Injury update: Ethan Pocic will not need surgery

In the season ending loss to the Arizona Cardinals, Seattle Seahawks rookie right guard Ethan Pocic left the game following an injury to his leg that had the look of potentially being a serious injury. Rookie undrafted free agent Jordan Roos took his place in the lineup for the remainder of the Week 17 contest, and many fans were wondering after the game about the severity of the injury Pocic suffered.

Between the holiday on Monday and Pete Carroll’s blunt statements regarding the likelihood of defensive stalwarts Cliff Avril and Kam Chancellor ever playing again, many fans may have missed this update on Pocic.

That is great news for Pocic for multiple reasons. Obviously not needing surgery means that the injury is not as severe as it could be, however, it also means that Pocic will be able to get into the weight room sooner. If his injury had required surgery, then it is possible his rehab could have delayed his ability to work on his body in the coming months. As a rookie in 2017 Pocic showed fantastic form as an offensive lineman, but defensive linemen were able to push him around and his lack of strength showed.

During the offseason I will be doing a lot of write ups on the offensive line regarding what went well and what went wrong, and one thing that is seen time and again is Pocic being pushed six or seven yards into the backfield while engaged with a defender. That often disrupted Russell Wilson during his dropbacks, and as you’ll see in the coming days when the piece is published, even contributed to Germain Ifedi’s penalty issues.

In effect, as a rookie Pocic was effectively the opposite of Ifedi as a rookie. While Pocic displayed phenomenal form, but lacked strength as a rookie, Ifedi was all strength with extremely fundamentally raw technique.

The team knew exactly what it was getting when it drafted each of them, and fans may want to get used to these two being the right side of the Seahawks offensive line because with Pocic set to be 23 years old and Ifedi only 24 during the 2018 season, the right side of the Seahawks line could be set for the next decade.