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FL free agency is set to begin in the middle of March, and as is true most years, there should be a plethora of unrestricted free agents available that can make an immediate impact with a new team.
The Seattle Seahawks have two such players.
Unless the Seahawks sign them before NFL free agency officially begins on March 16, cornerback D.J. Reed and offensive tackle Duane Brown will hit the open market. The Athletic’s Sheil Kapadia included both players in the top 50 on his list of 75 best NFL free agents.
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DJ Reed a Top NFL Free Agent Cornerback
Kapadia ranked Reed 42nd on his list of 75 top NFL free agents. Reed is also the sixth-best available cornerback on the list.
Reed started a career-high 14 games last season and posted 78 combined tackles with 10 pass defenses and two interceptions.
“Originally a fifth-round pick by the San Francisco 49ers, Reed joined the Seahawks before the 2020 season,” wrote Kapadia. “He started 22 games over the past two years and did a terrific job last season at right cornerback. Per PFF’s [Pro Football Focus] charting, opponents completed just 38.5% of their passes when targeting Reed in man coverage. That was the second-best mark among corners. In 93 snaps of man, Reed allowed just five catches for 45 yards. Reed (5-foot-9) doesn’t have prototypical size for an outside corner, but he’s played well.”
The Athletic’s Michal-Shawn Dugar projects that Reed will receive about $8-10 million per season in his new deal.
The overall Pro Football Focus grades ranked Reed 12th at cornerback and eighth-best among cornerbacks with at least 500 snaps. The next closest Seahawks cornerback was Sidney Jones, who the PFF cornerback grades ranked 26th (with at least 500 snaps).
Furthermore, Reed received the highest PFF player grade of any Seahawks defender (with more than 30 snaps) last season.
Duane Brown Is One of the Best Available Offensive Linemen
Readers didn’t have to continue much further down Kapadia’s list to get to the next Seahawks player. Brown was right behind Reed at No. 43.
Like Reed, Kapadia ranked Brown the sixth-best free agent at his position.
“He’s been remarkably durable, having not missed a start over the past two seasons,” wrote Kapadia. “Brown has missed just four games in the past four years (all in 2019). He’s obviously past his prime, but demand always outweighs supply for left tackles. Andrew Whitworth got a two-year, $17 million deal from the Rams at the age of 40 last offseason. That’s probably the contract to work off of for Brown.”
Brown, who the Seahawks acquired in a trade during the 2017 season, will turn 37 in August. He led the Seahawks in offensive snaps during 2021 with 970, which was 97.88% of the team’s offensive snaps.
But Brown did not do as well in the Pro Football Focus grading system as Reed did. Brown finished the 2021 season with the 43rd-best PFF grade at offensive tackle. His grade was 31st-best among tackles with more than 500 snaps.
The legal tampering period for NFL free agency begins on Monday, March 14 at 12 pm ET. Players can begin officially signing with new teams at 4 pm ET on March 16.
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NFL Writer Ranks 2 Seahawks Among Top 50 Pending Unrestricted Free Agents