Seattle Seahawks improve depth of defensive line, add Kerry Hyder and re-sign Benson Mayowa, sources say



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SEATTLE – The Seattle Seahawks added one piece to their pass rush and brought back another on Tuesday by agreeing to deals with Kerry Hyder and Benson Mayowa.

Agent Erik Burkhardt told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Hyder’s deal was for three years and $ 16.5 million with a hike of $ 17.5 million with incentives.

Mayowa, who played for Seattle last season, returns with the Seahawks on a two-year contract that will likely include at least one additional year of cancellation for salary cap purposes, a source told ESPN’s Brady Henderson.

Hyder and Mayowa will turn 30 before the start of the upcoming season.

Hyder set a career-high 8.5 sacks in 16 games with the San Francisco 49ers last season as he played under coordinator Robert Saleh, a follower of Pete Carroll who leads a defense similar to that of Seattle. The 49ers signed the Hyder 6-2 and 270 pounds in free agency last offseason to be a rotary player who lined up as a tackle and finished, but he became a starter due to injuries to Nick Bosa and Dee Ford and was the 49ers. the most productive defensive lineman as he played mostly on the edge.

Hyder had 8.0 sacks in 2016 with the Detroit Lions and 18.5 since entering the league as an undrafted free agent for Texas Tech in 2014. He has also played for the New York Jets and Cowboys. from Dallas.

Mayowa had six sacks, seven loss tackles, two forced fumbles and nine quarterback hits in 13 games with the Seahawks last season, missing three games with an ankle injury. He made nine starts, but saw a slight drop in playing time when the Seahawks traded for Carlos Dunlap, who became their starter.

Mayowa Pass Rush’s win rate as an edge defenseman of 16.2% was 24th among league qualifiers and top among Seahawks. Hyder was 39th at 11.3%.

Mayowa had seven career-best sacks in 2019 with the Raiders before joining the Seahawks last March on a one-year contract worth $ 3.05 million. After a slow start to their pass race in 2020, the Seahawks have recorded 37 sacks, a league-high, in the past 10 weeks – Mayowa has had four in that span.

He began his career as an undrafted free agent in Idaho in 2013, spending his rookie season in Seattle. He has 26 sacks in 100 career games over eight seasons in the NFL and has also played for the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals.

Dunlap remains unsigned after his release from the Seahawks earlier this month, saving the team $ 14.1 million in cap space.

Pass-rush was the Seahawks’ biggest remaining need in week two 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 at the tackle. Taylor, a second-round pick last year, began training at the end of the season but did not play as a rookie due to a college leg injury.

The Seahawks added a year of vacuum in contracts they awarded running back Chris Carson and center Ethan Pocic last week, something the team had yet to do under GM John Schneider and vice -President of the Players Administration Matt Thomas. This mechanism reduces a player’s immediate salary cap burden by prorating signing bonuses, but creates dead money down the road, which is like borrowing a cap margin from future years.

Information from ESPN’s Nick Wagoner was used in this report.

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