Getty Former Seahawks offensive lineman D.J. Fluker in 2019.
Former Seattle Seahawks offensive lineman D.J. Fluker wants head coach Pete Carroll to sign him amid the team’s injury crisis on the offensive line. The banged-up unit up front finally cost the team during the Seahawks’ 17-13 Week 6 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, and now Fluker wants in.
“@Seahawks come get your Boi @PeteCarroll,” Fluker tweeted on Monday night, October 15.
@Seahawks come get your Boi @PeteCarroll
The Seahawks Have an Injury Crisis on the Offensive Line
Injuries along the offensive line finally caught up to the Seahawks in Week 6. Left tackle Charles Cross missed three games with a toe injury, and guards Phil Haynes and Damien Lewis each missed one game with calf and ankle injuries, respectively. Only center Evan Brown has played every game this season.
The big problem, however, is right tackle Abraham Lucas. The 2022 third-round pick has been on the injured reserve with a knee injury since Week 1, and even though he’s eligible to come back now, Carroll said, “I don’t think that’s gonna happen,” per The Athletic beat writer Michael-Shawn Dugar.
Lucas’ replacement, Jake Curhan, is dealing with his own injury (ankle), and in the Seahawks’ Week 6 loss, he really struggled.
The whole line played poorly at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati. Heading into Week 6, the unit allowed just 6 sacks and 5 quarterback hits in the team’s first four games. On Sunday, the Bengals sacked quarterback Geno Smith four times and hit him nine times.
Curhan gave up five of those QB hits, and Haynes allowed two of the sacks. That earned the left guard a 34.6 rating from PFF, which was nearly 20 points less than Curhan, who also graded out poorly with a 53.8 mark.
The cracks are now showing against good teams in this Seahawks O-line. The question now is, with Lucas still out, is Fluker the answer?
Is D.J. Fluker the Answer?
Fluker was the No. 11 pick of the 2013 draft out of Alabama for the San Diego Chargers. The versatile 6-foot-5 lineman played four seasons for the franchise that drafted him, one for the New York Giants, two for Pete Carroll and the Seahawks, and one for the Ravens.
Over the course of his NFL career, Fluker started at guard or tackle for 96 of 108 games, including all 59 he played for San Diego and 23 of 24 in Seattle.
Fluker is now 32 years old, and last played an NFL game in 2020 for the Baltimore Ravens. He signed with the Miami Dolphins, then the Las Vegas Raiders, and then the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021 but never made it off the practice squad after the NFL suspended him for six games for undisclosed reasons, per ESPN’s Field Yates.
The last time Fluker was on the field, he started eight games for the Ravens after LT Ronnie Staley went down and RT Orlando Brown slid to the other side. In 568 snaps on the right side of the line — where he would hypothetically play for the Seahawks — and 24 on the left, PFF gave Fluker a 67.2 pass-blocking grade and a 57.6 run-blocking grade for a 63.6 overall mark.
All this adds up to the conclusion that Fluker likely isn’t the answer at RT for Carroll and the Seahawks. He’s 32, hasn’t played in more than two seasons, and when he did last play, he wasn’t all that great.
That said, the Bengals abused the Seahawks’ line in Week 6, which has to make the coaching staff nervous about the games that are coming up. In the next eight weeks, Seattle faces the Cleveland Browns, Ravens, Dallas Cowboys, and San Francisco 49ers (twice). Those teams are all in the top eight of scoring defenses through six weeks.
So, while Fluker may not be the answer, bringing him in for a look is worth a shot.