Seahawks sign Shamar Stephen to bolster defensive line
By Lee Vowell
The Seahawks have signed another former Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman. Shamar Stephen will reportedly join Seattle on a one-year deal. A day after signing former-Vikings teammate Tom Johnson, Seattle gets Stephen to most likely backup in 2018 as well.
The Seattle Seahawks are clearly looking forward to 2019. After signing Shamar Stephen to a one-year deal, Seattle has made another move to clear space following the 2018 season. A day after signing defensive tackle Tom Johnson to a one-year deal too, Seattle now has only three defensive linemen signed in 2019.
Stephen, though, can be a decent contributor this coming year. He isn’t going to get to the quarterback often, but he can stuff the run. Ideally, Stephen’s role will be to backup Nazair Jones. Johnson should backup Jarran Reed. But the fact that Stephen and Johnson know how to play alongside each other might prove valuable.
It should be noted that Stephen started all 16 Vikings games in 2016 but only one in 2017. He has been active for 52 games in his four year career. Did Minnesota find him to not be as good as they thought?
Contract details
Details of the agreement between Stephen and the Seahawks have yet to be disclosed. Most likely, though, Stephen will sign a one year contract at not a ton of money. It’s possible that what Johnson and Stephen sign for combined will be much less per season than what Sheldon Richarson alone signed with the Vikings for.
Reaction
Stephen hasn’t yet generated a lot of buzz good or bad on the Twitter. Not surprising for a guy who is really just a backup.
So after losing Sheldon Richardson to the #Vikings, the #Seahawks are signing Tom Johnson and now Shamar Stephen away from Minnesota. Two for (probably less than) the price of one. https://t.co/IdGglLdGE6
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 24, 2018
i like the Tom Johnson, Shamar Stephen signings to pair with Jarran Reed & Naz Jones...if Malik can play- than Seattle is in decent shape there
— DAVIS HSU (@DavisHsuSeattle) March 24, 2018
Grade: B-
Let’s not go overboard with this signing. The Seahawks signed Stephen to be a backup and only to a one-year deal. Stephen also will be coming off MCL surgery, though he should be ready by Organized Team Activities that start in May.
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Stephen simply needs to come in and help the Seahawks be better against the run in 2018 than they were in 2017. If he can do that, his grade will be better than a B-.