Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll says he wants to get Duane Brown‘s contract situation settled. However, it doesn’t sound like the front office is in any rush. The Seahawks told Brown that they want to keep him beyond 2021, but they want to discuss his next contract after the season (via Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times).
That probably won’t sit well with Brown, who is weeks away from his 36th birthday and entering the final year of his deal. He’s set to make $10MM this season – an extremely team-friendly rate given his production. Even when factoring in the past dollars on his deal, Brown’s $11.5MM-per-year average puts him just 16th among left tackles.
Pro Football Focus positioned Brown as the league’s No. 5 tackle last season. At the same time, he’s older than Nos. 1-4. The Seahawks are understandably skittish about committing top-of-the-market money to Brown as he inches towards 40, but they can ill afford a holdout. While they’ve added Gabe Jackson, Brown stands as the team’s most accomplished blocker by a mile.
“[Brown] looks like he’s 28-30 out there,” quarterback Russell Wilson said recently. “He’s really exceptional. So smart and physical, understands the game, and I think people fear him, to be honest with you, when they’re rushing him and playing against him. So we definitely want to be able to get him back out there. We’ve got to figure that out because we need Duane Brown.”
They need to pay him!
Brown is not a particularly loyal player, and he’s older. He is certainly valuable, but for how long his value will outweigh his downsides is questionable. I understand the wariness in handing Brown a lucrative contract, no matter how good he is. To be clear, I am not advising AGAINST extending Brown, just that I get the caution. Especially in the face of Adams’ situation.
I wouldn’t do much with his age and knees
Well it’s not everyday you see an OL get a glowing endorsement from a QB who is just shy of taking 400 career sacks.
The Seahawks create these situations. They seem to encourage an environment where players air their grievances in a public way. The team usually ends up taking a hard line, but only after the situation has played itself out in the media for weeks or even months. From an optics standpoint, it gives the impression that the players win these standoffs. This encourages other players to use he same technique. I’m all for players maximizing their value, but the constant public squabbles are bound to be a distraction in the long run.
I don’t think we can hold the Seahawks responsible for inventing Twitter and other forms of social media. Every team has players that like to sound off publicly. From an optics standpoint I actually think the players often hurt themselves with this approach and end up being viewed as whining prima donnas by the public.
Who will fall further GB or Seattle? Both have very TO’ed QB’s he11 bent on leaving next offseason.
Seahawks are in a tougher division and even without a TO’ed QB they have some serious problems on defense that need to be addressed.
Wilson is not wanting out regardless of how much the media wants to push that narrative.
The man signed a contract. Play it out. Negotiate the next one.