Seahawks: What will it take to re-sign Russell Okung?

For the Seattle Seahawks, resigning Russell Okung is both risky and expensive, but losing him might turn out to be a major mistake.

Russell Okung, the starting left tackle for the Seattle Seahawks since 2010, is set to become a free agent. The Seahawks would like to get him back, but they lack to salary cap flexibility to be overly aggressive in trying to re-sign Okung.

Okung was drafted in 2010 under the old CBA. That means he just completed a massive 6 year, $48.5 million contract that he signed as a rookie. He is now a free agent, and set to hit the open market for the first time in his career.

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Quality LTs are extremely hard to find. Therefore they are paid very well. They almost never hit the open market, and they can be extremely difficult to find unless a team is drafting in the top 10.

Even a top 10 draft pick is no guarantee though. Luke Joeckel, Eric Fishers, etc. have disappointed in recent seasons after being top draft picks.

That alone makes a fairly strong case for bringing back Okung, and why getting him under contract won’t be cheap. Spotrac projects his market value at just under $9 million per season. That is approximately one-third of Seattle’s available cap space.

There are some issues with Okung that could hold back his value though. For starters, he’s never played 16 games in any one season. The most he’s ever played is 15, and that was back in 2012. Okung only played in 8 games of Seattle’s Super Bowl championship season in 2013, and he missed three games last season.

So durability is a definite concern. He also had shoulder surgery after the season, and will be pushing it to be ready for the start of training camp. While it shouldn’t prevent him from being ready for Week 1, it will still limit his appeal to other teams since he won’t have a full camp to learn their offense.

And then there’s the issue of his declining play. Okung is only 28, but his skills have declined steadily the last two seasons. He is allowing more QB pressures and committing more penalties now than at any point in his career.

The Seahawks, or any other team, will likely not want to give him a bunch of guaranteed money. Okung won’t want to sign a long-term deal that pays him under market value. This will certainly create some very difficult negotiations.

The compromise here would be an incentive laden one-year “prove it” deal. This would allow Okung to make significantly more next season if his shoulder is fully healthy, while protecting the team in case it isn’t. It would also allow Okung to hit the open market again next season when he is still under 30 for a chance at a huge payday.

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That is a major risk for Okung though, and not an option he’s likely to take unless all his other options are gone. Seattle would risk losing Okung if they decide to wait him out hoping to get him to accept that type of contact.

Overall, this is a tough situation for both Okung and the Seahawks. Both sides stand to lose big if they cannot work out a deal in the next couple of weeks.