Pete Carroll keeps the door open to still-unsigned K.J. Wright returning to Seahawks
The Seahawks are getting unexpected second—and third—chances to re-sign K.J. Wright.
Coach Pete Carroll said Wednesday he met recently with Seattle’s longest-tenured player and that the “door is not closed” to the unsigned free agent and Seahawks starting linebacker since 2011 returning to the team for this year.
“I had a really good sit-down with him just the other day, to bring it all together where we’re coming from,” Carroll said the day before the NFL draft, one in which the Seahawks have traded away all but three of their picks in exchange for acquiring veterans.
“We needed to hear where he’s coming from, and talk about the future and what’s possible moving forward.
“We’re right on, nose to nose with this deal.”
This chance to remain “nose to nose” with Wright is one Carroll, general manager John Schneider and the Seahawks didn’t expect to still have entering the draft. The Super Bowl champion and 2016 Pro Bowl selection has been on the free-agent market since mid-March.
“Quite frankly, there are so many coaches that were on our staff that are at different places we thought he’d be signed (by another team) by now,” Schneider said.
The Dallas Cowboys, with former Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn now running their defense, were believed to be interested in signing Wright. And Wright, a native of Mississippi, was open to returning to the South. But the Cowboys’ interest has waned.
Wright turns 32 in July. He stated at the end of the 2020 season, the non-guaranteed one of his two-year deal he earned with a stellar rebound in 2018 from knee surgery, that he wants to continue to play in 2021.
He wants to retire having only played for the Seahawks, for whom he’s started next to All-Pro Bobby Wagner every year since 2012. He’s willing to wait well into this offseason for Seattle to make him an attractive offer.
Wright also understands after more than a decade in the league the NFL is foremost a business. He’s willing to take his talents elsewhere if he doesn’t get the money he believes he deserves from Seattle.
“You know, that’s up to, you know, Pete and John,” Wright said in January. “They know how much I mean to this team. They know that I’m a baller. They know I’m a great teammate, a great leader.”
As he remains unsigned, it’s obvious he hasn’t been getting the offers he believes he deserves from any team.
“You have the draft coming up. We look at it in free agency that there are several different phases to it. We look at this being what we call phase two, which is right around draft time,” Schneider said Wednesday. “And so I think a lot teams are going to see what they do in the draft and then kind of come around to some of these veterans that are still available in free agency.
“We have the utmost amount of respect for him. He’s done a ton for this organization. He’s a great person, a great leader.
“Yes, we have been in contact.”
Carroll and Schneider need Wright more for 2021 than they thought they might this time last year.
They were signing Bruce Irvin back to Seattle as what Carroll has called the perfect strongside linebacker for his 4-3 scheme. But two games into his return, Irvin sustained a season-ending knee injury. Irvin had surgery, then needed a second surgery this winter. His contract is also expired. Irvin is 33, with no estimate on when he’ll be healthy enough to get back on the field anyway. Continuing his career is in question.
At the behest—not request—of Carroll and defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr., Wright moved from the weakside-linebacker job he’d had for most of the previous nine seasons to the strongside job Irvin vacated. Wright excelled there, too. In nickel defense on passing downs Wright moved back to the weakside next to Wagner as Seattle’s only two linebackers in the five defensive-back set.
As he has for years, Wright expertly diagnosed screen passes and ruined them outside. He made sure tackles in the open field. He flattened receivers and ball carriers, such as rugged 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk in Seattle’s final regular-season game last season.
Meanwhile speedy Jordyn Brooks, the team’s 2019 first-round draft choice, grew nicely into the starting weakside linebacker job for early downs.
The Seahawks would like to keep that arrangement for 2021. At their price, of course.
“Like John said, K.J.’s been one of the classiest players you could ever expect to have in your program,” Carroll said. “He’s been a fantastic player. So, the door is not closed to us, to what we are doing moving forward.
“So we are very clear about that, and felt very good about where we are with ‘Kayj.’”
The longer he waits, the more Wright’s price comes back to Seattle’s. That’s the nature of 30-something free agents months into free agency.
“It would be a great investment, in my opinion, if they invest in K.J., and to bring him back in the building,” Wright said in January.
“You get what you pay for. And I bring a lot to the table, still.
“So they’ve got to choose wisely.”
This story was originally published April 28, 2021 at 4:23 PM.
