Ethan Pocic Officially Named Seahawks Starting Center

The healthiest he has been in years according to coach Pete Carroll, Pocic had an outstanding training camp and seemed to have control of the competition to replace Justin Britt from the outset.

With five days remaining until the season opener in Atlanta, the Seahawks have finally named their starting center, while a decision on who will start at right cornerback remains undecided.

Speaking with reporters on Monday, coach Pete Carroll announced fourth-year lineman Ethan Pocic will start at the pivot position against the Falcons, winning a three-way competition against B.J. Finney and Kyle Fuller.

"He had a great camp," Carroll said. "Ethan had offseason surgery on something that's been bothering him for a number of years, an athletic hernia thing he's been dealing with."

Entering the final year of his rookie contract, despite showing much promise in 11 starts as a rookie, many had written Pocic off after two injury-marred seasons. He opened the 2018 season as Seattle's starting left guard, but after spraining his ankle in Week 2, J.R. Sweezy replaced him and never relinquished the starting role. Then last season, he started the season opener at left guard before eventually landing on injured reserve twice, playing in just four games total.

Pocic's first landed on injured reserve with a back injury in Week 6 and was activated in late November. His second visit to injured reserve resulted from a sports hernia injury, which may be the one Carroll mentioned being corrected this offseason.

Back healthy, Pocic had the chance to play his natural position at center after primarily seeing action at both guard spots in his first three NFL seasons and capitalized on the opportunity. After opening training camp receiving the majority of first-team reps, he continued to distance himself from Finney and Fuller over the past few weeks in a competition that ultimately wasn't close.

As Carroll noted, Pocic's experience in Mike Solari's system proved advantageous without OTAs, minicamps, and preseason games and several new starters breaking into the lineup alongside him.

"All I can tell you is he did a great job in camp and looked terrific, was our most experienced guy with handling the whole system and all and it showed," Carroll continued. "So we're fired up to see him go."

While Carroll finally spilled the beans about who would be snapping to Russell Wilson to start the season, he remained non-committal on the right cornerback spot, indicating a decision had yet to be made on whether Tre Flowers or Quinton Dunbar would start opposite of Shaquill Griffin on Sunday.

Unlike the center competition, which proved to be very one-sided, neither Flowers nor Dunbar has been able to pull away.

Dunbar reported late for camp due to initial placement on the commissioner's exempt list and was slowly eased back into a full workload upon his arrival, preventing him from truly competing for playing time until the past few weeks. He also missed a few practices for a funeral, further limiting the number of snaps he had in camp.

As for Flowers, while he earned the majority of first-team reps last month and had a strong camp overall, he missed a practice with an ankle injury and Dunbar played well in his absence that day, closing the gap a bit.

Preparing to face off against a high-powered Falcons offensive attack with Matt Ryan under center and the duo of Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley on the outside, it's not surprising to see Carroll playing his cards close to his vest at this stage of the week. A true decision on a starter across from Griffin may not be revealed until the Seahawks take the field.