John Schneider and Pete Carroll were quick to highlight Ethan Pocic’s versatility and ability to play multiple positions. This is already being construed as a negative by some of the media. ‘Why can’t they just put a guy in a position and keep him there‘. It’s a legit question to ask overall — but arguably not so with Pocic.

The Seahawks are facing a bit of a dilemma over the next 12 months. Justin Britt played very well at center in 2016 and there’s no reason to suspect we’ll see any regression this year.

In free agency the O-line market exploded. It wasn’t a big surprise to see Kevin Zeitler get a five-year, $60m contract. What followed, however, was a shock:

Russell Okung — four years, $53m

Matt Kalil — five years, $55m

Ricky Wagner — five years, $47.5m

Andrew Whitworth — three years, $36m

T.J. Lang — three years, $28.5m

Kelvin Beachum — three years, $24m

Larry Warford — four years, $34m

Ronald Leary — four years, $35m

Mike Remmers — five years, $30m

Such is the desperation for even average O-line play, the NFL emptied their wallets in a mad rush of OTT spending.

What did Kelvin Beachum do in his one year with the Jaguars to justify $8m a year? Has Matt Kalil ever looked like an $11m a year left tackle?

Much of this was provoked by a mediocre O-line draft short on solutions. However, there’s nothing to suggest 2018 will be much better. There isn’t a cluster of top-notch O-liners ready to turn pro. Next years spending could be very similar.

For that reason, it pays for the Seahawks to be prepared to lose Britt.

If he has two solid years as a starting center, it’s not improbable someone will be willing to pay him at least $8-10m a year. The Seahawks are very clinical in how they view the value of their own players. They’ve let others walk for less in the past.

They also face a difficult cap situation. According to Spotrac, they’re projected to have $28.5m in free cap next year. They can save another $11m by cutting Jeremy Lane and Jermaine Kearse — but how much of that free room is going to be used to keep Kam Chancellor and Jimmy Graham?

If you take $8-10m off the board to keep Britt, you probably aren’t re-signing Chancellor and Graham together.

There are other players to consider too. If Luke Joeckel delivers on the potential that made him the #2 overall pick in 2013, wouldn’t you want to re-sign him? What about if Eddie Lacy has a big year? Or Bradley McDougald?

There are multiple players on this roster competing for a payday in 2018.

This doesn’t mean Britt is definitely going to leave. If he has a fantastic 2017 season an $8-10m contract could be justified. He might hit the market and find his value is in the $6m range — and that’s totally affordable.

But it’s not the worst idea in the world to have a contingency plan. By drafting Pocic they essentially have a player who could start at guard or tackle in 2017 and be your center of the future by 2018.

If you re-sign Britt, he stays at tackle or guard.

The benefits are obvious. You aren’t desperately searching for a new center in 2018 and facing the prospect of having to start a rookie. You can start someone with intimate knowledge of Seattle’s scheme.

In this instance — it seems like Pocic’s versatility isn’t just a case of being able to move him up and down the line. It’s a case of being prepared for all eventualities with Britt.

Let’s get into Pocic on the field. I watched three games over the last couple of days — Alabama, Missouri and Auburn.

Here are my notes:

— According to PFF, Pocic hasn’t given up a sack or a QB hit since 11/7/2015 (16 consecutive games). He’s a controlled, balanced blocker and his best aspect is his hand use. It’s really top notch. When he locks on to a block, you rarely see a defensive lineman disengage. He locks his hands inside with ideal placement and executes time and time again.

— Because his hand-technique is so adept, he’s quite a ‘subtle but successful’ blocker in the run game. He’ll turn and control the defender and open up running lanes. He has the hip-torque to manoeuvre defensive linemen when engaged and even against bigger, stronger nose tackles he had success opening up lanes right at the heart of the LOS. Many of LSU’s best runs for both Leonard Fournette and Derrius Guice came right up the gut.

— LSU pulled the center fairly regularly, something you don’t often see. Pocic shows good mobility and patience, managing to get to the second level relatively comfortably. When he gets there he isn’t Garett Bolles. He’s not burying linebackers and safety’s — but he’ll wait for his block to develop and execute. If the Seahawks want to get him on the move at the next level as a pulling guard, he can do it.

— Against Auburn, LSU actually pulled Pocic and had Fournette run behind him to the perimeter (using Pocic as a lead blocker). It’s to Pocic’s credit that he looked completely comfortable in this role.

— There were two issues that showed up regularly enough to mention. Against bigger nose tackles he can be pushed into the backfield. When he has to plant his feet and drop the anchor he can struggle. He doesn’t have the greatest power base in his lower body and it’s an area where he can improve. His height doesn’t help and he will lose leverage from time to time. Montravius Adams had a couple of big wins vs Pocic for Auburn, so did the Missouri interior D-line.

— It’s not a lost cause situation — on a couple of occasions he handled Missouri’s massive nose tackle Josh Augusta (who signed with the Patriots as an UDFA) with great hand placement and hip torque to turn the defender out of the play (leading to big runs for Derrius Guice). With a bit of extra strength in the lower and upper body he can make improvements here. Better to need to work on core strength than teach hand placement and technique from scratch.

— The second problem came against elite get-off. He can be a step slow off the snap at times and if a defender can guess the snap-count or just burst off the LOS he has a hard time recovering even with a guard lined up either side of him. This could be an issue if he ends up moving out to tackle.

— I was expecting a bad performance against Alabama because for the second year in a row LSU were completely shut down in the run game. Leonard Fournette only really had two unproductive games in his college career, both because Alabama’s D-line mercilessly dominated LSU’s O-line for four quarters. Upon reflection, the production probably had more to do with a lack of respect for LSU’s passing game than anything the blockers did wrong up front. Pocic certainly didn’t have a bad game. There were multiple occasions where he played beyond the whistle, blocking down and showed a nasty streak. LSU’s handful of good runs in the game came running behind Pocic at center. He wasn’t shoved back once against ‘Bama which was a contrast to the Missouri/Auburn games. This was a positive performance against the best D-line rotation in college football.

— If anyone was wondering if the Seahawks will be adjusting their scheme any time soon — think again. LSU ran a very clear ZBS and Pocic is the definition of a zone blocker. He’s better in space, he’s more mobile/agile than physical/big and he’s a technique blocker. He’s not a mauler.

— We spent a lot of time talking about explosive traits (and with good reason based on Seattle’s recent drafts). Pocic scored a 2.81 in TEF which was good enough to crack the top 10 for explosive traits this year but it’s quite a bit lower than their previous draft picks. It might not signal a sea change in philosophy but it perhaps suggests they needed this type of skill set on their O-line.

— It’s believed they were interested in Ryan Kelly a year ago. His TEF score was very similar to Pocic’s (2.84) and he too was a very technically sound blocker. He’s perhaps a little less scheme-dependant (Kelly could play man or zone, Pocic looks like a pure zone) but it’s possible Seattle has been looking for this type of technical, athletic, agile blocker. It’s perhaps indicative of how raw they feel they’ve been in recent years — taking very inexperienced, physically superior projects and trying to coach them up. Pocic is much more polished.

— Pocic’s vertical jump and broad jump are very similar to Alex Mack’s.

— For some time now Seahawks fans have been asking for this type of player to be picked. If you wanted them to focus on a technically gifted blocker who will carry less of a learning curve but maybe isn’t quite as explosive or with a ridiculous ceiling, you’re getting your wish. Pocic isn’t going to be Lane Johnson at the next level. He might be a more athletic Max Unger.

— What is his best position? It’s hard to say. He has the agility and footwork plus the hands to potentially play tackle. You do worry how he’ll cope against the elite EDGE rushers of the NFL, especially if they can combine a great get-off with an effective bull rush. As an interior player he does a good job opening up subtle running lanes and he seems very comfortable working inside. Guard for 2017 and possibly center for the long term would be my early projection.

A quick note to finish — Seattle’s most expensive UDFA was Purdue offensive lineman Jordan Roos:

#49ers, #Eagles among big spenders in UDFA. Guarantees include $45,000 for KD Cannon. (Note: Not a complete list. May include offsets.) pic.twitter.com/SYVapDO49O — Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) May 1, 2017

Carroll and Schneider spoke very highly of Roos immediately after the draft, stating he had a draftable grade.

He scored a 3.38 in TEF so there’s a lot of athletic potential here. He would’ve been the most explosive O-liner at the combine (topping Forrest Lamp’s 3.23). His score is so high because of a terrific performance in the bench press at his pro-day:

See for yourself Jordan Roos's 41 reps today on the bench press at Pro Day. #BoilerUp https://t.co/NwMvvMKiKc — Purdue Football (@BoilerFootball) March 7, 2017

But perhaps the most interesting thing about Roos is the way his appearance changed so dramatically during his time at Purdue:

Carroll and Schneider were very positive about his potential. He’s a name to watch in camp. Seattle might lack a big name, top of the range left tackle. They have a lot of solid competition on their O-line overall though.

Tomorrow I’m going to write-up Malik McDowell and Nazair Jones.

Here’s a nice video breaking down what Pocic does well: