provide significant contributions in the return game, as well as earning touches as a running back and targets as a wide receiver. With that versatility in mind, Seattle potentially struck gold signing Shenault to a veteran minimum contract that will qualify for the veteran salary benefit.

As I guessed on Tuesday following the signing:

NFL minimum salary for a player with four credited seasons, such as Shenault, is $1.125M.

I’d guess it’s a veteran minimum salary benefit contract, which means the signing bonus will likely be $167,500, but the contract will carry a cap hit of $1.1525M due to a $140k cap hit reduction because of the VSB status.

Or, in short, it basically costs the Seahawks $200k of cap space due to the rule of 51 and replacement.

And according to Brady Henderson of ESPN, that guess was pretty spot on.

As noted, the signing will require roughly $200k in cap space, and likely leaves the Seahawks with right around $2M of space available, however, after the addition Wednesday of a salary cap analyst to the front office who previously worked for the New Orleans Saints, there should be no worries whether the team has the space to make the moves deemed necessary.