The Seahawks have a lot of decisions to make. Few are as important as whether to keep K.J. Wright. If they don’t, who could step into his cleats?
K.J. Wright has been an excellent player for the Seahawks throughout his career. While he’s only made one Pro Bowl, all 12s know just how much he’s contributed to the Hawks defense. His outstanding performance in the playoff game versus the Cowboys was just another example of his greatness.
But he did miss 11 games with an injury and turns 30 before the season starts. Both of those facts count against him in the balance of pending free agency. We’ve seen how Seattle deals with players with those exact criteria already. So should the Seahawks re-sign Wright? And if not, who could they bring in to replace him?
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One big difference between Wright and Earl Thomas is that Wright made absolutely no mention of holding out for a new contract, as Thomas did. There are zero off-field issues regarding the man who’s teamed with Bobby Wagner for the past seven seasons. Pete Carroll made a point of praising Wright for his work ethic and leadership. Clearly, he’d like to keep Wright on the team.
That’s assuming Wright’s prospective contract would fit within the team’s salary cap. For more on that issue, look no further than right here. For our purposes here, I’ll assume Seattle will move on. There’s good reason to anticipate that Wright will command a big contract. Namely, he’s the best free agent at his position.
Who could replace K.J. Wright for the Seahawks?
Thomas Davis, 6’1″, 235 pounds, 36 years old at season’s start. Davis has been and still is one of the best outside linebackers in the league. Despite just playing 12 games, he still made 79 combined tackles and broke up six passes. He had the highest ranking by Pro Football Focus of any pure outside linebacker entering free agency this year. Not too bad, right?
The problem is that 36 is pretty old in NFL terms, especially for a linebacker. Not everyone can be James Harrison. Seabass notwithstanding, the Seahawks generally try to get younger, not older. Davis is still an excellent player, but his production isn’t likely to rise. So, it’s on to the kids – and there’s only one that’s even close to Wright in performance.
Anthony Barr, 6’5″, 255 pounds, 27 years old at season’s start. Barr is coming off his fourth straight Pro Bowl season for the Vikings. He’s averaged 76 total tackles, 5.0 pass defenses, 6.8 tackles for a loss, and 7.0 quarterback hits per 16 games in his career. That sounds like a Pro Bowler, doesn’t it? Well, let’s stack that up to K.J. Wright. For the record, Wright is 6’4″, 246 pounds, and will be 30 when the season starts.
Wright has averaged 106 combined tackles, 4.7 pass defenses, 7.1 tackles for a loss, and 3.3 quarterback hits per 16 games. Barr is better at getting to the quarterback – by design – but Wright averages 30 more tackles per season. That is an enormous difference, and why I see Barr as something of a downgrade. Besides, the wrong player went to the Pro Bowl too often.
Seahawks could take a look at these two as well
Shaquil Barrett, 6’2″, 250 pounds, 26 years old at season’s start. Unlike Wright or Barr, Barrett has only started a fourth of his 61 games in the NFL. That can happen when you’re on the same team as Von Miller and Bradley Chubb. The bigger issue is he’s played the strong side in the Broncos 3-4 defense. I don’t think he’d fit the Seahawks system very well, not in Wright’s position. But he is a pretty good player and you’ll see his name pop up, so I included him here.
Jake Ryan, 6’2″, 240 pounds, 27 years old at season’s start. Ryan missed all of 2018 for the Packers with a knee injury. He was second in combined tackles in both 2016 and 2017, despite starting just 22 of the 32 games. However,we run into another problem. Ryan played at left inside linebacker if Green Bay’s 3-4 defense. I think he’d probably be more capable of switching to the weakside in Seattle’s 4-3 than Barrett, but it’s still an adjustment.
Most of the free agent linebackers – at least the ones that are any good – are middle linebackers like Jordan Hicks or C.J. Mosely. Either that or end-linebacker hybrids like Jadeveon Clowney and Dee Ford. Great players, but none of them play the role that K.J. Wright plays for the Seahawks.
If they can handle his contract, Seattle needs to keep K.J. Wright. There certainly isn’t anyone better on the free agent market. Except possibly Mychal Kendricks. As Lee Vowell wrote earlier this month, the situation with Kendricks’ sentencing really threw a wrench into the Seahawks plans. As it stands now, I think they’d be wise to re-sign the tackling machine that is K.J. Wright.