Don’t expect Seahawks to sign Eugene Monroe
By Keith Myers
Despite reports that the Seattle Seahawks are interested in OT Eugene Monroe, there is almost no chance that he end up with the Seahawks.
According to a report from ESPN’s Josina Anderson, the Seattle Seahawks are one of the teams showing interest in free agent offensive tackle Eugene Monroe. The extent of that interest remains greatly in question though.
Monroe is a very good player. He’d greatly upgrade Seattle’s line if he signed, but the chances of that happening appear to be incredibly small.
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For starters, Monroe isn’t exactly durable. He’s played in just 27 of the last 48 games. Lack of durability is a big part of why the Seahawks decided to let Russell Okung leave this offseason.
On top of that, Monroe figures to be expensive to sign. His last deal was at just under $8 million per year. The market for left tackles has only gone up since then. Add in that Seattle only has about $9.5 million in cap space (before any Doug Baldwin extension), and there is almost no chance that the Seahawks don’t get out bid.
Of course, all of this is ignoring the fact that the Seahawks love what Gary Gilliam brings to the team at left tackle. The Seahawks need line help, but left tackle isn’t the position that they want to make changes.
The position where the Seahawks need the most help is at right tackle. They’re currently hoping that J’Marcus Webb won’t be as terrible there as he has been for three other teams. Monroe would be a massive upgrade, but even that isn’t a good fit.
The Seahawks drafted Germain Ifedi to be the long-term solution at right tackle. He’ll play at right guard as a rookie while he gets acclimated to the NFL, but his future is outside. That means that signing Monroe would be as a 1-year rental, and Monroe isn’t going to take that kind of a deal.
And then there is the reason why Monroe is on the market right now. He was released by Baltimore after he repeatedly bashed the NFL’s archaic stance on marijuana. Monroe correctly pointed out the hypocrisy of the NFL continuing to ban pot, while setting no limits on NSAID or opioid painkillers.
Monroe’s position isn’t one that’s popular with teams and owners. When he refused to stop his crusade for a change to the policy, the Ravens chose to let him go. The Seahawks made similar decisions with Brandon Browner and Walter Thurmond after both were suspended after being failing a drug test for marijuana use.
All of those factors together make a Seahawks pairing with Monroe a bad match. The Seahawks may still need offensive line help, but don’t expect Eugene Monroe to be where they find it.