Seahawks Re-Sign Special Teams Ace Nick Bellore

Though he's played sparingly on offense over the past two seasons, Bellore has been invaluable in the third phase of the game and after making his first Pro Bowl in 2020, he will return to the Seahawks in 2021.

Coming off the best season of his NFL career, veteran fullback Nick Bellore will be returning to the Seahawks in 2021.

According to Mike Renner of Pro Football Focus and as confirmed by multiple sources, Bellore has agreed to terms with Seattle on a two-year contract. Financial terms have yet to be disclosed.

Bellore, who will turn 32 in May, has spent the past two seasons with the Seahawks, primarily seeing action on special teams. He finished tied for eight in the NFL with nine tackles on punt and kick coverage and Pro Football Focus gave him an elite 90.2 special teams grade, the fifth-best among qualified players. As a result of his consistently stellar play for one of the best special teams units in the NFL, he was selected to the Pro Bowl for the first time.

Though he has only played 64 combined snaps on offense and has touched the football a grand total of four times with Seattle, Bellore drew plenty of praise in November from former offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, who lauded him for his versatility being able to play fullback, tight end, and even running back if needed.

"He's such a luxury to have because you know he's going to be prepared, you know he's going to know what to do," Schottenheimer said. "And so for people to be taking notice of that, how hard he works, the way he impacts the game on special teams, the way he actually impacts the game for us when he's out there on some of those third down situations, it's very cool to see the rest of the league taking notice of that. I'm very happy for him."

Previously starting 10 games as a linebacker for the 49ers back in 2016, he offers rare versatility as a player who has seen extensive action on both sides of the football as well as special teams. Those defensive skills translate quite well to kick and punt coverage, making him far more valuable for the Seahawks to re-sign than his statistics and lack of offensive play time would indicate.

Heading into 2021, it remains unknown whether Bellore will see any action on offense with a new coordinator in Shane Waldron coming to Seattle. If Waldron installs a scheme similar to the one the Rams ran when he was passing game coordinator, the team will rarely, if ever, employ 21 or 22 personnel with multiple backs in the backfield, instead preferring single back looks.

Nonetheless, Bellore isn't being brought back by the Seahawks for his offensive contributions. As long as he continues to play at a high level in the third phase of the game and provide a strong locker room presence, any snaps provided as a fullback or an H-back in Waldron's offense will be a cherry on top.