D.J. Fluker finds new NFL home less than a day after Seahawks released him
Less than 24 hours after the Seahawks officially announced they were releasing D.J. Fluker, the veteran guard has a new home.
The Baltimore Ravens, the best team in the AFC last regular season, are signing the 29-year-old Fluker to a free-agent contract. The news from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport Tuesday morning came less than two full days after Fluker informed everyone of the Seahawks releasing him in a classy way.
The Ravens will Fluker’s fourth team in five years. He ended his rookie contract and stint with the San Diego Chargers after the 2016 season. He played one season for the New York Giants before signing with Seattle to be its starting right guard for the 2018 and ‘19 seasons. He missed eight games combined because of injuries in those two Seahawks seasons.
Releasing Fluker saved the Seahawks $3.69 million in salary-cap space for 2020.
The team signed free-agent guard-center B.J. Finney to a two-year deal last month. The Seahawks drafted LSU right guard Damien Lewis in the third round of the NFL draft Friday and said he was ready to compete to play right away.
The Seahawks also released Justin Britt with Fluker, for a combined cap savings of more than $12 million. That gives Seattle more financial flexibility to put together contract proposals for free-agent pass rushers the team needs desperately, such as Jadeveon Clowney or Everson Griffen. That’s even after the Seahawks drafted two edge rushers last weekend, Darrell Taylor from Tennessee in the second round and Syracuse’s Alton Robinson in the fifth round.
Seattle announced Monday it released its starting center and 2016 Pro Bowl alternate with a failed-physical designation. That entitles Britt to about $1 million from the Seahawks if he does not sign with another NFL team this year.
Britt, who turns 29 next month, suffered a season-ending knee injury in October during Seattle’s win at Atlanta. He had reconstructive surgery. The Seahawks did not know when he’d return to the field. Britt’s salary-cap charge of $11.4 million in 2020, the final year of his contract, put his future in jeopardy the minute he got hurt six months ago. He knew it. He was noticeably angry and emotional as doctors helped him off the field and into the locker room that day in Atlanta.
Britt’s situation—a starting center with a young family on his way to an $8 million salary for the following season, then injured and to unemployment one, fateful play later—is why veteran players wanted more guaranteed contracts and better injury provisions in the NFL’s new collective bargaining agreement.
But more than 60 percent of the league are minimum-salary players. They approved the new CBA in the union-wide vote last month because owners included instant and substantial jumps in the league’s minimum salaries per year.
This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 8:09 AM.
