Schneider: Eskridge gets ‘fresh start’ with new Seahawks staff

The Seattle Seahawks have moved on from some notable players this offseason, but one who is coming back is receiver Dee Eskridge, which may come as a surprise to some.

Seattle Seahawks’ Schneider: How Williams’ deal impacted Brooks leaving

Eskridge, the team’s second-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, was selected to be a clear No. 3 receiving option behind DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, but that never materialized due to injuries, inconsistencies and even an offseason suspension last year. For his career, Eskridge has just 17 catches for 122 yards and one score.

Last year, the Seahawks drafted receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba 20th overall and he is now a clear top-three option for the Seahawks’ passing attack. Eskridge, meanwhile, played only four games last year and didn’t catch a single pass.

It seemed like Eskridge wasn’t going to be in the Seahawks’ plans moving forward, but it appears he will be as the two sides restructured Eskridge’s contract this week.

During his weekly Seattle Sports Show, Seahawks general manager John Schneider explained what the team sees in Eskridge and why he’s returning to the Hawks in 2024.

“We want to give Dee a fresh start, second chance,” Schneider said.

That second chance is because the Seahawks have a new coaching staff.

Pete Carroll is no longer the team’s head coach, and instead Mike Macdonald is running the team, and he brought an entirely new offensive coaching staff to Seattle.

“If our coaching staff would have been here same as last year, we would have probably said, ‘Hey Dee, it’s probably a good time for you to get a fresh start somewhere else,'” Schneider said. “But everybody in the building loves him and there’s a new staff here now, so we just told him like, ‘Let’s try this fresh again.'”

As for what Eskridge brings to the table, Schneider said he can be a play-maker.

“What he gives you is an extremely explosive player with the ball in his hands. It’s something where it clicks for people at certain times, and we want to give him the opportunity to make that happen here,” Schneider said. “The staff, the guys that evaluated him were very intrigued, this new staff is very intrigued with his past with the college play. He was a very highly thought a player coming out of college. We just want to give him another shot, and we didn’t want to be anywhere else, so we were able to restructure his contract and get him back here and hopefully he takes the ball and runs with it.”

Listen to the full John Schneider Show at this link or in the player near the top of this story.

What are Seattle Seahawks doing in free agency? 3 possible explanations

Follow @TheBGustafson