Seahawks Send Right Message Bypassing Tender, Extending Poona Ford
With the clock quickly ticking down to Wednesday's deadline, the Seahawks easily could have just slapped a second-round qualifying offer on Poona Ford. After all, doing so would have granted the young defensive tackle a much-deserved raise to north of $3 million.
But Ford isn't a typical restricted free agent. Going undrafted out of Texas in large part due to concerns about lack of height, he has made it his personal mission to prove critics wrong ever since the first time he stepped foot on the practice field at the VMAC, playing with relentless effort and unrivaled passion every single drill and every single snap. He loves the game of football and his teammates, Seattle's coaching staff, and the front office love him for it.
Keeping that in mind, while placing a tender on Ford remained a last-resort to ensure he would be under contract in 2021, the Seahawks wanted to avoid that outcome. General manager John Schneider can be stingy in free agency, but he rewards players who have earned multi-year contracts, particularly ones who traveled the undrafted route.
Much like Russell Wilson under center, the ascending 25-year old Ford has become a poster child for what it means to be a successful Seahawk, exemplifying everything the organization stands for. Using his perceived slights as fuel, he plays to the whistle every single snap and he's a workhorse, as illustrated by the fact he played at least 40 snaps in 12 games last season.
Extremely quiet off the field, Ford's actions in a helmet and shoulder pads are as loud as the 12s on a game day at Lumen Field. Just as Wilson broke down barriers for "short" quarterbacks with one of the game's best deep balls and mobility extending plays, the 5-foot-11, 300-pound defender wins at the line of scrimmage with elite quickness off the snap to penetrate gaps and stellar hand technique to shed blockers. Being short has perks, too, as he naturally wins the leverage battle in the trenches.
Combining his quickness and technique with his unmatched work ethic, Ford wasted little time leaving a positive impression upon his arrival in Seattle. After making the team out of training camp as a rookie, he quickly took snaps away from once-promising third-round pick Naz Jones and eventually found his way into the starting lineup in December. Over the final five games, he produced 17 tackles, three tackles for loss, and a quarterback hit.
With "always compete" as a pillar in his philosophy, coach Pete Carroll doesn't just hand out starting jobs. They have to be earned. But before the Seahawks reported for training camp prior to the 2019 season, he penciled Ford into the lineup alongside Jarran Reed anyway and he wound up starting 15 games, producing 21 tackles, five tackles for loss, and three quarterback hits.
During his first two seasons, Ford stacked up favorably against the NFL's best defensive tackles as a run defender. Pro Football Focus gave him an elite 91.5 run defense grade as a rookie in 2018, which ranked fifth among players at the position with at least 215 snaps. While he didn't quite reach those same heights in 2019, he still finished with a respectable 77.7 grade, finishing 13th out of 74 qualified defensive tackles.
Where Ford has yet to emerge, however, was as an interior pass rusher. Despite his obvious athleticism and penetrating ability, he produced 19 total pressures and a single sack in his first two seasons while primarily being used on early downs. In 2019, while logging 320 pass defense snaps, he received a pedestrian 51.9 grade from PFF, which ranked 72nd out of 74 defensive tackles.
But as he approached restricted free agency, though he only had 2.0 sacks, Ford took a giant leap forward in the pass rushing department in 2020. Thanks to Bryan Mone taking the bulk of the snaps at nose tackle, he was able to slide out to a 3-tech role and thrived, setting a new career-high with 28 quarterback pressures. 18 of those came in the second half of the season as he played an integral role in Seattle's historic defensive turnaround.
In addition to his much-improved production as a rusher, Ford remained stout against the run, registering a career-high 40 tackles and eight tackles for loss. At the end of the season, Pro Football Focus gave him the sixth-highest overall grade (81.9) among defensive tackles with at least 600 snaps, finishing behind the likes of established stars Aaron Donald, Cam Heyward, Chris Jones, and DeForest Buckner. That's elite company.
Coming off a breakout season, the Seahawks expect Ford to continue elevating his game in 2021, particularly when it comes to harassing opposing quarterbacks. In what should be a surprise to nobody who knows the player, Ford obviously believes this as well, as indicated by a recent tweet that reads, "I ain't even in my prime yet."
For that reason alone, Schneider understandably had no reservations about making a multi-year investment in Ford. He's earned every single cent of the $4.4 million he will make in 2021 and unlike a tender, his new contract allows the opportunity for him to earn significantly more money with incentives in 2022. In total, he could receive up to $14 million over the next two years, which is still a reasonable price for Seattle to pay.
With the NFL currently dealing with the financial windfall resulting from fan-less stadiums last season due to COVID-19, the contract also sets Ford up for the chance to hit free agency in the midst of his prime when the salary cap is expected to skyrocket due to a looming television deal. When his deal expires, he will be 27 years old and could be one of the most coveted defensive linemen on the market.
It's truly a win-win situation for both Ford and the Seahawks. After spending the past three years transforming himself into a top-10 defensive tackle, the player has no issue betting on himself to make maximum money over the next two years. Meanwhile, the franchise keeps one of its best, most popular young players in the fold through at least 2022 without breaking the bank.
