Duane Brown not concerned with his Seahawks future, believes in criticized Russell Wilson
Outside a Seahawks locker room full of men growing more frustrated by the week, Duane Brown shook his head.
Not up and down. Side to side.
In the concrete tunnel beneath Lumen Field, on his way to his car and into Seattle’s Sunday night, the 14th-year left tackle and one of the team’s most respected voices didn’t want to hear the criticism that’s howling right now about Russell Wilson, captain of the sinking, 3-7 Seahawks.
“I’ve got all the faith in the world in Russ,” Brown said of his quarterback who is like his team: struggling. “I’ve had games where I haven’t felt like myself, and Russ has come to me to pick me up, you know what I mean?
“So whatever people are feeling about him, you won’t hear me say anything about it because he has been a great leader for us. He’s been a great player for us. I’ve got all the faith in the world he will continue to be that.”
This season appears to be a worst-case scenario for Brown.
The 36-year-old veteran of Pro Bowls and superior offensive-line play “held in” during August. He showed up to the team facility but refused to practice entering the final year of his contract. He was seeking to forge a new deal. He told the Seahawks in the spring he wants to play past his 37th birthday in 2022, and for Seattle.
The team put him off. They wanted to see how he got through his 14th season, this season, first. They got him back on the field for the opening game at Indianapolis Sept. 12 by adding a void year to his contract. That gave him an additional $2 million for this season.
The team converted per-game roster bonuses Brown’s contract had called for him to receive by the game this season into up-front cash, guaranteed. That raised his base pay from $10 million to $11.6 million for 2021. He could earn additional performance bonuses to push his total pay for this year to about $12 million.
He’s not likely to earn those.
Brown has allowed seven sacks in 10 games. That’s more than he’s allowed in most seasons, or even over consecutive seasons, during his illustrious career for Houston and, after the traded for him during the 2017 season, the Seahawks.
Plus: all the losing.
At 3-7, who knows what the future holds for the team and its oldest, most expensive players? Is a rebuild coming? What coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider planned to do with Brown, Pro Bowl safety Quandre Diggs (who also held in entering the final year of his contract) and others in September might be changing as the losses — and obvious need for changes — pile up.
Brown said once this season began he hasn’t thought about any of that, or his future beyond this year.
“Not at all, man. Not at all,” he said. “Once everything got settled and I signed to do my job to play, that’s all I worry about, is to playing. I owe that to myself. I owe that to my guys.
“I can’t worry about anything beyond this year.
“I can’t worry about anything past next week.”
Next week brings Montez Sweat and another dangerous, and younger, pass rush with Washington, in a Monday night game in suburban D.C.
“I’m trying to go out and compete and be the best player I can be week to week. That’s all I’m focused on, man,” Brown said.
“I don’t worry about nothing else.”
Though it won’t get noticed elsewhere amid all of this team’s problems, Brown earned more points inside the Seahawks’ locker room Sunday, above all he already has.
He played hurt.
He strained his groin during Seattle’s 17-0 loss the previous week at Green Bay. At 36, with the team in last place and his money guaranteed, he could have taken Sunday off. He’d missed practice Wednesday.
He finished every one of Seattle’s 49 snaps. He came back from knee surgery and started Seattle’s playoff loss to the Rams in January, wowing Carroll and his teammates.
How healthy was Brown to face All-Pro Chandler Jones, nine-sack-man Markus Golden and the Cardinals’ deadly pass rush Sunday?
“Good enough,” Brown said. “Good enough.”
All four of the Cardinals’ four sacks of Wilson were off the edge opposite Brown. There were past Seahawks right tackle Brandon Shell and then, after he got injured, undrafted rookie Jake Curhan with 2:15 left and Seattle hopelessly down 23-13.
“I would never put myself out there if I didn’t feel like I could get the job done,” Brown said. “I understood the challenge. I was against a great defense, a lot of great guys off the edge.
“But I felt I was healthy enough to compete. And I feel like I did that.”
The Seahawks are in last place in the NFC West by two full games. They’ve scored one touchdown since Halloween. They are 3-7 for the first time since their Jim Mora, “we need more dirtbags” team of 2009 that finished 5-11. That was Mora’s only season coaching Seattle.
Carroll arrived from USC a month after that dismal season ended.
What do they do now?
“Keep pluggin’, man,” Brown said. “Keep pluggin’.
“Obviously, this is not the situation we would ever expect to be in. The talent we have on this team, you never expect to be in this position. But, you’ve got to keep fighting, you know what I mean? That’s all you can do.
“It’s disappointing. We felt like we were right there to win it. Just a handful of plays was the deciding factor, as it’s been most weeks.
“But you can’t slow down. You can’t feel sorry for yourself. You’ve got to keep movin’ on.”
Teammate Tyler Lockett talked about how the Seahawks pretty much have to win all seven of their remaining games, starting next Monday night at Washington (4-6), to reach the playoffs for the ninth time in 10 years.
“It’s now or never,” the top wide receiver said. “We’ve got to win every game to even have a chance.”
Brown shook his head again at any thought of the playoffs right now.
“Can’t worry about that. Can’t worry about that,” Brown said. “We’ve got to look towards Washington, man. That’s it. Look towards only next week., only that time.
“Clean up everything we can clean up as a team to compete, and be the best team we can be next week. That’s all we can worry about.
“We can’t look towards anything past that.”
This story was originally published November 22, 2021 at 6:55 AM.
