The OLine, personnel questions

[jammerhawk]

This critical area of the team has many expensive personnel questions. The team has two key players who are UFAs, two key(?) backups as RFAs and an interesting but oft injured newcomer as an ERFA

Will the team try to keep both Sweezy and Fluker? My bet is yes. However, they may only keep one. Simmons the ERFA will be re-upped. After that I suspect that the team will tender Fant as a 2nd level tender and let Hunt test the market.

There is resonable depth with the younger players Pocic , Roos, Henry, Jones, and NKansah.

I do think they will try to add to pile though.

Is there a FA out there that has underperformed through injury that could be of interest?

The decisions made here are very important to next season.

 

[Seahawkfan80]

As you and some others here may have noted, I have been perusing other boards thanks to mr BlueThunder for posting them on game week. On both of them that I look at often, there is one GLARING thing put up there, Oline needs help, Oline needs FA, Oline Oline Oline. Help me Obi Wan...The Oline needs you. Help me Obi Wan, You are our only hope for getting some Oline help that will save this team and make sure they are able to play without practice day one. Yes..sarcasm.

I do believe that we need to bring in some guys from other teams that are learning different concepts and see what they have to offer with a bit of different coaching techniques. I think they could prove to be better. Shall we start with castoffs from Oakland? LMAO

 

[sutz]

I'm pretty sure they always "add to the pile" of OL in the draft, at least. Hawks fans like to think we're the only team suffering at OL. It's a pretty league wide phenomenon, I believe. Everybody is always looking for O-line help.

I don't disagree with anything that the OP said, generally. But I feel a lot more hopeful with the new coaches in place that any players we do add will have a much better chance of contributing. It'll be interesting once we figure out the real cap numbers for 2019.

One thing that this year should have taught us is that Pete has a long term plan in place. We were all concerned about our D losing all those starters, but for the most part the young guys stepped up big time and played well overall. Sure, there were some rookie mistakes, but they did better than most people expected. These are young guys who were drafted/signed over the last few years and have been preparing for their chance to play since. Perhaps the same will be true of the young backups on the O-Line, if we lose a starter or two.

 

[bbsplitter]

IMO, Fluker is the one I would pursue keeping the most over Sweezy. I like Sweezy, but Fluker is the "game changer" out of the two of them. I know he has injury history, but when he is on the field he is just such a monster. I also think we need to see how good "role player" fill in type players do under Solari. I have a feeling those type of players would be able to replace Sweezy's production if not be a little better.

 

[massari]

Isn't Sweezy one of the worst pass blocking Guards in the league? Let's only sign him if it's a similar deal to last season and there are no other options.

LT Brown / Fant
LG ??? / Pocic
C Britt / Hunt
RG Fluker / Simmons
RT Ifedi / Jones

 

[sdog1981]

I love the idea of Fluker, however, he has been hurt consistently over the past two seasons. 2016 was the last season in which he played 16 games. As of right now, the guard market is looking thin, so draft picks might be the best bet.

 

[Own The West]

Wow, seven replies in without anyone bashing Ifedi. I'll take that as a win for Solari.

Kind of feels like we just need one more G to step up or figure it out and we'll have a decent OL.

That said, I'd like us to pick another Fant-type athlete in the late rounds.

My assumption is that we're done with big FA signings for now and we'll be working the comp pick game again this offseason.

 

[chris98251]

Wow, seven replies in without anyone bashing Ifedi. I'll take that as a win for Solari.

Kind of feels like we just need one more G to step up or figure it out and we'll have a decent OL.

That said, I'd like us to pick another Fant-type athlete in the late rounds.

My assumption is that we're done with big FA signings for now and we'll be working the comp pick game again this offseason.

Big ticket guys yes, but we built things with low visability guys like Clemons and Brock and finding Bryant a better position. I think we look at that again and then also stock the practice squad again with D line guys and pass rush. Avril and Bennett were not expected to be who they ended up being after we signed them.

 

[Jville]

Having three out of five starters already signed for 2019 is a plus.

Right tackle and tackle depth sould be interesting. I don't expect to see that fifth year option exercised on Jermaine Ifedi. That should act as a big motivation. I'm hopeful the staff will resign restricted free agent George Fant to compete for a starting spot. Jamarco Jones and Elijah Nkansah are interesting newcomers scheduled to return in 2019. George Fant and Jamarco Jones represent opposite ends of the spectrum from John Schneider. One was a projected acquisition who was an exceptional athlete with little position experience or technique. The other was a well schooled student with good technique coming out of college but limited athletic distinction. Interesting contrast. And of course there is the former 1st round pick on the left side plus a very late season rookie free agent pick up. An interesting mix with little in the way of cap concerns this year.

Center is in good shape with Justin Britt as the starter. And it seems likely the same depth at center will return from last year to compete and get better.

Guard is where there is some uncertainty that could turn into a free for all. It would be nice to have all 5 starters return from last year. But, that would be unusual in Seattle.

I'm looking forward to seeing what more John Schneider and scouting friends can find for Mike Solari to work with in year two. :2thumbs:

 

[jammerhawk]

They weren't able to run before they had solid play from both OGs. Both Sweezy and Fluker deserve to be re-signed however the injury history from Fluker won't help him much and may frighten the team off. several don"t recognizr that Sweezy was an alternate for the Pro Bowl so his solid play was noticed around the league and might cause him to be priced out of the market.

In an Ideal world I'd keep both as a 2nd season with the 5 together might make for a very solid OLine if they can stay healthy. Nice to have some backup depth here already and Simmons to me looked like a starter quality G if he could stay healthy. Am curious what the team will do with Jamarco Jones along with Roos and to see if Pocic can get stronger or improve enough to justify his draft position.

 

[toffee]

Jamarco Jones could influence some decision making process, if he could back up both left and right tackles spots, hawks could let Ifedi go and start Fant at RT.

Fant's '18 PFF ranking was higher than Ifedi's
https://www.profootballfocus.com/nfl/pl ... fant/11282
https://www.profootballfocus.com/nfl/pl ... fedi/10665

 

[TreeRon]

Sweezy + Flucker = 1 healthy lineman.

 

[hawkfan68]

Jordan Simmons is a must re-sign. He's young and was solid when played prior to his injury. I believe the OL is in better shape this offseason than it has been in the past few years. This is due to Solari and his ability to develop players. I have a feeling that Pocic may be the odd man out on OL. He just doesn't seem to be a good fit for the direction of the OL moving forward (primarily a running attack). He's not a mauler like Sweezy, Fluker, Simmons, etc.

 

[JGreen79]

Avril and Bennett were not expected to be who they ended up being after we signed them.

Avril and Bennett were the top 2 4-3 defensive ends that offseason.

 

[chris98251]

Avril and Bennett were not expected to be who they ended up being after we signed them.

Avril and Bennett were the top 2 4-3 defensive ends that offseason.

Many thought Avril was a product of people double teaming Suh, and Bennett had to sign a prove it deal.

 

[Jville]

^^^^ I remember that history.

It could yet happen for the offensive line as well. Presumably, they took that route last year at guard.

With only 8 o-linemen under contract as of March 13th, 7 to 9 more candidates will need to be added to a 90 man roster. Lots of room for improvement and surprises thru competition.

 

[kf3339]

I personally don't want to see our O-Line go backwards from last years results. That means re-signing both Sweezy and Flucker to fill our starting guard positions. What this line needs is solid play continuity and they both were important parts in that result.

Now more O-Line depth at guard is a good idea, so re-signing back EFRA Simmons makes a lot of sense and getting someone who can really challenge Pocic for a backup guard spot is also needed. Personally, I would rather see Pocic backing up Britt, which is a more natural position for him. While Hunt has been serviceable, I think Pocic has more starter position potential at Center, and may be the answer if Britt gets too expensive in the next year, or two.

I'm really interested to see what Jacoby Jones will be able to bring this year after his early IR injury early last season. I really thought we might have hit on another mid-round diamond with him from his early play. Hopefully that is behind him.

Last, our tackles are in good shape with Brown and Ifedi for now. With Fant and Jones we have good backups who can potentially start, if needed.

What I really want to see is us not going backward again in this position group. Our ending starters last season should be the opening day group again this season. Perhaps find a late round or UDFA developmental player, but keep focusing on the defense and perhaps a tall WR. That is where I would start.

 

[toffee]

Isn't Sweezy one of the worst pass blocking Guards in the league? Let's only sign him if it's a similar deal to last season and there are no other options.

LT Brown / Fant
LG ??? / Pocic
C Britt / Hunt
RG Fluker / Simmons
RT Ifedi / Jones

LT Brown - Fant
LG Simmons - Pocic/Hunt
C Britt - Hunt/Pocic
RG Fluker - Pocic/Hunt
RT Ifedi - Jones

 

[Jville]

I was stumbling across some free agent ratings, and Seahawks tackle George Fant’s name is an interesting one to follow. Fant is a restricted free agent, but some scouts rank him among the better free agent tackles hitting the market. This isn’t to say the Seahawks will lose him — they won’t — but to keep him, they probably have to put the second-round restricted tender on him. That would cost around $3.11 million. If someone would sign him, the Seahawks would have seven days to match. If they don’t match, they would get a second-round choice. - John Clayton >>> link >>> [urltargetblank]http://sports.mynorthwest.com/605186/clayton-seahawks-free-agency-big-decisions/[/urltargetblank]

 

[Atradees]

Sweezy+Fluker+Jamarco Jones= 1 health lineman