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Just two minutes after the beginning of the new league year, it was announced via Twitter that the Seattle Seahawks have signed offensive tackle Luke Joeckel to a one-year deal in 2017.
Former Jaguars' OL Luke Joeckel expects to sign 1-year deal with Seattle Seahawks, per sources. Seattle upgrades its line.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 9, 2017
Joeckel was the 2nd overall pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2013 draft. Coming out of Texas A&M, he was thought of by many as the best overall player in the draft.
While he hasn’t shown any consistency at all really over the last four years, it has never been Seattle’s MO to overpay for highly sought after free agents. After seeing the other offensive line contracts handed out today, it’s not hard to see why. The Carolina Panthers gave Matt Kalil $55.5M over 5 years with $25M guaranteed.
Luke Joeckel can earn $8 million on his 1-year deal with the #Seahawks, source said.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 9, 2017
This tweet implies that this will be an incentive-laden contract with a maximum valuation of $8M. I’m pretty sure that, no matter how much the Seahawks would have signed Joeckel for, nothing would even come close to how nasty the Kalil deal is.
Only time will tell if this is actually an upgrade for Seattle’s line. Joeckel has played both left tackle and left guard. Tom Cable will have an extra body to add to a line that currently has George Fant, Rees Odhiambo, and Mark Glowinski entrenched on the left side.