Although the Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner moves have overshadowed everything else Seahawks-related this offseason, the team has swapped out several front-seven pieces. The Seahawks remain in search of help up front.
Seattle acquired Shelby Harris in the Wilson trade, signed edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu and reunited with hybrid rusher Quinton Jefferson. The Seahawks are looking into another veteran, hosting Mario Addison on Wednesday, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.
A defensive end with 11 years’ experience, Addison spent the past two seasons with the Bills. This Seattle visit marks the 34-year-old rusher’s first connection to a team this offseason. The Bills revamped their defensive line this offseason as well, with the Von Miller deal heading up that effort. This left Addison and Jerry Hughes out of the picture.
Addison recorded 12 sacks with the Bills, including seven last season despite shifting to a bench role, and has 67 in his career. He recorded at least nine sacks in each season from 2016-19 with the Panthers, who employed the former UDFA for nearly eight seasons.
Moving to a defense featuring more 3-4 looks, the Seahawks do not have their top two sackers from last season — Carlos Dunlap and Rasheem Green — rostered. They cut Dunlap, Benson Mayowa and Kerry Hyder this offseason, with Nwosu set to anchor the team’s new-look edge corps.
Addison is an interesting player. He truly was a late bloomer with Carolina, and is a hard worker either as a starter or as a rotational player. Seattle really needs to draft well this year to fill multiple holes on defense, but Addison’s presence as a veteran defender should help transition new players and back them up as they develop.
Seattle rotates the line a lot. Keep the big boys fresh. I think Seattle has their eyes on 3 players. 2 will for almost certain be gone the third they take or make a trade if they get a good offer. That would be my preference.
They also need to get DK signed. If they don’t when he hits FA he will be in Denver with a lot of roster moves. If they can’t sign him trade him might as well get something out of him. I would lay a contract in front of him makes him the highest paid WR with the most guaranteed money. He can have a months or more stay at Paul Allen’s get away on Orcas Island. Have 24hr chef maids driver the whole shebang. It is huge and buts up to that other Microsoft guy. All fenced with security. They just need to get him signed and the next couple years will be the best shot a bunch of guys on rookie contracts.
This is a throw away year and needs to be treated as one. I am not saying throw games but few high priced FAs. Save the money for when you have a QB able to take you to the SB. And yes these next two years need to be great drafts for them. Like the one they got an F on but a few years later got an A+ for.
Seattle, in my mind, popularized the modern concept of a professional “rotational pass rusher” in the early 2010s (God, it feels so old to say that). Chris Clemons, Cliff Avril, Bruce Irvin, and Michael Bennett all moved and shifted constantly on that line just as rushers back in those days. That was also in addition to the actual defensive tackles that they had to stop the run, like big Red Bryant (who I think blocked like four kicks in a year or something ridiculous like that).
The old Giants NASCAR packages were phenomenal, but the Seahawks made rotating a regular thing that other teams decided to emulate. And now, here we are, with teams valuing rotational pass rushers as being essential-not as much as full time starters, but those are getting rarer and rarer with specialized packages on the rise. Keeping with that theme, having rotational rushers in Seattle is not surprising. After all, they were the team that proved how valuable they can be in the NFL-at least in the current era.