Seahawks To Release Justin Britt

The Seahawks continue to overhaul their offensive line. Just a couple hours after we heard that the team was releasing guard D.J. Fluker, they’ll also be cutting center Justin Britt, Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times confirmed (Twitter link).

Aaron Fentress of The Athletic was the first to report the news on Twitter. Britt spent the past six seasons in Seattle, and was a full-time starter for all of them. Originally a tackle and then a guard his first two years in the league, he made the switch to center in 2016. Britt was heading into the final year of his contract and the team will save $8.5MM in cap space by cutting him, although they will incur a $2.9MM dead cap hit, Condotta notes in the Times.

The release of Fluker saved about $3.7MM, so the Seahawks cleared a significant amount of space today. They’ve been making moves on the offensive line all offseason, and the unit is going to look considerably different in 2020. Joey Hunt, who started the second half of last season, former second-round pick Ethan Pocic, and B.J. Finney are all candidates to start at center. Finney was signed to a two-year, $8MM pact this offseason.

Britt started the first eight games of last season before tearing an ACL in an October game against the Falcons. Britt will turn 29 in May, and we haven’t heard much about his recovery, although Sirius XM NFL insider Adam Caplan did tweet that he hasn’t had any setbacks. Coming off the devastating injury he’ll likely have to settle for a prove-it deal despite playing at a high level in the past.

It’s possible the Seahawks are attempting to clear space for a bigger move like re-signing the still-available Jadeveon Clowney, but that’s far from definite.

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