The Seattle Seahawks brought back defensive tackle Jarran Reed on the first day of legal tampering, but did not signing anyone new – par for the course for this team in the Pete Carroll/John Schneider era.
They did have to say goodbye to hybrid tackle/tight end George Fant, who agreed to a three-year, $27.3 million dollar contract to start at left tackle for the Jets.
Fant was not the only offensive lineman to agree to a lucrative new contract on Monday, with tackle Jack Conklin agreeing to a three-year, $42 million dollar deal with the Browns and Halapoulivaati Vaitai leaving the Eagles for a five-year, $50 million dollar deal with the Lions.
Those deals not only take two potential Seahawks off the market, they also have a big impact on the contract demands for Seattle’s most recent starter at right tackle, Germain Ifedi.
Ifedi is expected to explore the open market after the Seahawks refused to pick up his fifth-year option, which would have paid him $10.35 million dollars for the 2020 season.
Now, with backups like Fant and Vaitai each getting about $10 million per year, it’s almost a guarantee that Ifedi will want more than that per season.
Whether he gets that remains to be seen. After all, while he has much more experience than both Fant and Vaitai, his performance has not been all that great, and other teams may be hesitant to offer him that much money, even if he is still just 25-years-old.
The Seahawks need to find more tackles before the 2020 season begins, and Ifedi is absolutely still an option to return to the Emerald City.
However, the team would likely have to pay him more than they would have had they just tendered him the fifth-year option, and it’s hard to imagine them doing that for a player who still struggles in pass protection.
The draft is also a strong option for this team to find their next right tackle, if they don’t find any options in free agency that they like, so this team may take their time to find their solution on the right side of the line.
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