RENTON — During a two-day stretch this week, the Seattle Seahawks made a pair of moves to help ensure that the NFL’s best defense will remain largely intact for years to come.
A day after the Seahawks signed linebacker K.J. Wright to a four-year contract extension, they locked up another key member of their defense on Friday, signing defensive end Cliff Avril to a four-year extension worth $28.5 million, including $16 million in guaranteed money, according to a league source. Both Avril and Wright were headed into the final year of their contracts, and with these moves, the Seahawks almost have all of their defensive starters under contract for 2015. Cornerback Byron Maxwell, who may command too much in free agency for Seattle to keep, is the only defensive starter not under contract for 2015 if you include injured defensive tackle Brandon Mebane and not his replacement, Kevin Williams.
More significantly, a big portion of Seattle’s defensive core is locked up well past 2015, meaning the defense that led the league in fewest points and yards allowed last season, and has a good chance to do so again this year, should be dominant for a long time.
“We’ve really been able to make a couple really strong statements right here with K.J. and Cliff in the last couple days,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “We found the core guys that we really like and we’re trying to keep them here and keep them together. … You can see how much we’ve leaned on our ‘D’ and how much we believe it has the chance to be together for a long time, and that’s a big statement and a big commitment, and we’re really happy to do that.”
One reason the Seahawks have been able to re-sign two key players in season is that the Percy Harvin trade freed up more than $12 million in cap space between this year and next season. And of course it’s always helpful to have a Pro Bowl quarterback who is making just $662,434.
Avril, 28, came to Seattle in free agency along with Michael Bennett in 2013 to bolster the pass rush, and those two were a huge part of Seattle’s Super Bowl run. Avril had eight sacks last season and five forced fumbles, then had 1.5 sacks and two forced fumbles in the postseason. And while his production is down this year (4.5 sacks) advanced metrics such as those used by the analytical site Pro Football Focus still have him as one of the league’s most effective pass rushers. According to PFF, Avril has the sixth-best pass rush productivity for 4-3 scheme defensive ends this season, and has the fourth most hurries with 38.
“I’m happy. I’m happy to know that I’ll be back in Seattle with such a great group of guys; the talent on this team is amazing and I’m happy to be a part of it,” Avril said.
And unlike some players who want to test their worth in free agency, that didn’t interest Avril, not after there was a pretty cool market when he hit free agency in 2013 and both he and Michael Bennett signed with Seattle on shorter-and-cheaper-than-expected deals.
“It’s definitely a relief,” Avril said. “I definitely didn’t want to go into free agency. I didn’t like that process two years ago. I like it out here, I love what Coach Carroll is doing, I love the scheme. The guys we have in the locker room make it so fun to play here, then just being in Seattle and the environment we have going, I wanted to keep the party going.”
With Avril and Wright signing this week, the Seahawks now have those two, plus Bennett, Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor all locked up with multi-year deals, meaning this defense will continue to give opposing offenses fits for years to come.
“It’s awesome, it’s great,” Avril said. “It kind of gives you that college feel. You sign and you go to college and you’re going to be with those guys for four or five years, and just knowing that a lot of us are going to be here for the next few years and are only growing and getting better — I’m probably one of the older guys that have gotten signed — so it’s just cool knowing that the locker room won’t change too much. That’s rare in the NFL.”
Seahawks will be without two starting linemen
The Seahawks head to Arizona to face a dangerous pass rush minus two of their starting offensive linemen, but it could be worse. Guard J.R. Sweezy returned to practice Friday after missing the previous two days with an ankle injury and will play, Carroll said, but left tackle Russell Okung, who bruised a lung in Sunday’s game against San Francisco, and center Max Unger, who is still recovering from a high-ankle sprain, won’t play.
That means Alvin Bailey will start at left tackle, while Lemuel Jeanpierre would presumably be the starter at center for the fourth straight game. Carroll did say, however, that Patrick Lewis took reps at center this week, too, and could be an option there. That likely has to do with Sweezy’s injury, as Jeanpierre is also an option at guard, so should Sweezy not make it through the game, Lewis could come in to play center with Jeanpierre moving over to guard.
While the Seahawks will miss Okung, particularly in pass protection, Carroll is confident that Bailey will take a step forward from his performance in relief last week now that he had a whole week at one position.
“It makes a big difference, because every snap he takes in practice is focused on left tackle, every moment in the meetings is all focused on play there as opposed to looking at guard and tackle and left side, right side, all of that kind of stuff that he’s had to do in the past,” Carroll said. “So it certainly helps, and he had a good solid week.”
Paul Richardson, who was a surprise addition to the injury report Thursday with a hamstring injury, “was fine today,” Carroll said. “We just gave him a break yesterday.”
Receiver Chris Matthews, who has been a big contributor on special teams in the past two games since signing off the practice squad, is questionable with a hamstring injury suffered in practice Thursday. Also questionable is tight end Tony Moeaki, who injured his shoulder in Sunday’s game, but Seattle will get tight end Cooper Helfet back from an ankle injury.
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com
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