A most active first day of free agency

The Seahawks began free agency as they always do: playing defense.

And I don’t say that just because their biggest move was re-signing defensive tackle Leonard Williams.

As is usually the case, the Seahawks spent the first day of free agency trying to avoid attrition as opposed to making additions.

You win some: re-signing Williams and tight end Noah Fant.

You lose more: Guard Damien Lewis to Carolina, linebacker Jordyn Brooks to Miami and tight ends Colby Parkinson and Will Dissly to the Rams and the Chargers, respectively.

There’s only one of those losses that comes as a surprise to me:

Brooks. And it’s not so much the fact that he’s gone, but the price tag.

He went to Miami on a three-year deal that averages $10 million, which seems eminently reasonable for a starting middle linebacker. This leads me to believe that Seattle didn’t see him occupying that role in Mike Macdonald’s defense.

In other words, they didn’t think he was going to fill the role that Roquan Smith has played for Macdonald in Baltimore. Now, to be fair, no one is going to fill that role like Smith does. Smith a former top-10 pick, who signed a four-year, $100 million contract in Baltimore last year, making him the highest-paid linebacker in league history.

The fact that Seattle wasn’t willing to give Brooks even half that – with no real viable alternatives on hand – means the Seahawks didn’t see him as even a short-term fit in that role, and I’m not necessarily in position to argue with that. After all, Brooks played middle linebacker back in 2022 when Bobby Wagner took his sabbatical with the Rams, and the fact that Seattle went and brought Wagner back the next season has to say at least a little something about how that went.

However, I’m going to be fairly baffled if the Seahawks go out and spend big money to sign Patrick Queen because

a) I’m fairly certain that Queen is going to get more money than Brooks;

b) I’m not sure that he’s any better than Brooks;

c) If you don’t think that Brooks can be the MIKE linebacker in your defense, I’m not sure why you would believe Queen could.

We’ll have to wait and see, but for now, Seattle has a decided lack of middle linebackers.

I’m not going to cry about Seattle losing Lewis to the Panthers. What I will point out, however, is that he joins a long list of offensive linemen whom the Seahawks have:

James Carpenter. John Moffitt. Germain Ifedi. Ethan Pocic. If you want to get all granular you can throw Mark Glowinski in there because he technically started one game as a rookie, but I think you get the idea.

It’s rinse, lather, repeat at this point. In John Schneider’s 14 years as general manager, the Seahawks have signed exactly one (1) offensive lineman they drafted to a multi-year extension, and that was Justin Britt. Two more were brought back on one-year deals after their rookie deals expired: Pocic and Phil Haynes, who is currently a free agent.

This leads me to believe that one of two things must be true:

Either

or

Hell, it might be both. After all, somebody is choosing to pay these guys whether it was Carpenter, who kicked around for a number of years after his stint in Seattle ended, or Lewis, who’s going to Carolina where the Panthers are going to have to do everything they can to protect young quarterback Bryce Young. I’m just going to say that it was more than a little bit frustrating to watch Pocic go to Cleveland and become the starting center on what is considered one of the best run-blocking lines in the league while while the middle of Seattle’s offensive line continues to rotate guys every two years or so.

I’m not saying Seattle is wrong for letting Lewis go. I am saying that the next time Seattle drafts an offensive lineman and everyone starts cooing over how he’s playing as a rookie, I’m going to know better. Oh wait. I was doing that about Abe Lucas and Charles Cross as recently as last year, wasn’t I? Crap.

Yes, Seattle is paying him a ton of money: the $21.5 million average on his three-year deal is a record-high for a Seattle defensive player, and it ranks 14th among the league’s defensive linemen, according to Spotrac. Every one of the guys in front of him has more than the 8 sacks Williams has totaled over the past three seasons.

However, two well-placed sources tell me he was Seattle’s best defensive lineman last season after arriving from the Giants. Those sources: my eyes. The Seahawks are going to rebuilding pretty much the entire middle of their defense given the cuts at safety and the fact that Brooks is gone and Bobby Wagner seems certain to follow.

The Seahawks might very well be paying a good player an absolutely great salary, but I don’t think there was anyone they could get either in free agency or the draft who was going to be better than Williams.

Would you rather have Colby Parkinson AND Will Dissly or Noah Fant?

Now, that’s not exactly the decision the Seahawks faced, but it’s close. Parkinson and Dissly each signed three-year deals in Los Angeles with the Rams and the Chargers, respectively. Parkinson’s deal averaged $7.5 million, Dissly’s $4.75 million.

Fant’s two-year deal averages $10.5 million, he’s caught the third-most passes of any player on the team over the past two seasons and while I saw people praising Colby Parkinson’s run-blocking after his signing with the Rams, I’ve got to admit that I never, ever got the impression the Seahawks thought he was a better run blocker than Fant.

If you gave me a choice between:

a) Parkinson and Dissly;

b) Fant and a rookie or developmental player;

I’m going with b) and offering my apologies to Dissly, whom I love.