RENTON – Decisions the Seahawks and Vikings made last offseason regarding quarterback Sam Darnold will serve as an interesting subplot when the two teams meet Sunday at Lumen Field.
Less remembered is that the Seahawks and Vikings made decisions at the same time regarding an offensive lineman who ended up in Minnesota – guard Will Fries.
The early returns on Fries’ signing with the Vikings and not with the Seahawks give some validity to general manager John Schneider’s comment last spring that “you can’t just throw something at something to fix it, to fix a perceived need.”
Schneider made that comment in February during an appearance on Seattle Sports 710 on the eve of NFL free agency.
At that time, the offensive line was the Seahawks’ biggest need and the main topic of discussion about the team heading into free agency.
Things changed over the next few weeks when the Seahawks traded Geno Smith to the Raiders and DK Metcalf to the Steelers and signed Sam Darnold and Cooper Kupp to replace them.
As free agency opened, the Seahawks were among the teams to show interest in Fries, who at age 26 (now 27) was regarded as the best free-agent guard available following four seasons with the Colts.
The interest came with one condition. The Seahawks wanted to bring Fries to the VMAC for a physical. Fries missed the final 12 games of the 2024 season with a broken tibia that required surgery to repair.
The Vikings were fine with signing Fries without an in-person physical.
Schneider seemed to confirm that when talking to reporters without mentioning Fries by name.
“We were in on a big-time guy that we wanted to bring in and get a physical on,” Schneider said. “When you spend that kind of money on a player, we wanted to visit. The other team didn’t want to visit and they just went ahead and did the deal.”
The Vikings signed Fries to a five-year deal worth up to $88 million with $34 million guaranteed, an average of $17.5 million, which is the sixth most of any right guard this season.
Whether the Seahawks would have tried to counter that is unclear since it’s thought negotiations never got too serious as talks broke off over the impasse on the physical.
Once Fries signed elsewhere, the Seahawks largely stayed out of the free-agent spending on offensive lineman. The only significant acquisition was veteran backup swingman Josh Jones on a one-year, $4 million deal.
At that point, the Seahawks focused on the draft, knowing they could use the 18th pick to buff up the line, as they ended up doing, taking Grey Zabel to take over at left guard and adding to a young core they felt was still promising.
The Vikings also signed veteran center Ryan Kelly, also of the Colts and a four-time Pro Bowler, to a two-year deal worth up to $18 million among a flurry of other free -agent moves.
Minnesota’s splurge came in the wake of the decision not to re-sign Darnold and turn the QB duties over to second-year man J.J. McCarthy.
As the Athlon’s NFL preview put it: “Freed from the burdens of a giant quarterback contract, the Vikings went on a $300 million free agent spending spree.”
The Seahawks used the strategy of spending big to build around a young QB with Russell Wilson and that helped them win a Super Bowl.
Often overlooked is the Seahawks somewhat stumbled into that, signing Matt Flynn to a three-year deal worth $26 million in free agency in 2012 and drafting Wilson in continuing to add QBs until they knew they had one. Once Wilson proved himself, the Seahawks were able to unload Flynn the following year and build around Wilson.
The Vikings went 14-3 a year ago and felt they had a core that could contend for a Super Bowl. They decided to build around McCarthy without knowing what they had after he missed all of his rookie season with a knee injury.
The upshot is the Vikings, who also have highly paid vet Brian O’Neill at right tackle, are spending the fourth-most on their offensive line this year at $60.568 million, according to OvertheCap.com.
The Seahawks, with every player in their starting lineup in their fourth year or less, are 31st at $25.9 million.
That will change next year when a three-year extension given to right tackle Abe Lucas kicks in and when the Seahawks either let left tackle Charles Cross play on a $17.56 million option or give him an extension.
The Seahawks are using $13.5 million in cap space this year on Darnold compared to the Vikings spending $4.9 million on McCarthy.
Darnold has proved a bargain in leading the Seahawks to an 8-3 record.
The highly paid O-line hasn’t prevented McCarthy from suffering three injuries so far as Minnesota has fallen to 4-7 with losses in five of its last six games.
All the money Minnesota spent on the O-line hasn’t prevented its front from getting hit by the injury bug.
The Vikings have started their projected starting five only once all season – Sunday in a 23-6 loss to Green Bay in which left tackle Christian Darrisaw and left guard Donovan Jackson were knocked out because of injuries and their status for Sunday is uncertain.
Interestingly, Fries has been the only starter to stay healthy, starting all 11 games.
But the results have been mixed.
Fries has an overall grade from Pro Football Focus of 61.9, 39th of 80 guards, and 58.1 in run blocking, which is 46th. ESPN earlier this month included Fries in a list of five players whose new homes have not worked out, noting his poor run-blocking grade (55th of 65 guards via ESPN’s metrics).
The Seahawks held a competition at right guard between third-year player Anthony Bradford and second-year player Christian Haynes and were open to the idea that late-round picks Bryce Cabeldue or Mason Richman could take the spot.
Bradford won it and has played all but four snaps this season, second-most of anyone on offense (Lucas has played every snap).
No one is tabbing Bradford as a possible Pro Bowler, but he counts for just $1.2 million against the cap and has a better run-blocking grade than Fries at 58.2. Bradford grades at 49.8 overall, 68th of 80 guards, and is part of an offensive line that has allowed 11 sacks, the fewest in the NFL.
The Seahawks might have envisioned Fries as a left guard, though he’s played only on the right side in his career.
The Seahawks have that spot well filled with Zabel.
PFF rates the Vikings’ overall offensive-line performance as a little better than the Seahawks. The Vikings are 12th in pass blocking and 15th run blocking, while the Seahawks are 24th pass blocking and 18th run blocking.
Such grades, of course, can be debated. And the injuries that have hit the Vikings hard are uncontrollable.
But the records of the two teams as they enter the final six games of the season validate Schneider’s comment that building a winning roster is a lot more complicated than paying big to try to fix one spot.