Seattle Seahawks: 5 Players who likely won’t return in 2020
By Samuel Teets
5. Ezekiel Ansah, DE
The Ezekiel Ansah signing always was a calculated risk. Seattle signed the former Detroit Lion to a one-year, $9 million deal last offseason. Ansah started one game for Seattle in 2019 and missed five games with various injuries.
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In the end, Ansah recorded just 2.5 sacks and eight quarterback hits. That’s worse production than the four sacks and seven quarterback hits he posted in seven games last season. As Ansah rounds out the end of his age 30 season, his NFL future is in doubt.
When he played for the Lions, Ansah possessed explosive moves, and his early-career production turned heads. In the four seasons between 2014 and 2017, Ansah recorded 36 sacks and 92 quarterback hits in 59 games. He made the Pro Bowl in 2015 with career-highs in sacks (14.5) and quarterback hits (34).
The 2015 Second Team All-Pro is nowhere near that form now. There’s a chance he never returns to relevancy and exits the NFL in another year or two, if he even makes it that far. With L.J. Collier standing in the wings, Seattle doesn’t need Ansah.
Several of Seattle’s defensive ends are free agents this summer, but that doesn’t influence this move. Ansah got paid nine million dollars for minimal production, and he didn’t display much improvement throughout the season. The Seahawks should acknowledge their mistake and move on.