In 2013, the Seattle Seahawks signed Cliff Avril to a two-year, $15 million contract and Michael Bennett to a one-year, $5 million deal in a period of less than 24 hours. Both players were shocked to get so little on the market.

Avril turned down a three-year, $30 million deal from the Detroit Lions a year earlier because he thought he was worth much more, Bennett was thinking the Bucs might franchise tag him at $11 million after he posted nine sacks in 2012. Pete Carroll and John Schneider were also probably a little shocked that they got Avril and Bennett for a total of $20 million, but it’s more believable when viewed the prism of how those players could have been perceived at the time.

Avril’s case is a little stranger than Bennett’s, as he had posted 29 sacks over the previous three seasons in Detroit and had a bit more draft pedigree as a former third round pick. Maybe teams were a little worried that he didn’t have the juice to go full-time and he disappeared a little bit at the end of his final season with the Lions. But his two-year contract was sort of like that era’s Uchenna Nwosu deal, eventually leading to a four-year extension in December, 2014.

Sports ON Tap Seattle @SONTSeattle

Cliff Avril & Michael Bennett were an awesome duo on the Seahawks 😂 Scary hours 👻

10:17 PM ∙ Dec 20, 2022

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Bennett’s “prove-it” deal makes more sense and he also worked his way into a long-term deal.

Undrafted in 2009 in part because of “inconsistency”, Bennett signed with the Seahawks and surprisingly made Jim Mora’s final roster out of camp. The team waived Bennett that October and he instantly became a presence on the interior of Tampa’s defensive line under Raheem Morris. Bennett spent three years as a favorite of Morris, but may not have gotten as much love from head coach Greg Schiano when he replaced Morris in 2012, leading to no franchise tag or long-term contract in 2013.

However, Bennett did have a career-best nine sacks in 2012. The questions on team’s minds: “What position does he play?” “Could he ever have nine sacks again, given that he didn’t come close to nine sacks before?” And “Didn’t that only further solidify Bennett’s draft red flag that he’s not consistent?”

Pete didn’t sign or waive Bennett as an undrafted rookie in 2009, but he did covet him as a free agent in 2013 and viewed him as an ideal complement to a 4-3 defensive line group that included Avril, Chris Clemons, Bruce Irvin, Red Bryant, Brandon Mebane, Clinton McDonald, and Tony McDaniel. Out of all those players, Bennett led the unit with 598 snaps played for the number one defense in the NFL in 2013.

Better yet, one of the best defenses in NFL history.

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The Seahawks extended Bennett on a four-year, $28.5 million contract, setting up a better payday than a one-time franchise tag. Though Carroll and Bennett would butt heads over his contract shortly thereafter because he went from a 60% snaps player to an 80% snaps player once locked in at a bargain rate for a full-time edge, Seattle instantly found out that Bennett’s “inconsistent” label might have actually been a “poorly used” label that had been misconstrued as something more nefarious.

For all their father-son bickering, Pete and Bennett were one of the best coach-player defensive pairings in the NFL over five seasons.

Bennett was not a 15-sack edge. He was more of an 8-9 sack defensive end, but one who’s total value far exceeded a pass rusher who plays 55% of the snaps in third down situations and doesn’t defend the run. Pete identified him for what he could do well—perhaps yes, even exploiting that poor valuation by the rest of the NFL—and Bennett was part of a defense that ranked first in all key categories for three straight seasons.

I say all that not to get your hopes up that Dre’Mont Jones will be as good of a value as Bennett. We know that’ll be tough to do because at $17 million per season, Jones would need to be Seattle’s own Aaron Donald to be considered a “bargain” of that level.

Instead, I would focus on two key elements to recall from the Bennett signing that could mean there are great fortunes ahead from the Jones signing:

A) That Bennett’s big “red flag” was inconsistency, something that has followed Dre’Mont Jones since he came out of Ohio State as a prospect who had only played at a high level for one season

B) Perhaps Jones’ reason for inconsistency is not a lack of effort or getting overpowered by the league’s top-tier guards, but instead is the possibility that he hasn’t been put in the right situation by coaches often enough.

For Pete to go so far out of his comfort zone with a free agent signing, giving Jones a three-year, $51 million deal with $30 million total guaranteed on the first day of free agency, that signals a strong belief in character and work ethic coming from the “Always Compete” guy; keep in mind that Seattle’s 2022 roster had a number of former Broncos on it and that former Broncos defensive coordinator Ed Donatell is close with the likes of Clint Hurtt, among others on the Seahawks staff.

It’s not hard to believe that before signing Dre’Mont Jones to a top-10 DT contract, Seattle’s regime reached out to a bunch of people who know him and asked, “What’s this guy like?”

“He’s great. He’s awesome. You won’t have any issues with effort.”

That’s what anyone would expect to do before a deal like this and the guys who have poor reputations, they pay the price at times like this.

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Ridiculously good bonus article today: How the draft needs may have changed with the first week of free agency and the Aaron Rodgers news

I want to share a *SHORT* film study I watched on Wednesday by The Football Scout on Dre’Mont Jones. Just as it is with quarterbacks and receivers, it’s important to not get caught up in a player’s highlights and expect that to be the norm. Highlights are cool and proving an ability matters, but consistency is what makes players “Great”.

I think that’s what is missing from this film study. It doesn’t mean that Jones is going to be inconsistent. I just know that a narrative on Jones coming out of Denver is that he has been inconsistent. Not all narratives turn out to be true—we know that, as we see with Bennett—however, we can’t disregard that simply because Jones is on the Seahawks now.

I like this film study by The Football Scout as a starting point to get to know Jones’ skillset and what he brings to Seattle’s defensive line, pass rush, and run defense. But would I say it’s a great study? No, it’s rather incomplete and feels a little biased. It is a good start however:

Thoughts I took away from this study:

• Versatility. I didn’t expect to see so many plays of Dre’Mont Jones lined up wide in a two-point stance. And also to be so effective in that area. This wasn’t the expectation of Jones coming out of Ohio State, which again could go to the thought that he’s been miscast up until now.

• Wide range of pass rushing moves.

• Lean mass. Jones measured 6’3, 281 at the combine, running a 5.12 in the 40. That’s not a good time, he didn’t stand out as an athlete. Actually, he is very close to Kerry Hyder with regards to measurements. He’s not far off from another former Seahawks edge, Branden Jackson. Another close comp would be Zach Allen, a player that Seattle reportedly also tried to sign this week before he chose to go to the Broncos. However, another name in this range: Jonathan Allen, a first round pick and one of the top DTs in the NFL. The biggest difference between Dre’Mont Jones and Hyder, the one that really matters: He’s proven himself against NFL competition already. His combine is well over.

• Some run defense. It was interesting to see Jones use his pass rushing moves to get after it in the run game, but can he do that consistently?

I would also recommend checking out this Twitter account, as a ton of Jones clips were posted on Wednesday:

Rapinas do Mar (Cortes) @cortesrapinas

Dre'Mont Jones, iDL, #93 O guard ficou indeciso e pagou o preço.

5:53 PM ∙ Mar 15, 2023

With regards to consistency, something that Broncos fans bring up is where his sacks show up. Over the last two seasons, Jones has played in 29 games and he’s totaled 12 sacks. However, he had two sacks against the Lions, two against the Texans, two against the Jets.

That means that he had six sacks in three games, and six sacks in the other 26. All told, Dre’Mont Jones failed to record a sack in 20 of 29 games over the past two seasons. This would be one thing if Jones was a part-time player, set to stuff the run. Instead, he’s a full-time player who if anything is stronger against the pass than defending the run.

That’s notable to me. But if Jones was simply miscast, if he’s better off playing for Pete than he was playing for Vic Fangio and Nathaniel Hackett, then maybe the Seahawks have found their best free agent defensive end free agent signing…in about 10 years.

Bucs sign Baker Mayfield

Hard to imagine Tampa Bay signing Drew Lock now, potentially forcing him back to Seattle, which I think is the best case scenario for both sides. The Seahawks may not have to act fast though; Seattle waited almost a month to re-sign Geno Smith last year.

RB market on the move

Travis Homer signed with the Bears. I won’t get into all the RB names who changed locations on Wednesday, but for now, the Seahawks don’t seem to be in a hurry to secure a player to complement Ken Walker. That could come in the draft. I hate to put visions of Ezekiel Elliott in your heads, but purely speculative, he wouldn’t be the first aged veteran RB to tantalize Pete.

Darius Slay?

Seriously, you guys gotta stop falling for shit like this.

Matty F. Brown @mattyfbrown

Just passing on what I've heard (and this isn't my lane) but there is buzz around #Seahawks signing recently released CB Darius Slay

9:23 PM ∙ Mar 15, 2023

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I know that Quandre Diggs would love for the Seahawks to sign Slay. I have yet to see Pete Carroll, in 14 years, go after a big name cornerback. He tried it once—also a former Eagles cornerback—and it was a disaster. Do you remember that? Fans hanging onto, “Oh good, the fantasy I want to live!!!” and then treating it like reality, this is what got us into this crisis!

LB market shrinking too

Lavonte David went back to the Bucs. The Cowboys brought back Leighton Vander Esch. So far, no news on Bobby Wagner.

Jalen Carter pro day disaster

Carter had a bad combine. Carter had a bad pro day today. He’s having a bad year. If you told me that Carter will fall to the second half of the first round, but have a great NFL career, I could buy that. If you told me that Carter will go in the top-10, but be a massive bust, I could buy that too. He’s a tough evaluation. It seems his stock is genuinely falling.

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Seahawks like C John Michael Schmitz

Take it with a great of Tony Pauline’s reporting, but he says that Seattle “really likes” JMS and that he’s the only center who could go in the first round. The Seahawks have never picked a true interior OL prospect in the top-50 over Pete and John’s 13 drafts together. Jones was out of character, perhaps a center in the draft will be next?

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