The Seattle Seahawks are heading into the free agency period of the offseason with three offensive linemen – right tackle Germain Ifedi, left tackle George Fant and left guard Mike Iupati – all set to test the open market.
Ifedi originally had a fifth-year option attached to him, thanks to his status as a 2016 first round pick, but the Seahawks declined the one-year, roughly $10 million dollar deal Ifedi would have earned in 2020, instead allowing him to head to free agency.
It’s fairly safe to assume, even though Pete Carroll talked about how much they want Ifedi back in Seattle, that the Seahawks do not want to pay more than $10 million annually for Ifedi’s services.
That makes it very unlikely he’ll be back with the Seahawks next year, particularly after the Arizona Cardinals reset the market for young tackles by re-signing left tackle D.J. Humphries to a three-year, $45 million dollar contract, with $29 million guaranteed according to the NFL Network.
We have re-signed D.J. Humphries to a three-year contract.
Details ➡️ https://t.co/5RnLudh44d pic.twitter.com/IHzXDJYqhd
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) February 18, 2020
Humphries was a first round pick in 2015, one year before Ifedi, and he battled injuries and ineffectiveness for years before starting all 16 games in 2019 and putting together a solid campaign – as evidenced by his 64.5 grade from Pro Football Focus.
While no one will argue that Ifedi is better than Humphries, his performance last year was not dramatically worse, and it seems entirely plausible that he and his representatives will use this contract as a jumping off point in contract negotiations.
$15 million annually is almost certainly above what Seattle is willing to give Ifedi, but it wouldn’t be too surprising to see another team in need of help on the o-line give him that or close to it – which would likely end his up-and-down tenure in the Emerald City.
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