Center Evan Brown doesn't deserve a seat
At the beginning of the season, Evan Brown looked like a pretty good free-agent signing. He was big and strong and seemed to be an upgrade over the 2022 starter at center, Austin Blythe. Through the first four games, Brown had a decent grade, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), and was a top-15 center. But all of his best individually graded games this year came in those first four games.
In fact, Brown's three worst-graded games have come in the last three weeks. He is OK in pass protection, but horrible in run blocking. In 2022, the Seahawks had 47 runs of 12-plus yards, seventh in the NFL, and an average of 2.8 per game. This year through 10 games, Seattle has just 18 such runs, an average of 1.8 yards per game. So because the running game is less effective, Seattle is losing a play a game of 12-plus yards.
2023 is Brown's worst-graded run-blocking season since 2020. Is the issue the player or the scheme? There cannot be blame for Brown's poor play put on the Seahawks having to use a bunch of different linemen either, because the first four games were rough in terms of which lineman was available and who was playing where and those were Brown's best games. He has digressed for some reason and his one-year free-agent deal seems like it will be just that: One season.