Another plowing day--then dance--for bargain D.J. Fluker. ‘I’d love to be a Seahawk for life’

Want to see how jacked, to use one of Pete Carroll’s favorite words, D.J. Fluker was over his and his Seahawks’ latest victory?

Yes, the largest man employed by the Seahawks in a long time, maybe ever, was in the locker room at Ford Field getting his dance on Sunday afternoon. His moves came minutes after Fluker and his fellow offensive linemen plowed the paths for another Seahawks’ run party, the key to a now-flowing, efficient offense.

This time it was 176 yards rushing that led Seattle to its fourth win in five games, 28-14 over the previously roaring Detroit Lions.

“We did a great job containing those guys. You know, they have a big, physical front,” Fluker said of the Lions’ defense.

“That’s what we live for, you know, as an offensive lineman. You are going to meet a front that is physical. But we did a great job.

“I think we ran the ball pretty well.”

Pretty well? With Fluker flattening foes such as Rams megabucks defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh earlier this month, on Chris Carson’s touchdown run in Seattle’s two-point loss to the NFL’s only unbeaten team, the Seahawks are averaging 160.2 yards on the ground per game the last five games. If that was over all seven games they’d be leading the league in rushing offense this season.

The running game has revitalized the offense and thus the season for the Seahawks (4-3). And because the massive Fluker has become an indispensible part of that rushing attack—Seattle ran it 42 times and passed it 17 while routing Detroit—Fluker has revitalized the Seahawks.

No wonder he feels like he’s found a home. His third NFL team at age 27 is the one with which he wants to retire.

“I would love to be a Seahawk for life,” Fluker told me Sunday in Detroit, a few minutes after he danced in the locker room. “I’ve seen all the great offensive linemen here. (Hall of Famer) Walter Jones, seeing him as a kid growing up playing.

“It would be a great fit for me. I think I’ve shown what I can do. And other than that, hey, I’d love to be a Seahawk for life.”

He smiled. Again.

The Seahawks have a choice to make soon with Fluker. His one-year contract ends in a couple months.

Seattle gave the biggest bargain on its payroll a chance few in the NFL wanted to this past spring. Fluker was coming off a season-ending knee injury in his only year with the New York Giants. Before that, he was with the Chargers for four seasons. He was known as a physical road grader in run blocking who had liabilities in pass protection.

The Seahawks have seen no liabilities. They had no idea he would be this vital to their entire offense, and to their locker room.

Coaches, players and staffers love his fun, lively, infectious persona.

Fans loved Fluker’s fire after the loss to the Rams, which the Seahawks still believe they should have won but for a holding penalty late on Fluker that pushed them out of range for the winning field goal.

Fluker was a customized Seahawks signing. He had played for Seattle’s new offensive line coach, Mike Solari, last year with the Giants. His strength, putting defensive linemen’s faces in in turf in Solari’s more straight-ahead, man-on-man blocking schemes than in previous line coach Tom Cable’s zone system fits Carroll’s promise to return the Seahawks to a physical running game in 2018.

Fluker’s a masher who mauls opponents--while keeping a smile on his face and a dance in his step.

“It’s been nothing but positives, really. It’s been a really pleasant surprise to see him be such a factor, because his attitude is so good,” Carroll said. “He just cares so much about playing the game. He loves it so much. It’s so important to him to get to the meeting room and just be around the fellas and the locker room and then his play style. (The) physical nature that he plays with brings something special to us.

“But then it’s more than that, because it’s his personality that comes along with it. We’re very fortunate. And Mike Solari had given us the heads up that this is a special guy and that we could get him and all that, so we were lucky to have that insight. You can always see the play, but we didn’t know what was going on in the helmet. And he’s a really special guy. He’s been a blast.”

Carroll’s kind of guy. A guy with “juice.”

“He’s got such a big personality and such a positive, supportive personality to a club that likes to play with a lot of energy and a lot of juice. It fits him perfectly,” the coach said. “And he’s one of the guys out front leading the charge and carrying the flag kind of guy. That’s where he surprised us, just because we didn’t know him. He’s been a great addition.”

When the Seahawks signed him to a one-year contract in March worth that bargain of $1.5 million for 2018 did they tell Fluker this was the plan, to return the offense to the run and for him to lead that change?

After all, the Seahawks didn’t run well or often in 2017. They had the worst production by running backs in the league last season, in many NFL seasons, in fact. And they missed the playoffs for the first time in six years.

“I don’t really know what they did last year,” he said Sunday at Ford Field, laughing. “But I’m here this year.

“Thing is about actually establishing a run game. They gave me a chance. They gave me a chance to actually be myself.”

And, now, a reason to dance.

This story was originally published October 29, 2018 at 9:00 AM.