Top five free agents Seahawks should sign this offseason
By Lee Vowell
Guard/center Austin Blythe
Seattle may have holes to fill at left guard and center. Mike Iupati is a free agent and is injury-prone and while Jordan Simmons is a decent backup that is really all Simmons is – a backup. Iupati shouldn’t be re-signed because even if he does re-sign at a salary of around $2 million he can’t be counted on to stay healthy late in the season when the games really count.
Center Ethan Pocic is also a free agent. He started off the 2020 season well and looked like a long-term answer at center for Seattle but then missed weeks 10 and 11 and didn’t seem the same thereafter. In the playoffs versus the Rams, Pocic was dominated. Most of the 18 quarterback pressures he gave up came in the second part of the year.
Blythe isn’t a big guy at 300 pounds but he is mobile and this is exactly what Seattle will need in a Shane Waldron system. Plus, Blythe has played for Waldron the last four seasons and knows how to do his work within the construct of the system. He won’t probably make the Pro Bowl but he will help align the offensive line better than it has been in important games.
Blythe can play guard or center. I like him better as a center and I think Seattle needs him as a center to call out the line plays. He also stays healthy having missed just one start in the last three seasons.