Carroll: No concern Duane Brown won’t play Seahawks’ opener. Yet issues remain on O-line
His coach has no concern Duane Brown’s “hold in” is going to keep him out of the Seahawks’ opener.
“No,” Pete Carroll said, “I’m not concerned about that.”
Carroll said that Friday, the 17th time in 17 days of training camp Brown did not practice. Seattle’s Pro Bowl veteran left tackle who turns 36 this month wants a new contract beyond his that ends with the 2021 season.
Brown has not been in meetings, on the field doing morning walk-throughs and watching the last three full afternoon practices, as he had the first 14 days of camp.
“He had to go home. He had an urgent family issue and he’s been gone for a couple days,” Carroll said Friday, before Seattle hosts Denver in the second preseason game Saturday at 7 p.m. at Lumen Field.
“He’s back today.”
The fact Carroll and the team is abreast of Brown’s family situation and that he is away with permission shows the relationship between the Seahawks and one of their biggest, literally, locker-room leaders has not turned acrimonious. At least it doesn’t appear to have turned.
Yet there is urgency to get Brown’s situation fixed in the next three weeks, before the team flies to Indiana to begin the season.
Russell Wilson has twice stated publicly his desire for the team to get Brown back at left tackle, to protect the $140 million franchise quarterback’s blind side.
This week, Wilson was asked at what point prior to the opener might he become uncomfortable without Brown as his left tackle.
Wilson didn’t directly answer.
“I think anytime Duane’s not out there it’s...you always want your star left tackle out there,” he said Wednesday.
“So, just trusting the process. Just hoping that it works out. We definitely need him. That’d be huge for us. ...I’m sure it will get figured out, worked out. That’s what I’m hoping for.”
On Aug. 8, Wilson said: ”We’ve got to figure that out, because we need Duane Brown.
“I mean, not having Duane Brown out there is a pretty significant deal.”
It’s significant enough that left tackle has joined center as positions of concern along the all-important offensive line.
All the focus on first-time play caller Shane Waldron installing a quicker, more run-based offense with tempo this summer overlooks the facts Seattle did not upgrade at center and is playing second and fourth options at left tackle right now.
Ethan Pocic, the team’s first-time starting center in 2020, hasn’t practiced most of this month. He has a hamstring injury. Carroll said it’s still going to be a bit before Pocic gets on a field. Kyle Fuller may have taken Pocic’s job had Pocic been healthy, and he’s taken it now. Fuller was the only linemen expected to start the opener who started the Seahawks’ first preseason game last weekend at Las Vegas.
Fuller has one more NFL regular-season start at center than you do. That was in November for a road game at the Los Angeles Rams, after Pocic got a concussion the week before at Buffalo. Fuller was a center in college at Baylor, and the Seahawks returned him full time to the position this offseason.
Four days after Fuller started that Rams game last season, Seattle moved rookie Damien Lewis from guard to start at center against Arizona. Pocic returned the following game and finished the season as the center.
This offseason the Seahawks let Pocic’s rookie contract expire. He shopped for a couple days before he re-signed with the Seahawks for one year and $3 million.
That short-term deal suggested the team may value Pocic more as a swing tackle, guard and center backing up the line than as a starter. Pocic was a backup guard and tackle his first three NFL seasons for Seattle. He was a center in college at LSU.
Austin Reiter, the Kansas City Chiefs’ starting center in 2019 and ‘20 who won a Super Bowl with them, remains a free agent. Many around the league thought the 29-year-old Reiter would be signed by some team by now, this deep into the preseason.
The Seahawks added $4.86 million in salary-cap space with the extension Jamal Adams signed this week. Seattle has an estimated $13.06 million in cap space, 15th-most in the 32-team league, according to overthecap.com. The Seahawks will need about $4 million of that space for their practice squad and injured-reserve players when they set their first 53-man roster of the regular season early next month.
Jamarco Jones has been the coaches’ first fill-in plan for Brown at left tackle. Then he missed multiple weeks this month with back spasms. Cedric Ogbuehi was Plan C at left tackle. He’s been out weeks with a biceps injury.
That’s had rookie Stone Forsythe at left tackle the last two weeks, including for the first three quarters of the game against the Raiders. He and three other reserve offensive linemen starting at Las Vegas was why Wilson did not.
On the fifth snap of the game, Forsythe did not communicate or react to what Carroll called a basic Raiders blitz, obvious off the left tackle’s outside shoulder. Las Vegas rookie Nate Hobbs sprinted untouched for a free, high and hard shot on veteran quarterback Geno Smith. Smith left the game with a concussion. The veteran QB got cleared to return to practice late this week. Carroll said he didn’t know whether Smith will play against the Broncos Saturday.
Two plays after that hit on Smith, Forsythe’s holding penalty wiped out a long pass to Cody Thompson that would have put Seattle into scoring position. Instead, the Seahawks remained scoreless into the third quarter of a 20-7 loss.
Jones returned to practice Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Carroll said Seattle’s fifth-round pick from 2018 is ready to play Saturday.
“We are happy to have him back,” Carroll said. “He’s ready to go.”
Their situation with Brown is trickier for the Seahawks than the negotiations were with Adams, the All-Pro safety they gave a record four-year, $70 million contract on Tuesday. Adams is 11 years younger than Brown. Adams was a known, sunk cost to the team, known since the day in July 2020 they traded two first-round picks to the New York Jets to get him.
Some with the team expected this to be Brown’s final season. The thought was he’d play through his contract and retire at age 36 having earned $94 million as a four-time Pro Bowl selection and one-time All-Pro for Houston (2008-17) and Seattle (‘17-’21). The Seahawks took Forsythe from the University of Florida with one of their franchise record-low three selections in April’s draft, thinking he could learn this first year under Brown then potentially become his heir.
Then this spring Brown told the Seahawks he wanted to continue playing, beyond his 37th and perhaps 38th birthdays. General manager John Schneider and team salary-cap executive Matt Thomas have not been budgeting for that, as they have for Adams in 2022 and beyond.
So it’s not a slam dunk that Brown gets a new deal. This is not only a matter of when, as it was for Adams and the team.
Brown is going to play this season, almost certainly starting in the opener in three weeks. Players in this little-is-guaranteed league are not down with giving away game checks. Brown would lose $555,556 per game if he skips, according to the league’s collective bargaining agreement and proration of his $10 million salary for 2021.
Kam Chancellor stood firm on his principle of wanting a new contract through the Seahawks’ preseason and into the regular season of 2015. After giving up two game checks, he returned without a new deal while facing $1.39 million in fines and having forfeited $539,294 in salary.
So the question is: how soon before the opener will Brown return to the field?
In his 14th NFL season, could Brown in Wilson’s opinion skip all of the preseason, end his hold-in the week of the opener and still be fully ready to play in this new offense?
“Yeah,” Wilson said.
“I think Duane’s a guy...he’s probably the most physically fit guy on our team. He’s SO athletic. He used to play tight end in high school. ...He can really run.”
Wilson says in the team’s weight room, the 35-year-old Brown, at 6 feet 4 and 315 pounds, does 20 pull-ups.
“At his size, 20 pull-ups is crazy,” Wilson said. “And he’ll do three sets of them — with a weighted vest on, sometimes.”
Wilson is left hoping he will see Brown back at left tackle.
Soon.
“He’s our leader up front,” Wilson said.
“Yeah, I think it’s going to work out. That’s what I’m hoping for. And that’s what I’m looking forward to.”
Hart still out, Swain asserts
Carroll said wide receiver Penny Hart “had a legit ankle sprain. It blew up on him pretty good.” Hart has been out a couple weeks.
The coach said Hart could be back to practice the middle of next week.
Freddie Swain has asserted himself further as the third wide receiver with Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf while Hart’s been out.
Swain is also on track to begin the season as Seattle’s kickoff returner.
