Tag: B.J. Finney

Center B.J. Finney should be the Steelers first free-agent signing

The Bengals have released center B.J. Finney.

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The Cincinnati Bengals announced on Friday they were releasing veteran center B.J. Finney. Finney spent his first four seasons with the Steelers before splitting last season between the Seattle Seahawks and Cincinnati Bengals.

When free agency starts later in the month, Finney should be the first signing the Steelers make. Finney might not have fit with the Seahawks or Bengals but he showed he can play in the Steelers system.

Finney started 13 games with the Steelers at both guard and center. The retirement of Maurkice Pouncey last month leaves a huge hole on the offensive line. Finney would be a tremendous addition as he’d give quarterback Ben Roethlisberger a player he knows and trusts at center while the Steelers sort out the long-term answer at the position.

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Bengals sound poised to sign Quinton Spain despite adding B.J. Finney

The Cincinnati Bengals don’t sound done adding to the offensive line.

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It sure doesn’t sound like the Cincinnati Bengals are going to get passive when it comes to the offensive line after adding B.J. Finney.

Finney comes over via the Carlos Dunlap trade with the Seattle Seahawks — but that won’t stop the team from signing free agent Quinton Spain.

According to The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr., the situation with Spain is a simple matter of logistics. He’s in town and going through the COVID-19 protocols, but that extensive onboarding process is why outsiders haven’t heard much about the situation.

Once Spain is actually in the building, it sounds like a matter of time before the team makes the signing official. Given the current timeline, look for that to happen Friday.

While Finney has experience at all three interior offensive line spots, both guard spots have been downright miserable for the Bengals this season. That, plus center Trey Hopkins sitting in concussion protocol, means the team still needs as much help as it can get in these areas.

Finney and Spain aren’t necessarily long-term solutions to big problems for the Bengals, but it’s nice to see the organization remain very aggressive in getting Joe Burrow some improved protection.

Will Joey Hunt be a cap casualty for the Seahawks?

The Seattle Seahawks are expected to start B.J. Finney at center, with Ethan Pocic in the mix as well. Where does that leave Joey Hunt?

The Seattle Seahawks had two players, Justin Britt and Joey Hunt, combine to start every game at center in 2019.

However, there is a real chance they head into 2020 without either of them on the roster.

Britt is already gone, having been released shortly after the draft in order to save the Seahawks over $10 million in cap space.

Hunt, who started eight games last season after Britt went down with a knee injury, could suffer a similar fate if the team wants to clear some more cap space to make a push for a defensive tackle.

Hunt is currently expected to compete with Ethan Pocic for the backup center role behind veteran B.J Finney, who was signed shortly after the offseason began back in March.

Pocic has had a hard time staying healthy, and when he has his performance on the field has been nothing to write home about. However, he was a second round pick back in 2017 and his cap hit is about $700,000 less than Hunt’s.

That is not a huge amount, but it certainly seems plausible the Seahawks would gamble on Pocic’s upside over Hunt – who at this point is a known commodity and who costs more, despite having less versatility.

Of course, coach Pete Carroll loves Hunt for his high football IQ, and Pocic has been nothing short of a disappointment in his Seattle tenure, so it’s not like this is a done deal.

There’s also an avenue where both players are kept on the active roster, if Pocic can win a job as a backup guard or even backup tackle in training camp, which is set to begin on July 29.

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Duane Brown a virtual leader for Seattle’s new look offensive line

Seahawks left tackle Duane Brown is doing his best to virtually help Seattle’s young offensive linemen get ready for the 2020 season.

At 34 years old and entering his 13th NFL season, Seahawks left tackle Duane Brown is the unquestioned leader of Seattle’s rebuilt offensive line.

The team lost three starters from last year’s team – Justin Britt, D.J. Fluker and Germain Ifedi – as well as sixth lineman/tight end George Fant.

Mike Iupati is the only starter re-joining Brown in 2020, and he will have to compete with Phil Haynes to even get his old starting job back.

All this means Brown, who has taken on a leadership and mentorship role for the Seahawks the past three years, has his work cut out for him – not just with a plethora of new faces, but with a global pandemic making it far more difficult for him to impart his wisdom and help build team chemistry ahead of Week 1.

“Good offensive line play, a major factor is chemistry and continuity,” Brown told reporters over Zoom on Wednesday. “We lost a big chunk of our starting pieces this offseason. We’ve got some new faces, we’ve got some guys who have been in the system, we’ve got some guys who haven’t been here, so just getting to learn each other, learning the terminology, communication, just learning how we do stuff here, all of that stuff is important.”

“I’m doing what I can now, virtually, over texts, phone calls, just to try to build as much chemistry as possible until we’re able to meet and physically go on the field and do stuff,” Brown continued. “Once that happens, we’ll have a small window to try to build each other up as much as possible until the season starts… I’m going to do what I can to try to fill them in as much as possible on what to expect when it’s time to go.”

Most of the offensive line positions are wide open at this point, although free agent pickups B.J. Finney and Brandon Shell are expected to start at center and right tackle, respectively, with third round pick Damien Lewis expected to replace Fluker at right guard.

The team has plenty of others who will fight for starting jobs as well, including Joey Hunt, Ethan Pocic, Chance Warmack, Cedric Ogbuehi, and Jordan Simmons – among others.

Brown is working hard to help the young guys who are new to the team, since they have not had an opportunity to work on the field during either rookie minicamps or OTA’s, which has hampered their development and ability to learn the playbook.

“For the young guys who haven’t been a part of this team, I’m doing my best just to try to talk to them to tell them what to expect,” Brown continued. “We’re going over our playbooks, any questions that anyone has, I’m answering for them. Whenever we’re up and going, we just have to try to shorten the learning curve as much as possible to get that continuity. Again, we have a lot of guys that were in the system last year, so it probably won’t be as drastic as it seems. But it still takes a little bit of time just to get that going, and OTAs and minicamp and things like that are essential. We’ll make it happen.”

The Seahawks made a lot of changes to their offensive line, but it remains to be seen how exactly the unit will come together in 2020 – and it may be a while until we can see them all together on the field.

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Is this the last chance for offensive lineman Ethan Pocic?

The 2017 NFL draft has been full of duds, including offensive lineman Ethan Pocic. Is it time for the Seattle Seahawks to cut bait?

The Seattle Seahawks’ 2017 NFL draft class is not shaping up to be one of their best.

Pro Bowl corner Shaquill Griffin was a strong pick in the third round, and the team used their second seventh round pick on Chris Carson, but outside of those two picks the class as a whole has disappointed.

Malik McDowell, Amara Darboh, Nazair Jones, and Tedric Thompson are among the early round picks who either never suited up for Seattle, or are no longer with the club thanks to poor performances.

David Moore, Lano Hill, and Ethan Pocic are still with the team, but all three of them could be roster casualties if they don’t prove they deserve another chance during the 2020 season.

Pocic was the first one selected of the group, coming to the Seahawks as a late second round pick. The versatile offensive lineman only played in four games last year, starting one and appearing in 91 total offensive snaps before suffering a season-ending knee injury.

All told, Pocic has appeared in 30 games for the Seahawks, playing every position on the line except left tackle. That versatility is what made him appealing to Seattle in the first place, but his performance thus far has not been enough for him to earn a starting role.

Heading into year four, the door may look more open after the team’s release of D.J. Fluker and Justin Britt, two starters from last year’s line, but the addition of free agents B.J. Finney and Chance Warmack and the selection of hulking guard Damien Lewis in the draft seem to indicate the team is going in a different direction.

Lewis, Finney and Warmack will compete with a host of other interior offensive linemen, including Jordan Simmons, Mike Iupati, Phil Haynes, Joey Hunt and Jordan Roos, for spots on the offensive line in 2020.

Pocic’s best chance of making the roster is at backup center, where Finney is expected to start. He’ll be in direct competition with Hunt, the team’s backup center since 2016, and could face competition from Kyle Fuller and Haynes, who played some center in practice last year.

Pocic could theoretically challenge for a backup spot at tackle as well, where there is considerably less depth, but considering his best performances (which still aren’t great) have been on the interior, it’s unlikely he’d have what it takes to make it at that spot either.

The big question is if Seattle is willing to move on from a second round pick this quickly into his career, but considering the recent move to release both Jones (third round) and Thompson (fourth round) it might be time to cut bait on Pocic and admit that, outside of Griffin, Moore, and Carson, the 2017 draft just didn’t get the job done in the Emerald City.

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Damien Lewis will still face competition to start at right guard

Even after the Seattle Seahawks released D.J. Fluker, rookie Damien Lewis will face competition to start at right guard in 2020.

The Seattle Seahawks released hulking right guard and fan favorite D.J. Fluker on Sunday evening, clearing $3.6 million in cap space while appearing to clear the deck for Damien Lewis – the team’s third round pick in the 2020 NFL draft – to start in 2020.

Although coach Pete Carroll sounded very confident that Lewis could start right away – going as far as to say that, “he won’t take a back seat to anybody,” Carroll’s culture of competition won’t allow him to just hand the job to a rookie right away – he’ll have to earn it.

And with 17 offensive lineman still on the roster, even after the release of Fluker and Justin Britt, competition will be aplenty whenever the team is able to get back onto the field.

B.J. Finney is expected to move into the starting center role in place of Britt, but Lewis will still face competition from a litany of names; including Phil Haynes, Jamarco Jones, Ethan Pocic, Chance Warmack, Jordan Simmons, Jordan Roos, and Demetrius Knox.

Jones could end up reverting back to tackle, his natural position out of the draft, while Pocic is an option at center as well. However, both guys could conceivably see some work at right guard over the summer.

Lewis’ primary competition is Haynes, last year’s fourth round pick who started the final game of the season after missing the first half of the year while on the PUP list.

Haynes and Lewis are similar players, and Haynes has a full-year of development at the NFL level – which could work in his favor especially with a very different training period leading up to the 2020 season.

Haynes does profile more as a left guard however, and he could settle in as the backup to veteran Mike Iupati, likely paving way for Lewis to start in his first NFL campaign.

There’s a long way to go until then though, and coach Carroll will take every last minute before making his decision of who will be protecting Russell Wilson in the trenches.

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D.J. Fluker reveals he has been released by the Seahawks

After drafting guard Damien Lewis, the Seattle Seahawks released veteran D.J. Fluker on Sunday, according to a tweet from Fluker himself.

The Seattle Seahawks already began the process of trimming down the roster on Sunday.

After selecting Damien Lewis on the second day of the 2020 NFL draft, giving them a whopping 19 offensive linemen on the roster, the Seahawks are releasing veteran right guard D.J. Fluker, according to a tweet from Fluker himself.

Releasing Fluker saves the Seahawks $4.2 million in cap space, money that could be used to sign a star defensive end – like Jadeveon Clowney or Everson Griffen.

As soon as the team drafted Lewis, a hulking right guard from LSU, with a third round pick, Fluker’s time with the Seahawks appeared in jeopardy.

“He won’t take a back seat to anybody,” coach Pete Carroll said about Lewis after the draft. “He’s going to come in here and battle for it. We feel really good. That’s really part of the reason why we took him. We want him to come in here and battle to play. All of that competition will make us better.”

Lewis only played right guard in college, and it looks like he is now the front-runner to start at right guard in Fluker’s absence.

The team also has B.J. Finney, Ethan Pocic, Jamarco Jones, Phil Haynes, Jordan Simmons and a handful of other guards on hand to compete for depth roles, more than enough bodies to replace Fluker on the field.

Off the field, Fluker’s dynamic personality in the locker room and goofiness on social media was a bright spot for this Seattle team over the past two years, and he will be sorely missed by this team and the fans.

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Seahawks approached free agency looking for ‘grown men’ on o-line

Seahawks GM John Schneider and coach Pete Carroll spoke about the four additions to the offensive line this offseason, giving them 18 total.

No position on the Seattle Seahawks roster has undergone more changes than on the offensive line.

Two stalwarts from the past few seasons, right tackle Germain Ifedi and tackle/tight end George Fant, have signed elsewhere, while the team has brought in four new players to compete for jobs across the line.

Those four new players, B.J. Finney, Brandon Shell, Cedric Ogbuehi, and Chance Warmack, will compete with the 14 other offensive linemen on the roster currently, a number that could increase even more after the 2020 NFL draft.

The Seahawks dished out respectable contracts for all four of their new additions, maintaining the team’s status quo about not spending big money during free agency.

“You know that we are not break-the-bank free agency people,” general manager John Schneider commented during a press conference on Tuesday evening. “We look for commonalities and fits, and what’s important for our quarterback. We love our quarterback. We want to keep him. We want to have as many grown men in front of him as we possibly can. It was important for us to be able to identify some people early on and quite honestly, we hit in our mind what was 1, 2, 3 in free agency.”

Although it wasn’t specified, it’s likely Schneider was referring to Finney, Shell and Ogbuehi and one, two and three – although the order is anyone’s guess.

Shell and Ogbuehi will compete to start at right tackle in Ifedi’s absence, while Finney could be an option to start at center if the team ends up cutting Justin Britt to save room against the salary cap.

“We still have a lot of tough decisions ahead of us,” Schneider continued. “But you know, this is an area where we felt like we could make a difference in free agency playing by our rules and what our philosophy is and trying to protect the quarterback in the best fashion that we possibly could.”

The Seahawks will likely roll into 2020 with Duane Brown, Mike Iupati and D.J. Fluker all starting again, and Britt would start as well if he is not cut.

However – the four new additions as well as some of the younger linemen on the squad, including Phil Haynes and Jamarco Jones, should make for a fun training camp competition while giving the Seahawks incredible depth up front.

“We have some young guys coming up that we are really excited about and feel like we are going to have maybe the best depth we’ve and particularly the most competition we’ve had,” coach Pete Carroll said on Tuesday. “So with that thought, the ability to add some guys with experience that have been there to make sure that we shore up and we can come right back and play really good football, but we are not just trying to get along. We are trying to keep moving and stay as high-tech as we can with our ball, and that’s going to call for the guys to be able to be fluid and well-versed and confident in all of that.”

The Seahawks may look to add even more competition to the o-line room starting on Thursday when the NFL draft kicks off at 5:00 p.m. PT.

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Seahawks make signings of Mike Iupati, Luke Willson official

The Seattle Seahawks made the signing of left guard Mike Iupati and tight end Luke Willson official on Tuesday, bringing the pair back.

The Seattle Seahawks made the signings of tight end Luke Willson and left guard Mike Iupati official on Tuesday, continuing the trend of getting things finalized before the start of the 2020 NFL draft.

Willson reported he was coming back to Seattle way back at the start of free agency, but it took until now for his contract to be finalized, and the terms of the deal are still not known.

Willson will join a crowded tight end room that also includes returners Will Dissly and Jacob Hollister, as well as newcomer Greg Olsen. He will have to compete with Hollister for the No. 3 tight end role, although having him on hand as an injury replacement will be beneficial for Seattle.

Iupati’s return was reported last week, and he is expected to reprise his role as the team’s starting left guard in 2020. After adding B.J. Finney and Chance Warmack, and re-signing Jordan Simmons, it looked like Seattle might move on from the veteran Iupati.

However, coach Pete Carroll loves continuity on the offensive line, and brining Iupati back gives them the same starting left side of the line, alongside Duane Brown, for this upcoming season.

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Seahawks center Joey Hunt officially signs RFA tender

Seattle Seahawks center Joey Hunt will return on a $2.13 million salary for the 2020 season, and will compete to start at center.

Seattle Seahawks center Joey Hunt officially signed his restricted free agent tender, bringing him back into the fold for the 2020 campaign. He will make $2.13 million in 2020, assuming he makes the team, and will become an unrestricted free agent after the season unless he works out another deal with Seattle beforehand.

Hunt will return to serve as the backup center to Justin Britt, a role he has held for the past three seasons after getting selected in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL draft out of TCU.

Hunt did fill in as the starter for Seattle last season following Britt’s season-ending injury, and with Britt a potential cap casualty (the Seahawks would save $11.4M by cutting him) it’s possible he competes to start again in 2020.

Of course, the team also signed B.J. Finney and returns Ethan Pocic, and either of them would give Hunt plenty of competition for that starting role if the team decides to move on from Britt.

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