Seahawks 2018 Draft look back: Jamarco Jones in Round 5

Regular readers know that with the arrival of the offseason we have been taking a look at the 2018 draft picks of the Seattle Seahawks with the benefit of a year of hindsight. So far we have been through each of the first two selections of the Seahawks, including

• First round pick, running back Rashaad Penny out of San Diego State and
• Third round pick, defensive end Rasheem Green out of USC.

In addition, we have already looked at the final two selections the team made in

• Seventh round pick, quarterback Alex McGough out of Florida International University and
• Sixth round pick, defensive end Jacob Martin out of Temple.

That brings us to the middle five picks of the draft, and today we’ll start off with the only member of the 2018 draft class who is still with the team after not playing a single snap for the Seahawks during the regular season, tackle Jamarco Jones out of Ohio State.

Jones spent the entirety of the 2018 campaign on injured reserve, after suffering a severe high ankle sprain on just his twentieth offensive snap of the preseason. The injury was severe enough to require surgery to be properly repaired, and from all indications from the team he has made a full recovery during . The Seahawks have not had great luck with players who required surgery to repair an ankle injury coming back and performing at a high level, with names such as tight end Zach Miller and running backs Thomas Rawls and Eddie Lacy never able to return to form after requiring ankle surgery. However, perhaps the team’s luck has changed following Chris Carson’s return to pre-injury form in 2018 following a devastating ankle injury in Week 4 of 2017.

Assuming he successfully returns from the injury, Jones could play a key role at tackle moving forward. Left tackle Duane Brown had a fantastic 2018 season, however, he was one of the five oldest starting linemen in the NFL in 2019 and will turn 34 before the 2019 season starts. At right tackle Germain Ifedi did a great job of showing fans he’s got potential to be a long term solution, but with only one year remaining on his rookie contract and a fifth year option behind that, there’s no guarantee that that future will be with the Seahawks.

Further complicating the tackle picture for the Hawks, but potentially opening things up for Jones is the fact that swing tackle George Fant is a restricted free agent. It will certainly be interesting to see what the team does with Fant, but if the team feels that Jones has the potential to be the swing tackle going forward, they could feel less inclined to keep Fant around as depth.

Obviously, there is a lot that we as fans don’t know, since we only got to see twenty snaps of action from Jones, while the team got to see much more of him in practice prior to the injury. It will certainly be a situation worth watching as we move through the offseason.

Also, you can feel free to post “Incomplete” in the comments section, but since it takes years to properly evaluate a draft, incomplete is the assumed default grade for all draft picks after a single season. If “Incomplete” was anything other than a cop out option, I’d put it in the poll. That in mind, here’s the poll as you’re on your way to the comments section to note that incomplete is the only logically conceivable grade for this selection since he hasn’t seen a single snap of action for the team.