SEATTLE -- The Seahawks and outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu have agreed to a reworked contract that will lower his 2025 salary cap number and keep one of the team's best edge defenders in Seattle for at least another season.
Nwosu had two years and $26.5 million left on his previous deal. Coming off two injury-plagued seasons, he was scheduled to make $14.99 million in 2025 while counting $21.17 million against the cap.
His new deal is for two years and $19.51 million, according to a copy of the contract obtained by ESPN. He's scheduled to make $8 million this season while counting $11.85 million against the cap, roughly $9.4 million less than his original cap charge. Of the $6.99 million paycut Nwosu is taking, he can earn up to $5 million of it back via incentives and escalators that are tied to sacks, playing time and the playoffs.
Nwosu's restructure has been anticipated for several weeks, with general manager John Schneider confirming on his Seattle Sports 710-AM radio show last month that the Seahawks and Nwosu's agent were discussing a reworked deal.
In addition to a new contract, Nwosu will also have a new jersey number next season. He switched to No. 7, which became open when Seattle traded quarterback Geno Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders. Nwosu gave up his old No. 10 to newly signed wide receiver Cooper Kupp, who told reporters earlier this week that he made a donation to Nwosu's foundation as part of the exchange.
Nwosu, 28, joined the Seahawks as a free agent from the Los Angeles Chargers in 2022. He set a career-high with 9.5 sacks and 12 tackles for loss that season, earning three-year, $45 million extension in July of 2023. But he's recorded just three sacks and five TFLs in 12 games since then.
Speaking with reporters at the scouting combine, second-year head coach Mike Macdonald called it "a bummer" to have to play most of last season without Nwosu.
"Because you saw what he could be -- a force on the edge, he's a great game runner, you feel the toughness, the physicality, the intelligence," Macdonald said. "It's been awesome having him in the film room, meeting with the guys all the time. But being able to do it on the field with the guys will take it to another level."
Nwosu's 2023 season ended in late October because of a torn pectoral muscle. He suffered a sprained MCL on a cut block in the 2024 preseason, later blasting Cleveland Browns guard Wyatt Teller for a "dirty play" that sidelined him all of September. His return in Week 5 was short-lived, as he suffered a severe quad strain that kept him on injured reserve for two months.
"It's been tough," Nwosu said upon returning off IR in December, noting that he had dealt with only minor injuries over his first five seasons before he tore his pec. "I feel like it's really things that have kind of been out of my control, especially with the knee injury I had. And then one thing leads to another, so who knows. So just kind of just refiguring myself out, just trusting my process and knowing that I know my career is going to be great and I'll still be the same player I am, and just continue to trust myself."
Nwosu was Seattle's nominee last season for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award.
A second-round pick in 2018 by the Chargers, Nwosu recorded 15.0 sacks over his first four seasons, mostly in a rotational role with Los Angeles. He joined Seattle on a two-year, $19.055 million deal in March of 2022. At the time, that made him the highest-paid free agent by annual average the Seahawks have signed from another team under Schneider.
