After Nwosu deal, is time right for Seahawks to bring back Harris?
Jul 25, 2023, 9:25 AM | Updated: 11:01 am
Shelby Harris of the Seattle Seahawks reacts against the Denver Broncos at Lumen Field on September 12, 2022. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
(Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
The Seattle Seahawks took care of a big piece of business on Monday, inking edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu to a three-year extension.
Seattle Seahawks sign Uchenna Nwosu to 3-year extension
Nwosu, 26, shined in his first year in Seattle, recording 9.5 sacks off the edge. He’d spent the first four years of his career in Los Angeles with the Chargers before signing a two-year free-agent deal with the Seahawks last offseason.
Nwosu’s deal is an extension that keeps him in Seattle through 2026 and pays him up to $59 million.
What it also does is free up some cap space for the upcoming 2023 season.
So with even more salary cap room, what could the Seahawks do? Some have thought that a reunion with veteran defensive lineman Shelby Harris could be in the cards. Harris, 31, is 6 foot 2 and 290 pounds. He was part of the Russell Wilson trade last offseason and was released earlier this offseason after recording two sacks and five tackles for loss in 2022.
While Harris could certainly come back to the Seahawks, former NFL quarterback Brock Huard would like to see the team spend that money in a different way.
“I like Shelby and he certainly flashed at times some playmaking ability, but he feels redundant to Jarran and Dre. That would feel like a lot of those two guys,” Huard said on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk on Tuesday.
Jarran is, of course, Jarran Reed while Dre is Dre Jones. Both are defensive linemen who signed with the Seahawks in free agency this offseason. Reed is listed by the Seahawks as 6-3 and 306 pounds while Jones is 6-3 and 281 pounds. Reed played in Seattle for five years from 2016 to 2020 while Jones signed a lucrative three-year deal at the start of free agency.
“You went out and you targeted Dre Jones for a reason — he’s a much much younger Shelby Harris and a more athletic Shelby Harris,” Huard said. “You brought in Jarran Reed who is of similar ilk, but I think even still younger than Shelby, but a similar kind of skill set.”
Huard thinks the Seahawks will make a move on defense at some point, but likely not for another few weeks.
“I think if you’re going to make a move here in August once you figure out what you have and what you don’t have, and once the rest of the league figures out what they don’t have and what they do have on their rosters and you see those trades inevitably happen — which happen every year with the Seahawks near the end of training camp — I think it will be for a different body type than Shelby Harris,” Huard said. “A bigger, thicker plugger stronger and hopefully somebody that’s done it at some point in their career at a fairly high level.”
Catch every edition of Brock and Salk at this link.
