Seattle keeps it’s prized interior defender

For us football crazed nutballs, the NFL off-season is a godsend. In any regular year, the NFL off-season marks a time when fans for all 32 teams can dream about what their team can become. It officially starts with free agency and works itself to the draft. I almost get as excited for it as I do the regular season. I call it the Dream Season.

This year, I feel that this NFL off-season is especially needed. The Covid 19 virus has now become a global pandemic, and because of this, sports leagues are rightly shutting down. As sports fans, I believe we very likely need this off-season now more than ever. We need to dream, and feel positive about our teams. We need this distraction.

Here are some of my thoughts about the first day of “unofficial” free agency.

Defensive Tackle Jarran Reed Stays in Seattle

Personally, I’m really glad to see the big fella back, and a two year $23 million deal seems fair for a guy who is a plus run defender, and capable inside pass rusher. I think some fans were down on him at the end of the season, and felt that he was expendable, but it never seemed like the team was, and it didn’t seem like the league was either. I think Reed perfectly fits what Pete Carroll likes at defensive tackle. He loves big bodies that can anchor and have the ability to push the pocket. That is Jarran Reed, and I think they hold onto a guy who’s best football is likely still ahead of him.

I also think that two years feels win win for both the player and the team. For the team, it solidifies the interior of the defense line for a couple more seasons, and for Reed, it allows him to enter the market again at a reasonably young enough age. Seattle has done well in the past signing defensive linemen to shorter term deals in Cliff Avril, Michael Bennett, Alan Branch, and others. A shorter term contract tends to make a defender play hungrier. I like the idea of a hungry Jarran Reed for two more years.

Tight End Luke Willson Stays in Seattle

Yay. My favorite Canadian tight end product is staying home. Luke Willson is the ideal Seattle Seahawk. He’s a positive locker room guy, a fun guy, he’s a good run blocker, and a capable pass catcher. There is a ton of cultural value to keeping a guy like this on your roster, and with his return Seattle should be pretty set at tight end, with no rush to hurry back Will Dissly from his Achilles injury.

Seattle Tenders Restricted Free Agents Jacob Hollister, David Moore, and Others

In addition to keeping Reed, Seattle made moves to help secure a few restricted free agents. Tight end Jacob Hollister, receiver David Moore, center Joey Hunt, and defensive end Branden Jackson all should be back in 2020.

What’s interesting to me is that the team chose to place a high second round tender on Hollister. This means that they will pay him roughly $3 million for 2020, and should any team signs him to a contract, they would have to surrender a second round pick to Seattle. This also means that they likely see Hollister as a valuable piece to their roster in 2020, even with the signing of Greg Olsen, and the returns of Will Dissly and Luke Willson.

The NFC West Is Becoming The Best League In Football

What out for the Arizona Cardinals. Not only do they have one of the more exciting young quarterbacks in the league in Kyler Murray, they just magically dumped off overpaid running back David Johnson to Houston for hall of fame level wide receiver  DeAndre Hopskins to pair with Larry Fitzgerald and Christian Kirk. They also placed the transition tag on Keynon Drake who severely outplayed Johnson. They also have a top ten pick in this year’s draft that is loaded at offensive tackle and top heavy at defensive line. They could easily be the surprise team of the conference in 2020.

Then you have the division champion San Fransisco 49ers who held onto their prized defensive linemen Arik Armstead, and shipped off his interior mate DeForest Buckner to the Indianapolis Colts for the 13th overall pick in the draft. San Fransisco will now have two picks in the first round, and this draft is looking historically deep at receiver and is good for offensive line. It’s going to be really interesting to see how they reload.

The Rams are more pinched. They don’t have a lot of cap space, and they don’t have any high picks, but this is still a team that has Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey on the defense, and they are still loaded with star power on the offense.

Seattle’s advantage is clear. It’s MVP talent Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll, and their proven formula as a Super Bowl wining quarterback and coach combo. Don’t be surprised if Seattle pulls off a surprise trade of their own to stay up with the others in the division. Who or what, I don’t know yet. It could another star to the defense, or a play-maker on the offense, but I suspect they will be willing to go bold this year. They might just simply be waiting to see if they can retain Jadeveon Clowney before they make that kind of move.

At any rate, this is looking like a spectacular division. I’m pretty excited about it, and Seattle needs to nail this off-season to take it over. Let’s see if they do it.

Go Hawks.