Dareke Young free agency

What's the harm in re-signing Young for 2 more years?

If the Seahawks keeping free agent Dareke Young seems relatively inconsequential, that’s because it is. Everything that Young has done on the field this year that could be called “good” is 100% good and that should never be ignored, but what we always tend to leave out is the part where maybe some undrafted free agent could be signed off of the street and do the exact same good things if he had been placed in Young’s position instead.

That’s not a negative or a diss, it’s merely a fact that tends to get ignored: We can only know what the player given the opportunity did and we can never know what all the players who didn’t have the chance might have done instead.

If one of them had the job, maybe Seahawks fans would like him just as much, or more, or less than Dareke Young.

So should Seattle re-sign Young? Sure, I can’t see why not.

The upside

I could hear the arguments for Young in my head as I was writing the part about him being replaceable.

Not only was Young a good kick returner at the start of the season, he also made seven tackles in his first four games and caught two first downs. He can return, he can cover, and in a pinch he can catch.

(To date, we’ve never seen any evidence in a regular season game that he can run.)

Of course, the highlight of Young’s season came in the NFC Championship, recovering a muffed punt by Xavier Smith to help the Seahawks secure a win over the Rams.

Under the radar: Young played 30 offensive snaps between Week 17 and the wild card round.

Unless Klint Kubiak comes in with an offer to make Young a viable receiving option on the Raiders offense, I can’t see what could compel him to leave or Seattle to let him leave. All of those reasons I gave in the beginning about him being replaceable are also the reasons to re-sign him: He can’t cost that much and therefore he offers pretty much nothing but upside.

The downside

There shouldn’t be any. The Seahawks could offer Young a two-year, $4.5 million contract (comparison would be Ben Skowronek of the Steelers, a Pro Bowl special teamer) and he should take it.

I guess the only reason Seattle wouldn’t do that is that they have a bevy of good special teamers led by Brady Russell and a primary returner if they re-sign Rashid Shaheed.

Prediction: Re-sign

If Young’s free agency is relatively inconsequential, then re-signing him is relatively cut and dry.

The previously mentioned contract for Skowronek is what I would offer and keeping the versatile 26-year-old for two more years should be an easy decision for John Schneider.

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