Mike Macdonald reveals timeline for new Seahawks center Connor Williams

A move that had been going on for more than two weeks finally got done over the weekend as the Seattle Seahawks signed veteran center Connor Williams. He excels as a pass-blocker and run-blocker and has shown no weaknesses in the past two seasons when he was with the Miami Dolphins. He will be an instant upgrade at the position and will improve the overall offensive line.

Williams' deal is for one season with a max of $6 million. $3 million was guaranteed at signing. The issue is that since he tore his ACL in Week 11 of last season he would not have been ready to practice even had he signed at the beginning of training camp. If the regular season started next week, Olu Oluwatimi would be the starter.

Williams said in a press conference on Monday that he was about "95 percent" back but still working on getting his knee back to full strength. Seattle does not play their first regular season game until September 8 against the Denver Broncos. This means Williams has about a month before he needs to be fully ready to play.

Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald reveals Connor Williams' timeline

Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald told the media on Monday that the team already has a plan in place to help Williams be ready to be immediately impactful for Seattle. Seattle traded Nick Harris this week and that opened up a roster spot for Williams. Harris started against the Los Angeles Chargers in preseason Week 1, and that doesn't exactly scream that Seattle has confidence in Oluwatimi.

This should mean when Williams is ready to play, he will start. There is a chance that the center is available for preseason Week 3 against the Cleveland Browns or the week in between the final preseason game and the first real game.

Macdonald said on Monday, "We have a pretty good plan in place now. He'll be with the sports performance folks for the next week or so until we can get him full speed for practice, but we're shooting for either Cleveland week or the week after to get him out here and practicing."

Williams is a six-year veteran so he already knows how to adjust to different schemes and how to prepare mentally to approach every game. Even if he has a short time to practice with the team, there should not be any issues when the Seahawks take on the Broncos.

Williams' presence is also going to help whoever starts to his right. The battle for right guard includes rookie Christian Haynes, and second-year players Anthony Bradford and McClendon Curtis. None of those guys have proven they should be long-term starters yet. Having Williams next to them should help slow the game down for them and allow them to be more efficient.

After signing Williams and trading Harris, Seattle should have around $3.5 million in cap room. The team could create a bit more space by rolling some of DK Metcalf's base salary into a signing bonus, for instance. Williams will very likely be worth every penny Seattle used in order to sign him.

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