The Seahawks definitely need to beef up their pass rush. Here are some possible additions that could get that done and not break the bank.
First, let me admit that I told a little white lie in that heading. Some of these players wouldn’t break the bank. A couple of them would press the line pretty hard, but the Seahawks have the cap space to get it done. They’d just have to make some tough choices to do so.
Lee Vowell covered some excellent pass rushers Seattle could find in the draft. I wrote about some free agents that for one reason or another, the 12s shouldn’t expect to join the Seahawks in 2019. So now it’s time to talk about some of the free agents that could play on CenturyLink Field this year. As I said, a couple of these guys will be expensive. But I’ll start with some relative bargains.
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Preston Smith, 6’2″ 265 pounds, 26 years old. Smith lines up as an outside linebacker for Washington, but that’s more a function of their 3-4 defensive alignment as it is his ability. He certainly has the size to switch to the line in the Seahawks 4-3 defense. He played defensive end in college at Mississippi State. The SEC definitely has big boys playing the offensive line, so he can handle it.
He had an off year in 2018 with just four sacks, but he added 16 quarterback hits and made the most tackles of his career. Smith has averaged six sacks, seven tackles for a loss and fifteen quarterback hits over his career.
He won’t turn 27 until midway through the 2019 season, and spotrac.com lists his market value as $11.1 million. He’d be a fine addition, especially at that price.
Two more potential Seahawks at the cheaper end
Kerry Hyder, 6’2″, 270 pounds, 27 years old. Hyder is the other defensive line free agent from Detroit. Unlike Ziggy Ansah, who we’ve already discussed, Hyder is an exclusive rights free agent. Simply put, this means he cannot negotiate with any other team. If the Lions offer him a contract, he either takes it or sits out the season. With Ansah almost certainly moving on, you’d think Detroit would keep Hyder as they have him by the – well, you know.
However, he missed all of 2017 with a ruptured Achilles tendon. He underwhelmed in his comeback season as he only played in seven games and posted one sack. Here’s what makes him intriguing. He had eight sacks and nineteen quarterback hits in 2016 as a defensive end. The Lions played a 4-3 defense then and switched to the 3-4 last year. To make matter worse, they even played Hyder at nose tackle. That’s right, a 270-pound nose tackle. The Seahawks play, of course, play a 4-3. And he’d be cheap. Go ahead, Detroit, give up on him.
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Dante Fowler Jr., 6’3″, 255 pounds, 24 years old. Fowler played defensive end for the Jaguars, then switched to linebacker for the Rams. Fowler was the third overall pick in the 2015 draft, but never played up to that potential.
That is a big reason Jacksonville traded him to Los Angeles halfway through the 2018 season. Plus they got a couple of draft picks for a guy they were probably going to let walk.
The upside is that Fowler does have potential. He had 8 sacks and 10 quarterback hits in 2017. The downside is, you have to wonder about his motivation, as that was by far his best season out of three. He did play better with the Rams than the Jags in the second half of last year. He’s certainly worth working out.
The Seahawks would have to pay big bucks here
Brandon Graham, 6’2″, 265 pounds, 30 years old. Unlike the previous gentlemen, Graham is no kid. He’ll be 31 before the season starts. The good news is that he’s exceptionally durable, as he’s only missed one game since 2011. His stats fell off a bit last year, but the Eagles rotated players through their defensive line quite a bit. Graham still had four sacks, nine tackles for a loss and eleven quarterback hits.
Pro Football Focus ranked him as the eighth best edge defender for 2018, just ahead of Jadeveon Clowney and Demarcus Lawrence. Despite his age, he doesn’t have that much wear and tear, as he only had 13 starts in his first five seasons. So far so good, right? So what’s the bad news? He’s probably going to be pretty expensive; spotrac.com lists his market value at $15.8 million. That’s a lot of change for a player who’s only tallied more than seven sacks once.
Trey Flowers, 6’2″, 265 pounds, 25 years old. C’mon now, how funny would it be to hear “Tray Flowers with the tackle”, and nobody knows who made the play? There are 45 better reasons for the Seahawks to go after Flowers. That’s how many quarterback hits he’s delivered over the past two seasons. He only got into one game as a rookie with New England, but in the last three years, Flowers has 21 sacks and 164 total tackles.
Pro Football Focus has Flowers rated as the best of the free agent defensive ends, sixth overall. He can move inside, too, and you know how much the Seahawks love flexibility. So what’s the problem with Flowers? Money is the only issue here. Like Graham, Flowers is a guy who will break the bank. He’s listed by spotrac.com with a market value of $15.3 million. A player with better stats and five years younger? I’d certainly go with Flowers.
As to why the Patriots might let him go, it’s all about the salary cap. New England has less than $21 million in cap space. I haven’t seen anything about the Patriots fighting to bring him back, unlike the Cowboys and Marcus Lawrence, the Texans and Jadeveon Clowney, or the Seahawks and Frank Clark, for that matter. For my money, Flowers is the prize pass rusher in free agency that Seattle could actually land.