Former Seahawk DT Poona Ford signs with Bills
The Seattle chapter of one of the more popular players in the team’s recent history — defensive tackle Poona Ford — is over.
Ford, instead, is now a member of the Buffalo Bills, signing a one-year deal with the team Tuesday, the Bills announced. Financial details were not immediately available.
The move was not unexpected as Ford had an earlier visit with Buffalo after becoming an unrestricted free agent March 15.
Seattle coach Pete Carroll, though, had said as recently as Saturday, following the NFL draft, that the Seahawks hoped to get him back.
“He’s one of our guys,” Carroll said, referring to Ford and Al Woods. “So we would love to see those guys come back.”
But the writing for Ford moving on seemed on the wall from the minute the 2022 season ended.
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Ford made the team as an undrafted free agent out of Texas in 2018 and quickly became a popular presence in the locker room and with fans due in part to his unique stature (measuring 5-11, 310 pounds) and playful, if quiet, nature.
But after four solid seasons with Seattle, he didn’t appear to benefit from the team’s switch to a 3-4 last season, which had him playing more as an end instead of nose tackle.
“We probably overplayed him,” Carroll said in January. “We would have liked him to rotate more. I really like him playing over the center, playing nose. It’s kind of his home base. He played a lot of three-technique and five-technique for us which was pushing him to a spot that he is not as familiar with, but he busted his tail. He’s really instinctive always, but I think we wore him down quite a bit because he did have to play a lot.”
That showed up in his production. After making a career-high 53 tackles in 2021, Ford had 35 in 2022 (with his snaps also decreasing from 802 to 642). He also had his worst grade from Pro Football Focus at 56.2 after recording marks of 73 or better each of his first four years.
The 2022 season was the last on what was a two-year deal worth $12.3 million Ford signed before the 2021 season. His $10.075 cap hit in 2022 was the highest on the team.
That Ford agreed to sign with Buffalo was no coincidence as Tuesday marked the first day that free agents could sign and no longer count as part of the compensatory pick formula for 2024. Meaning, Buffalo does not have to worry about Ford’s signing counting against them.
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If it had seemed remote that Ford would return to Seattle, Tuesday’s news means the Seahawks will have to explore other options if they want to add veterans to their defensive front.
As Carroll said Saturday, Woods remains an option, and it appears Shelby Harris does, as well. Each was released by the Seahawks in salary-cap cutting moves after the season.
But the Seahawks have no real cap space to make any significant moves at the moment. Seattle is listed as having $4.6 million in cap space by OverTheCap.com.
But that’s before accounting for about $9.4 million in cap space that will be needed to fit in the team’s 10 draft picks — those players do not count fully against the cap until they sign their contracts.
The interior of the defensive line remains one of the team’s biggest questions. Or, at least, the depth up front does.
Seattle made significant free-agent moves to sign Dre’Mont Jones and Jarran Reed to man the two end spots.
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Seattle drafted Mike Morris out of Michigan to play end and Cameron Young out of Mississippi State to play nose tackle.
Seattle also has Myles Adams and Bryan Mone returning as nose tackles, though Mone is recovering from an ACL injury suffered in December. It remains unclear when he will be back.
Seattle has been reported to have agreed to sign five undrafted rookie free agents who are listed as either defensive ends or tackles — Jordan Ferguson of Middle Tennessee State and M.J. Anderson of Iowa State; and tackles Jonah Tavai of San Diego State, Ifeanyi Maijeh of Rutgers and Robert Cooper of Florida State.
The Seahawks will hold their rookie minicamp May 12-14, and signings of UDFAs might not be announced until shortly before then.
Source: The Seattle Times
