Seahawks tender Joey Hunt and Branden Jackson

When the Seattle Seahawks saw their season come to a close with a divisional round loss to the Green Bay Packers, fans were adamant that the team would need to improve in the trenches before the start of the 2020 season. The offensive line struggled to open holes as protect Russell Wilson at times, while the defensive front often failed to generate much pressure on opposing quarterbacks. As such, fans were largely in agreement that an overhaul for both the offensive and defensive lines would be welcome during the offseason.

With the first day of legal tampering now complete, the Seahawks took steps to fill out the roster of both lines by extending restricted free agent tenders to two players who were on the roster last season.

This means Joey Hunt is likely in the competition for center for the Hawks for 2020, while Branden Jackson will again be likely to compete for snaps in the rotation along the defensive line. Hunt took over as the starter in Week 9, following the loss of Justin Britt to a torn ACL, while Jackson played a career high 418 defensive snaps and started three games.

These are not exactly the type of impact moves many fans had hoped for in the trenches, but they will provide depth and competition during the offseason and camp. In the meantime, starting Wednesday at 4 PM New York Time, both Hunt and Jackson will be free to negotiate with other teams.

Exactly which tender the team extended has not been disclosed, however, OverTheCap.com is counting each of these two as carrying a $2.133M cap hit for 2020. That implies both received the original round tender, meaning if another team signs either to an offer sheet, the Seahawks would then have to match the terms of the deal. If Seattle declines to match an offer to Hunt, the signing team would then send a sixth round pick to the Hawks in the 2020 draft, while there would be no compensation from a team signing Jackson to an offer sheet.