Why is Duane Brown not practicing at Seahawks training camp? Because he doesn’t have to
Duane Brown was triply conspicuous to begin Seahawks training camp.
Brown always stands out—because he’s 6 feet 4 and 315 pounds. His shoulders peak then sprawl, like the slopes of Mount Rainier.
The veteran Pro Bowl left tackle also was the only player among the 91 on the field Wednesday wearing a mask during practice.
And he wasn’t practicing.
Why?
Because he doesn’t have to.
Brown is a month away from his 36th birthday. This is his 14th NFL training camp. He is the oldest Seahawk. He’s also Seattle’s best offensive lineman—by a lot. He’s been an All-Pro (in 2012). He’s been a four-time Pro Bowl selection (2012, ‘13, ‘14 and ‘17). He’s been indispensable as quarterback Russell Wilson’s blind-side protector and locker-room rock.
And it’s July.
“He did the whole walk-through (Wednesday morning) starting up camp. We’ve got a long haul. He looked great,” coach Pete Carroll said following the first practice of the preseason. “He’s in great shape.
“Hopefully, we’ll get a ton of work over the course of time. But right now we’ve got extra guys at left tackle. That helps us a bit with rotations.”
Jamarco Jones, Seattle’s fifth-round draft choice from 2019 who’s made five starts in two seasons as a swing backup tackle, was the first left tackle for Brown Wednesday, as Jones was when Brown watched the team’s mandatory minicamp last month. Rookie draft pick Stone Forsythe was the second-team left tackle. Seattle also has NFL veteran Cedric Ogbuehi, a former first-round pick by Cincinnati, backing up right now at tackle.
Brown is entering the final year of his contract. It had been widely thought, even by some around the Seahawks, that Brown would play out his deal then likely retire from a career that began when George W. Bush was president.
“I was in the NFL when there were two-a-days,” Brown said.
But this spring, Brown told Carroll, general manager John Schneider and the Seahawks he wants to play beyond 2021, past his 37th and perhaps 38th birthdays.
Brown is scheduled to earn $10 million in base pay plus $1.35 million in per-game and other bonuses in this final year of the $34.5 million extension he signed with Seattle in 2018. His $13.3 million salary-cap charge for this year is the team’s third-highest, behind Wilson ($32 million) and Bobby Wagner ($17.1 million).
Yet as usually happens in the NFL, a top veteran contract signed three years ago is outdated. Few in football would try to argue Brown is not one of the 10 best left tackles in the league. He’s been that for a decade. Yet he is only 16th among NFL left tackles in average value per year entering 2021.
Taylor Decker ($15 million), Dion Dawkins ($14,575,000), Jake Matthews ($14.5 million) all average well more than Brown. Arizona’s D.J. Humphries is 10th in the league in average earned per year at $14.58 million. Humphries is eight years younger than Brown. He signed his three-year deal with the Cardinals in 2020, two years after Brown re-signed with the Seahawks.
Good for Brown’s prospects of a new payday in Seattle: the NFL salary cap, which dipped for only the second time ever this year because of the pandemic, is expected to go from $182.5 million this year to around $200 million next year and perhaps $220 million or more in 2023, when the league’s new media-rights deals begin.
Asked Wednesday about Brown’s contract and the Seahawks giving him another one for 2022 and maybe beyond, Carroll said: “We’re not talking about that right now.”
Moments later he clarified that.
“I’m not talking to you about that.”
The Seahawks are first finalizing All-Pro safety Jamal Adams’ mega-contract extension beyond 2021, a deal Carroll said Wednesday may happen “soon, very soon.” Then they will get to Brown’s future.
Adams joined Brown in watching practice in sneakers Wednesday.
The Seahawks used one of their team-record-low three picks in this spring’s draft on the 6-foot-8 Forsythe. The left tackle from Florida is here to learn during his rookie year under Brown, and perhaps eventually take over at left tackle when Brown retires.
That may not be happening as soon as many expected.
Brown in the last year has taken up more yoga and stretching pre- and post-workouts, both in-season and at his offseason home in Houston; he played 10 seasons for the Texans before Seattle traded for him in 2017. He’s said that has given him a new vitality and renewed energy for the game he’s been playing since before he was at Hermitage High School in Richmond, Virginia, at the turn of this century.
“One thing that I’ve worked on (more) is mobility, just being more flexible,” Brown said last year. “A lot of my career I’ve just focused kind of focused on, you know, speed, strength, quickness, things like that. I’ve really been big on mobility this year, just being more flexible.
“I’m working on my hips more. More body maintenance, being more proactive about my body than in years past.
“I’ve worked very hard.”
To keep him refreshed last season, Carroll and the Seahawks gave Brown most mid-week practices off. So missing training-camp practices in July, or even into August, isn’t going to matter.
Just so long as Brown is at left tackle on Sept. 12 when the Seahawks open the season at Indianapolis.
“He just didn’t go today,” Carroll said. “He’s OK.
“But, remember that he’s one of the older guys in the program. And we look after him.”
Also from day one...
*The Seahawks put top rookie draft choice and wide receiver D’Wayne Eskridge plus running back Travis Homer on the physically-unable-to-perform list. Undrafted rookie guard-center Pier-Olivier Lestage from Montreal is on the non-football-injury list for an offseason sports hernia and surgery.
Players on the PUP and NFI lists to begin camp can come off it at any time. Only those on PUP and NFI to begin camp are eligible to be on it to begin the season.
Carroll said Eskridge’s injury “popped up in a walkthrough” during offseason organized team activities. “We’ve got to make sure we take care of him,” the coach said.
Homer, a third-down running back his first two seasons, has had an injured calf most of the offseason.
“He’s got a little bit of a longer thing he’s dealing with,” Carroll said. “He had a calf that he re-injured a couple of times during the offseason. Right now, we have to be very careful.”
*Ethan Pocic, the team’s starting center in 2020 who re-signed for one year and $3 million this offseason, watched practice. Kyle Fuller was the first center.
“Ethan came into camp with a nagging hamstring thing,” Carroll said. “He went through the whole walk-through, but we didn’t use him. We’re going to keep him alive in all of the walk-through snaps.
“Like Duane, they get a ton of reps in the first practice of the day, and then just make sure we wait that out. There is a status we could have put him on, but we thought it would be better for the development of all of us if we could keep him out there and be patient and make sure we don’t rush him back. It gives Kyle Fuller a fantastic opportunity to show us what he can do.”
*Rashaad Penny practiced fully to begin training camp as the second running back behind Chris Carson. He looked fast and fully back from his reconstructive knee surgery that sidelined him until December 2020.
Carroll said Penny is 225 pounds, and looks “the best we’ve seen him.”
*Former 49ers All-Pro defensive end Aldon Smith looked in prime physical condition and was quick off the ball in his first Seahawks practice. He skipped offseason workouts. Carroll excused him from last month’s mandatory minicamp so he could get in shape.
Carroll said he didn’t know anything about a possible NFL suspension of Smith related to his alleged battery in Louisiana this spring. Smith has a court hearing there in late August.
*Backup quarterback Geno Smith appeared to be pained in his lower leg after finding no receiver open then scrambling to the sideline during the final offensive drive of practice. He stayed off the field while trainers looked at him. Alex McGough replaced Smith with the second-team offense to finish the drive and practice.
*Wide receiver Connor Wedington, the 2016 News Tribune All-Area player of the year from Sumner High School then Stanford, ran across the field and made a nice, leaping catch of a pass from McGough above rookie draft-pick cornerback Tre Brown on that final drive. Wedington is trying to win one of the last roster spots as an undrafted free agent.
This story was originally published July 29, 2021 at 5:40 AM.
