The Seahawks could significantly improve Sam Darnold's protection if they are willing to spend in free agency.
The Seattle Seahawks will be one team to watch rather closely as free agency begins, and for a host of reasons.
One is to see out of the handful of star free agents the team has, which ones will stay, and who will leave. After all, it is hard to keep players coming out of contract to begin with, let alone ones adding a Super Bowl champion to their resume.
The other reason is to see who Mike Macdonald and his front office go after to improve their team.
At the time of writing, per Over The Cap, Seattle has about $61 million in cap space, the sixth-most in football. That is a nice little sum of change to upgrade the roster.
But the question is, do the Seahawks use that to try to keep their own free agents, or look to find key upgrades when free agency begins?
Well, for PFF's Mason Cameron, in naming the best landing spots for some of the NFL's top free agents, Baltimore Ravens Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum's best landing spot is Seattle.
"The Ravens opted against picking up Tyler Linderbaum’s fifth-year option due to exorbitant cost but have expressed interest in extending the Pro Bowl center,” Cameron wrote. “The Ravens opted against picking up Tyler Linderbaum’s fifth-year option due to exorbitant cost but have expressed interest in extending the Pro Bowl center.”
Getting Darnold one of the best centers in football would be a significant upgrade.
And that's no knock on Jalen Sundell, who played 13 regular-season games (started in all), and all three of Seattle's playoff games, including the Super Bowl, but not often is a player of Linderbaum's caliber available.
With the Ravens opting not to pick up Linderbaum's fifth-year option, the franchise has two paths moving forward. Let him leave for nothing or pay him.
Spotrac.com has Linderbaum's market value at $17.7 million APY, with a proposed contract of $70 million over four years likely coming his way.
Will that be in Seattle's wheelhouse?
It is an expensive acquisition if it went that way, but getting Darnold a stud center was never going to be cheap.
It is certainly an intriguing option, and would give the Seahawks options along the offensive line.
Win the Super Bowl and then sign one of the best centers in football. That would be a good offseason for Seattle.