Tag: Jordan Simmons

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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Seattle Seahawks re-sign guard Jordan Simmons

After not tendering him as an exclusive rights free agent, the Seattle Seahawks are re-signing guard Jordan Simmons for the 2020 season.

In a move that was expected all along, the Seattle Seahawks re-signed guard Jordan Simmons after not offering him the exclusive rights tender last month, which made him an unrestricted free agent.

Simmons was not offered the tender because it does not give the team flexibility to sign him to a split salary contract, which reduces the player’s hit against the salary cap if they are on the injured reserve. Split salaries are common for young players coming off injuries, like Simmons.

While the terms of the new contract were not disclosed, it’s a safe bet it was a split salary, helping protect the Seahawks if Simmons is unable to get healthy or suffers another injury during training camp or the regular season.

Simmons looked very promising in three starts during the 2018 season, but he was unable to build on that momentum in 2019 after missing the entire season with a knee injury.

Simmons will compete with a plethora of young guards, including Jamarco Jones, Phil Haynes, Ethan Pocic, Jordan Roos, Chance Warmack, B.J. Finney and Demetrius Knox, for playing time along the offensive line in 2020.

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Seahawks likely to re-sign guard Jordan Simmons to split salary

The Seattle Seahawks let guard Jordan Simmons go without an ERFA tender, but they are planning to bring him back with a split salary.

The Seattle Seahawks offered four of their eight exclusive rights free agents (ERFA) a tender for the 2020 season: Wide receiver Malik Turner, guard Jordan Roos, defensive tackle Bryan Mone and defensive back Ryan Neal.

That left guard Jordan Simmons, defensive back Kalan Reed, tight end Tyrone Swoopes and linebacker Emmanuel Ellerbee without a contract and sent them out into free agency.

However, the Seahawks are hoping to bring back Simmons, but with a revised contract at least according to ESPN’s Brady Henderson.

The ERFA tender does not allow for what is called a split salary, which reduces the player’s hit against the salary cap if they are on the injured reserve. Split salaries are common for young players coming off injuries, like Simmons.

Simmons looked very promising in three starts in 2018, but was unable to build on that momentum in 2019 – missing the entire season with a knee injury.

If re-signed, Simmons will compete with a plethora of young guards, including Jamarco Jones, Phil Haynes, Ethan Pocic, Jordan Roos and Demetrius Knox, for playing time along the offensive line in 2020 – provided he can stay healthy.

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Seahawks bring back 2 more exclusive rights free agents

The Seattle Seahawks bring back DT Bryan Mone and DB Ryan Neal, leaving four of their eight exclusive rights free agents still unsigned.

The Seattle Seahawks tendered four of their eight exclusive rights free agents on Tuesday, ensuring they will be in the fold for the 2020 season.

In addition to the previously reported Malik Turner and Jordan Roos signings, the Seahawks also tendered defensive back Ryan Neal and defensive tackle Bryan Mone.

That leaves four other exclusive rights free agents – guard Jordan Simmons, linebacker Emmanuel Ellerbee, tight end Tyrone Swoopes and defensive back Jeremy Boykins – all without a contract for now.

Neal, 24, appeared in three games for the Seahawks last year, only appearing on special teams. A former Southern Illinois defensive back who spent 2018 with the Falcons, Neal is a long (six-foot-three) DB who could play his way into a backup role in 2020, with both Akeem King and Neiko Thorpe set to hit free agency.

Mone was an undrafted free agent out of Michigan last year who had a strong showing in the preseason, but only ended up playing in four games in 2019 – appearing on 90 total snaps and not recording a single tackle.

He’ll once again come into camp ready to compete for a spot on the interior defensive line.

Of the four who remain unsigned, the Seahawks seem likely to bring back guard Jordan Simmons, who Carroll specifically mentioned as a candidate to play in 2020 while at the NFL combine.

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WATCH: Guard D.J. Fluker pulls truck in offseason workout video

Seattle Seahawks right guard D.J. Fluker posted a video on Twitter of him pulling a truck as an offseason workout.

Seattle Seahawks guard D.J. Fluker wants the world to know he’s well past the hamstring injury he dealt with last year, and he’s not planning to let anyone take his starting job in 2020.

While he could have posted a message for fans, or showed himself doing more traditional offseason workouts, Fluker instead decided to make waves by posting a video of himself pulling a truck onto his Twitter account.

“Actions speak louder than words,” Fluker wrote in the post, in which he made pulling a truck look rather easy.

Fluker remains under contract for the 2020 season, and while there is speculation he could be cut in order to conserve cap space, for now he is expected to be the team’s starter at right guard.

A dependable run-blocker who is entering his eighth NFL season, Fluker will face competition from Jamarco Jones, Phil Haynes, Jordan Simmons and potentially Ethan Pocic during training camp.

If this video has proven anything however, it’s that Fluker will be more than up for the challenge.

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Former UGA WR Tyler Simmons has strong opinion on Mark Dantonio abruptly leaving Michigan State

Former Georgia football WR Tyler Simmons has a strong opinion on Mark Dantonio leaving Michigan State abruptly.

On Tuesday, Mark Dantonio abruptly announced his retirement after 13 seasons as head coach at Michigan State.

The timing of his announcement, which came as a complete shock for everyone, could not have been worse for the program. Just one day before signing day and your head coach of over a decade steps down?

For recruits, the Spartans received 19 national letters of intent during the early signing period, with seven players enrolling early. These are all players who, despite placing their trust in Dantonio, will never play a down of football for the man they signed up for.

One of those recruits is Jordon Simmons, a 3-star running back out of McEachern High School in Powder Springs, who fortunately has not actually signed his name to paper yet.

Simmons is the younger brother of former Georgia wide receiver Tyler Simmons, who fans will always remember as the player who blocked an Alabama punt in the national title game but was incorrectly called offside.

The younger Simmons and his family were recently in East Lansing visiting with Dantonio and the Spartans.

Simmons has been committed to the program since October, however, after news of Dantonio’s retirement on Tuesday, Simmons tweeted that he will be delaying his signing until he has had more time to think about things.

“Due to the unforeseen retirement of Coach Dantonio and after discussing things with my family, I have decided to delay my signing with Michigan State University until further notice,” Simmons wrote. “I love everything that Michigan State has to offer and I appreciate the love and support that the fan base has shown me. However, with the uncertainty of the MSU program I have decided to take some time to weight out my options and think about where I will spend the next 4 years.”

Simmons told Rivals.com that other schools have already been calling. Some of those schools include Oklahoma State, Virginia and Washington State. At this time, though, Simmons said he is still considering Michigan State.

Tyler Simmons had his own thoughts on this, which he took to Twitter to share as well.

Simmons took issue with the timing of Dantonio’s retirement, saying he understands that coaches step down all the time but to do so the day before signing day just is not right.

Simmons is correct. It’s a shame that Dantonio could do so much good for a university for over a decade, but then to call it quits just one day before signing day shows no concern for any of the 20+ players who signed with Michigan State.

Seahawks carousel of starters at left guard likely to continue

The Seattle Seahawks have had a new starter at left guard in each of the last six seasons, a streak that will likely continue in 2020.

Russell Wilson has been the starting quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks since the 2012 season. Who has lined up in front of him, particularly at the left guard spot, has been new nearly every single year.

With Mike Iupati set to hit free agency, and seemingly an unlikely candidate to be re-signed, the Seahawks are almost certainly going to have a different starter at left guard for the seventh(!) consecutive year.

Since James Carpenter made 39 starts for the Seahawks from 2011-2014, most of them at left guard, the team has cycled through Justin Britt (2015) Mark Glowinski (2016) Luke Joeckel (2017) J.R. Sweezy (2018) and now Iupati (2019).

Wilson will never talk badly about anyone or any situation he is faced with, but considering how often he has stressed the importance of continuity along the offensive line, this has to be a source of chagrin for the franchise quarterback.

The streak likely won’t end in 2020, unless the team re-signs Iupati, but there is hope that it won’t extend beyond that.

Assuming Iupati is not retained, the Seahawks could look to replace him with one of the many young, internal options they have been collecting over the past few years.

Jamarco Jones, originally drafted as a right tackle, filled in for Iupati and Fluker a handful of times this year, and looked really good as a potential NFL guard. Considering how much he struggled when he was asked to play tackle, his future may be on the interior, and he seems like a prime candidate to challenge for a starting job next season.

He’ll have to compete with 2019 rookie Phil Haynes, who thanks to a sports hernia only managed to play in two games last year. He looked pretty good in the second half against Green Bay however, and is primed to take over a bigger role in 2020.

Haynes and Jones are the primary competitors, but Ethan Pocic could be in the mix if he is not handed the starting center job by virtue of Britt’s release. Jordan Simmons and Demetrius Knox missed the entire season with injuries, but Simmons in particular looked good as a fill-in in 2018 and could be in the mix as well – and of course Seattle could use an early pick in the 2020 NFL draft to bring in some starting competition.

Seattle will almost certainly have a new starter at left guard again in 2020, but Wilson and the fans can hope whoever it is ends up sticking around for a while, creating continuity up front for a team that sorely needs it.

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