Seahawks face a difficult choice after signing center Connor Williams

The Seahawks upgraded their line when they signed center Connor Williams. Now they face a small dilemma: who's the backup? Both Olu Oluwatimi and Nick Harris have compelling arguments in their favor.

The Seahawks just improved their odds of a winning season with one move. I agree with Lee Vowell, as he wrote that adding free agent center Connor Williams was the second-best move of the offseason, after hiring head coach Mike Macdonald. On second thought, maybe it's more of a tie with overhauling both the inside linebacker unit and the safety room. Still, it's a huge move and should pay instant dividends for the Hawks offense.

While this is certainly a great move for the Seahawks, it does create an issue fore the team moving forward. As noted above, they already have two centers on the squad, Oluwatimi and Harris. Oluwatimi has been getting snaps with the first team in camp so far, but hasn't exactly blown up the defensive line. If he had, Schneider wouldn't have spent the money to sign Williams. 

Seattle Seahawks have to balance performance versus pocketbook

Speaking of money, the Seahawks got a pretty sweet deal for Williams, especially considering Drew Rosenhaus is his agent. Williams signed a one-year deal for $3 million guaranteed, but he could earn as much as $6 million if he meets all incentives. Seattle had just over $9 million in cap space before the deal, so Williams will eat a large chuck of that space. Hopefully, he'll earn all of those incentives, so he'll use up $6 million.

And that cap space question brings me to the Olu vs Nick question. Oluwatimi would count just $79 against the cap if he's traded or released now. Harris has a dead cap hit of $1 million; so, that's an easy answer, right? Keep Harris, as it costs next to nothing to move on from Oluwatimi. Except Harris was signed for significantly more money overall than Oluwatimi.

Seattle would save $915K if they move on from Oluwatimi, whether they trade him or release him. But if they move on from Nick, they'll save just under $1.4 million. Cutting or trading Harris would net the Hawks an extra $500K, roughly.

As for performance, Olu has been on the first team through most of camp as noted above. While Harris has played at guard, that was only in two games in his rookie season, 2020. At 293 pounds, he's woefully undersized to move out to join the competition at guard.

As for Olu, he never played anywhere but center throughout his college career, let alone in the NFL. He's got nearly 20 pounds on Harris, but nearly three weeks into camp doesn't seem like the right time to experiment with a position switch.

Neither player has been stellar so far, either. Oluawatimi couldn't get overtake Evan Brown at center last year, and Harris has just four career starts in three NFL seasons. Once again, you can see why all 12s should be thrilled that Connor Williams is on the team. One last tricky part of the backup equation is that Williams is coming off ACL surgery. He was injured in week 11 last season, so that's a phenomenally fast turnaround time. The Seahawks absolutely need a solid backup.

Seattle has never carried three centers on the active roster, at least not in the past five years. That was enough research for me, thanks. Neither Harris nor Oluwatimi have shown the position flexibility of Brown or, say, Ethan Pocic, so it's not at all likely that either would be kept as a swing player. They can't stash either player on the practice squad, as both were active for more than the nine-game minimum last season.

I'd bite the bullet and move on from Harris. Trading or releasing him saves the Hawks nearly $500,000 compared to moving on from Oluwatimi. Harris has had three years to prove himself in the league, while Olu has had just one. Since Olu has been getting the starts so far, it sure looks like the coaches want to stay with him as well.

More Seattle Seahawks analysis: