NFL Free Agency 2019: 5 Mistakes the Seattle Seahawks must avoid
By Samuel Teets
Letting K.J. Wright walk
The defense just isn’t the same without K.J. Wright and there is not a clear replacement in free agency who can pair with Bobby Wagner as well as here can. There’s some risk in re-signing a soon to be 30-year-old linebacker who’s coming off of his worst season, but Seattle should at least offer him a short-term deal.
Wright, along with Wagner, is one of the only remaining players on the defense from the Legion of Boom days. That means he has experience that very few players on the defense have. On top of that, the defense was noticeably worse when Wright was injured last season.
From 2014-17 Wright recorded 457 combined tackles, second on the team only to Wagner. He only missed one game during that stretch. In comparison, Wright missed 11 games in 2018 and recorded 23 combined tackles.
It stands to reason why the Seahawks are worried that Wright has hit the downside of his career, but he’s not a player that can easily be replaced. If the team isn’t going to go all in on a top 4-3 outside linebacker, which they likely won’t considering the expiring contracts the team will have to deal with in 2019, then Wright is by far the best option. If the choice is between signing some middle of the road player and re-signing Wright, take Wright.
The other option is letting Shaquem Griffin replace Wright in the lineup. It would be a fairytale story for Griffin, but let’s remember that he only recorded 11 combined tackles as a rookie and lost most of his defensive reps after the first quarter of the season. There was nothing last year that would signify that Griffin is ready to take over as a starter, but we’ll see what the Seahawks have planned soon enough.