Analyzing the market value for the Seahawks top 7 free agents

Player 2: Ethan Pocic, C

Ethan Pocic has been counted out for years. It’s largely not his fault though. He was consistently played out of position. Pocic was a center in college and was highly regarded in the draft due to his play in that position.

However, Seattle had just invested a healthy contract in Justin Britt. The team had no choice but to try and utilize Pocic as a different lineman. Unfortunately, due to his limitations, this was largely unsuccessful. Many people, including myself, thought he could be a cap casualty this off-season.

However, Britt was released, and it was as if a light bulb turned on. Pocic was suddenly a stud offensive lineman. He was by far the best prospect at center in training camp. It was as if Seattle was playing him out of position for several years or something….

Regardless, he finally had a breakthrough season. I am not going to tell you he was a top tier center of anything like that. He was simply a very serviceable center. He played in 15 of 17 possible games this year. He had a total of 14 blown blocks across 888 offensive snaps. That averages out to about 1 per game or 1 per 63 snaps.

Let’s take a look at how Justin Britt faired with this same metric: roughly 1 blown block per 3 quarters of play or 1 per 40 snaps. Pocic was also superior compared to Britt’s last season in snaps per sack/penalty allowed as well. Britt allowed either a sack or plenty once every 168 snaps. Pocic allowed one per 199 offensive snaps, including the playoffs.

I am sure along with everyone else, I have a sour taste left in my mouth after how often Pocic got man-handled in the wild-card. However, don’t let that distract you from the solid season he had. He was a far superior pass blocking center to Britt. He is also only 25 years old. Plenty of treads left on his tires and potential left to tap into.

Market valuation: 4 years, $34 million ($8.5 million per year).

Market comp: Chase Roullier, Washington Football Team.