Seahawks free agent target: Defensive tackle Damon Harrison

The Seahawks still need defensive line help with players who can get to the quarterback but also guys who can stop the run. Damon Harrison can stop the run.

While a lot of 12s still hope the Seahawks can find the money to re-sign Jadeveon Clowney, Seattle has other needs along the defensive line as well. Seattle gave up the fourth-worst yards-per-rush last year at 4.9. This was on 388 rushing attempts against Seattle, 8th fewest in the league.

What this means is that teams had little problems running the ball against the Seahawks and probably should have done it even more. To make sure this doesn’t happen again in 2020, Seattle needs to sign Damon Harrison.

Harrison is a true defensive tackle. He isn’t going to chase down many quarterbacks but he is going to eat up blockers in the middle of the line. Harrison is an eight-year NFL vet who collects tackles.

Harrison’s nickname of “Snacks” is fitting because running backs become snacks for him when teams try to run the ball at Harrison. He also stays healthy having missed just one game since 2013.

How much should Seahawks spend for Harrison

In February, Harrison’s former team, the Lions, released him making Harrison a free agent. Harrison should be an affordable option as well. While Harrison did make $9.2 million with the Lions in 2019, $7.5 million of that was a signing bonus. Harrison shouldn’t expect an NFL to give him that much to sign with them in 2020.

The Seahawks current interior of their defensive line includes Jarran Reed and Poona Ford. Reed had 10.5 sacks in 2018 but hasn’t come close to that number in any of his other four years. Ford is probably never going to collect many sacks. But Ford can play the run fairly well, just Harrison does it better.

Ford should be more a rotational defensive tackle for the Seahawks. If Seattle were to sign Harrison at something around $3 to 4 million and put him next to Reed to start games and then have Ford and others come in for depth, Seattle’s run defense would be much better.

After signing Harrison, the Seahawks should turn their complete attention to getting another pass rusher. Clowney might be too expensive at this point. Harrison isn’t going to help the pass rush but he will fix a Seahawks problem against the run.