Huard: Should Seahawks pick up Jordyn Brooks’ 5th-year option?

The Seahawks have a notable decision to make with one of their key defenders this offseason.

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Starting inside linebacker Jordyn Brooks, Seattle’s leading tackler the last two seasons, just wrapped up his third NFL season. Since Brooks was a first-round pick in 2020, that means the Seahawks now have to decide if they’ll pick up his fifth-year option for the 2024 season.

Numbers for those options got released this week and for Brooks, he’d make just over $12.7 million guaranteed if the Seahawks pick up that option. They have until May 1 to make that decision.

So should the Seahawks do that? Here’s what former NFL quarterback Brock Huard said during Wednesday’s Brock and Salk on Seattle Sports 710 AM.

“Yeah, you’re gonna do that. If that number was $18 million or $20 million, or if he played a different position, maybe it’s a different conversation,” Huard said. “But no, you’re going to pick that up.”

What will be interesting to watch with Brooks next season is that he tore his ACL in Week 16, so he may not be ready for the start of the 2023 season. Due to that injury and Cody Barton being a free agent, the Seahawks will really need to address that inside linebacker spot in their 3-4 defense this offseason. Even if the Seahawks use the draft and free agency to bolster that position group, they should still pick up Brooks’ option, Huard said.

“Even if – and they should – take a linebacker in the first two rounds, a difference-making thumper that can run and hit and is unique, and I sure hope that there’s someone available in the first two rounds that checks that box – and even if they do sign Lavonte David or Jermaine Pratt – there’s a number of veteran linebackers on the market – no, you’re still, to me, picking up that option,” he said.

Huard was especially impressed by Brooks this past season, in large part because of the lack of support around him. That put a lot on Brooks’ plate in his first year as the Seahawks’ defensive play-caller on the field.

“He had to do it through absolute chaos in about the worst-case scenario this year with a D-line that couldn’t protect him and couldn’t cover him and the wash is constantly in his face,” he said. “So no, I’m picking that Jordyn Brooks option up and at $12 million with the cap growing, that’s a palatable number.”

Listen to the full second hour of Wednesday’s Brock and Salk at this link or in the player below.

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