What is heart and hustle worth? A huge Seahawks raise from $750K to $4.4M for Poona Ford
Poona Ford just found out heart and hustle still pays in the bottom-line NFL.
Ford has gone from an overlooked, undrafted rookie free agent supposedly too short for the NFL in 2018 to one of the best, most consistent players on the Seahawks’ defense in three, relentless seasons.
He’s just wanted it more than Seattle’s—and anyone else’s—tackles.
He’s run from his nose-tackle spot in the middle of the field to each sideline, sometimes 30 yards, to tackle running backs on sweeps and wide receivers on screen passes. He’s pass rushed into the offensive backfield then on the same play turned and sprinted 15 yards down the field into Seattle’s secondary to tackle tight ends on pass receptions.
His reward for his relentlessness?
A life-changing raise: from $750,000 in 2020 to $4.4 million this year.
The Seahawks showed that appreciation for Ford Tuesday, just before an NFL deadline to make a decision on him for this year. They signed Ford to a two-year contract potentially worth up to $14 million.
Seattle announced the new contract Wednesday, just after the new league year began at 1 p.m.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Network was the first to report Ford will earn the almost $4.5 million this year.
The deal beats the one-year tender offer the Seahawks were scheduled to give Ford one of their restricted free agents by Wednesday’s start to the league year. That tender would have likely been for about $3.3 million, and only this year.
Now the 25-year-old Ford is set for life. Plus, he could become an even richer, unrestricted free agent after the 2022 season.
Revered former Seahawks teammate Doug Baldwin, who went from an undrafted rookie to Super Bowl champion and Pro Bowl receiver with Seattle until his retirement following the 2018 season, celebrated Ford’s news online on Twitter Tuesday:
“I was always told I was too short,” Ford has said, repeatedly, since signing with Seattle the hard way as a bottom-rung rookie free agent in 2018.
That was months after he was named the Big 12 defensive lineman of the year at the University of Texas.
Now Ford and fellow tackle Jarran Reed (28, signed through 2021) are the mainstays in the middle of Seattle’s defensive line that still needs edge rushers.
The Seahawks began the week and free agency with $17.1 million in space under the 2021 salary cap. They got that by releasing two-time Pro Bowl defensive end Carlos Dunlap last week.
Seattle used some of that money for Ford, and to sign their first unrestricted free agent of 2021 on Tuesday. Former San Francisco starting cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon agreed to a one-year contract reportedly worth $4 million with Seattle.
This story was originally published March 16, 2021 at 8:55 PM.
