Seahawks give about $2M to Duane Brown for 2021 to get him on the field before opener
The Seahawks gave Duane Brown more sure cash to ensure he’s on the field again to protect Russell Wilson.
The Pro Bowl veteran left tackle ended his months-long “hold in” and practiced for the first time since January on Monday, after Seattle agreed to convert roster bonuses that were to be paid to its best offensive lineman by the week this season into up-front guarantees.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport was the first to report Tuesday morning how the Seahawks restructured Brown’s pay for 2021, the final year of the 36-year-old’s contract.
Brown was to earn $10 million in base salary for this season, plus additional roster bonuses paid per week he was healthy and on the roster to play. Now he will get about $12 million for 2021.
The Seahawks also added a voidable year to Brown’s deal, 2022. That gives him financial protection in the form of an injury benefit next year should he get injured in this his 14th NFL season.
The Seahawks have increasingly gone to voidable years in 2021 to sign and re-sign top veterans and spread the impact on the salary cap across additional years. It’s how they got lead running back Chris Carson to return in March on what essentially is a two-year contract worth $14,625,000 but is technically a three-year, $24,625,000 deal, with Carson’s third year voidable.
Brown had his helmet on and practiced Monday for the first time in eight months. That was since the day before he played in Seattle’s playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams in January that ended the Seahawks’ 2020 season. After the Labor Day practice, coach Pete Carroll said Brown will be Wilson’s left tackle, as usual, Sunday in the Seahawks’ opener at the Indianapolis Colts.
“You saw Duane?” Carroll said to reporters following practice at the team facility in Renton.
The coach was feigning ignorance. Yet he was obviously happy to have his best offensive linemen back on the field for the first practice of the regular season.
“Yeah, he’s ready to go. He’s ready to go,” Carroll said. “And we are pleased to have him.”
Carroll joked Brown’s “got fresh legs coming in. He wants to play tight end.
“He probably won’t get that chance. But he’s asking.”
League sources have told The News Tribune the Seahawks remain reluctant to give Brown what he wants: a new deal for 2022 and beyond.
This will be the first NFL regular season to go 17 games. The team wants Brown to finish the entire season, they hope deep into January and the playoffs, then see if he still wants to play past his 37th and perhaps 38th birthdays. They might entertain thoughts of a short-term deal with him after the season.
Asked Monday whether the Seahawks made any adds or adjustments to Brown’s 2021 contract to get him back on the field Monday, Carroll said: “We’re really ready to play football right now. That’s where we are.
“Everything that needed to be taken care of is taken care of. Away we go.”
This story was originally published September 7, 2021 at 11:06 AM.
