Guard J.R. Sweezy returns to Seahawks, as expected

The Seahawks continue to add depth and competition as camp progresses. Today they brought guard J.R. Sweezy back to the fold. We’ll see where he fits in.

Guard J.R. Sweezy played for the Seahawks at their peak, from 2012 though 2015. Yes, that was a tacit admission Seattle wasn’t at their peak last year. They missed the playoffs, so I’m not exactly bad-mouthing the team. Besides, I think they’ll be right back in the postseason this year. Okay, back to Sweezy. Just how did he wind up back in Seattle, and what can we expect from him?

Sweezy was originally drafted by Seattle in 2012 in the seventh round. Yes, he’s another of these seventh round Seahawks made good, like Chris Carson or Malcolm Smith. Listen, I didn’t say it was a big club. Sweezy was converted from defensive tackle to the offensive side of the ball and made three starts as a rookie.

Over the next three seasons in Seattle, he started every game he played, missing just two contests from 2013 through 2015. He nabbed a Super Bowl ring and made the next Big Game before signing a fat juicy contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after the 2015 season.

Unfortunately, 2016 was a lost season for Sweezy, due to a back injury. He played 14 games for the Bucs last year, but with over $15 million left on his contract, it isn’t too surprising Tampa Bay said adios. Tampa Bay saves money, and at the least, Seattle gets a very solid backup behind right guard D.J. Fluker. Pro Football Focus graded him a fairly pedestrian 59.3 for last year. That’s right behind Fluker, ironically.

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Sweezy is better than 2017 shows

Before his season-killer injury in 2016, Sweezy earned a very respectable average grade of 71.5 for the previous three years in Seattle. That would place him in the top 20 of the league. And of course the Seahawks have a little bit of game film on him. He can contribute a lot to this offense.

As low as his 2017 grade was, Sweezy was still significantly ahead of Ethan Pocic and his 50.2. The second year lineman has been playing with the first unit on the left side in camp. Make no mistake, Pocic isn’t very likely to be graded that low in 2018. He added 20 pounds of muscle in the offseason. Liz Mathews reported for the Seahawks Wire of USA Today that Pete Carroll was very happy with the work Pocic has put in:

"He’s been pretty well locked in on the left side there and we’ll see if he can hold it. I’m really hoping for that. He does everything that he can possibly do to give you every reason to think he would. I’m fired up about all that he’s done to get to here but now we’ve got to get the pads on, get to knocking and all that kind of stuff before we know."

Now we’ll see if Pocic can hold the starting gig with Sweezy in camp. I expect the two Seahawks will put up a pretty good battle for it, once Sweezy gets “ramped up”, as Pete is so fond of saying. I also expect Pocic will come out on top. This is a fine move for Seattle, no matter who wins the job. Sweezy adds depth, strong competition, and hopefully some more of that Super Bowl mentality.