5 worst free agent signings under Seattle Seahawks GM John Schneider
By Lee Vowell
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No. 4 - Both centers in 2022 and 2023
Seattle never has fixed the issue the team created at center after Seattle traded Max Unger to the New Orleans Saints in 2015 as part of the deal to bring tight end Jimmy Graham to the Seahawks. Unger had been a Pro Bowler in 2012 and 2013 and became one for the Saints in 2018. Meanwhile, Graham could never be the same tight end with Seattle that he had been with the Saints because the offenses were completely different.
Because of that issue and the years that followed, I am cheating with this choice as one of the worst free-agent signings. Let's call this a twofer. Seattle's centers have recently been the same kind of carousel that Harry Potter had with his defense against the dark arts teachers. Each year is different and not any better.
In 2022, Seattle brought in Austin Blythe who was undersized for an NFL center and he often got run over. I don't even mean while pass-blocking because he was decent with that. He was atrocious as a run-blocker, however, often needing help to keep defensive tackles away from his running backs. Instead of signing Blythe, Seattle could have drafted Tyler Linderbaum who made the Pro Bowl this year for the Baltimore Ravens.
Evan Brown was signed to a one-year deal last offseason and after being OK for the first two games was terrible afterward. Between Week 3 and 18, Brown allowed multiple pressures in every game except three. He was also penalized seven times from Week 3 on, including five holding calls. Seattle could replace Brown with Olu Oluwatimi (whom Seattle drafted in 2023), but with a new coaching staff involved, anything is possible other than Brown likely does not return to the Seahawks in free agency.