DANNY AND GALLANT

Huard: Why a Seahawks-Michael Bennett reunion isn’t a fit

Feb 11, 2020, 2:01 PM

Seahawks Michael Bennett...

Seattle needs pass rush help and former Seahawks DE Michael Bennett is a free agent. (Getty)

(Getty)

The Seahawks need help at pass rush, so why not bring back someone who thrived under Pete Carroll’s system in defensive end Michael Bennett, who is an unrestricted free agent?

Seahawks free agent profiles: Will Lynch or Prosise return in 2020?

Jim Moore of 710 ESPN Seattle’s Bob, Dave and Moore floated the idea in a recent column, and Bennett even retweeted the story, prompting speculation that he would be open to returning to the team where he made three Pro Bowls and won a Super Bowl.

But should the Seahawks actually look at a reunion with the now-34-year-old Bennett, who played for Seattle from 2013 to 2017?

Brock Huard joined 710 ESPN Seattle’s Danny and Gallant and said the team would be better served bringing in someone else to help fix the team’s pass rush woes.

“Young, hungry and fast,” Huard said. “Is he young? No. Is he going to be just as hungry? Maybe for his own sacks. Is he fast? No. So I think he doesn’t check any of those boxes for me.”

Though Huard doesn’t think Bennett should return, if he did sign with the Seahawks, Huard thinks Bennett could still be an impact player.

“He is a bit unique because he does know the system (and) because he’s still super savvy,” Huard said. “He was never fast and yet he was still a very disruptive player, but at this stage of the game, I don’t think I go down that road.”

Earlier in Tuesday’s Danny and Gallant show, O’Neil said that Bennett was never a big locker room problem like some portrayed him to be. Huard agreed, but said there’s another issue that could impact Bennett’s mood.

“With his teammates, especially, he was never really a problem. It was a problem if it didn’t go well for Michael,” Huard said. “And the good news for him for all those years was he played on a good defense, he got his numbers, dude was productive and he got his money.”

If Bennett came back to Seattle, he wouldn’t get the salary he commanded a few years ago and he wouldn’t be playing with elite players like he did during the team’s Legion of Boom era.

“He’s not going to have, depending what (the Seahawks) do this offseason nearly as dominant a defense around him and you need more just dominant dudes,” Huard said.

Huard was a sideline reporter for the Houston Roughnecks-L.A. Wildcats game in the XFL’s inaugural weekend and said those players showed a hunger to help a team that someone more proven like Bennett may not have anymore.

“They are trying so hard to just get a bite of that apple and at this stage at 34 I don’t necessarily see that as a fit,” Huard said. “He just wants his own, which is great … He knows as a veteran guy, ‘I’ve got to produce to stay in this league because the minute I don’t produce they’re going to look at 34 with a rather beat up body … and say they want the 24-year-old guy, not the 34-year old guy … (so) I’ve got to get what’s mine.’ I just don’t think that’s exactly what this defense needs.”

Listen to Huard at this link or in the player below.

Follow 710 ESPN Seattle’s Brock Huard on Twitter.

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