The Seahawks All-Value Team for 2017
By Ben Renner
9. Oday Aboushi, OG
Oday Aboushi‘s path to playing time on Tom Cable’s offensive line goes through Germain Ifedi, Mark Glowinski, Rees Odhiambo, and Luke Joeckel, who will be competing for both guard spots in Training Camp.
For the most part, Aboushi is a typical Seahawks reclamation project at offensive line: a decent run blocker but a mediocre pass blocker. Two of the players listed above will likely start for Cable and Carroll Week One at Green Bay, the other two could be starters by the end of the year. If Aboushi can hold down a guard position for a long stretch of time, his one-year, $975k contract will pay a handsome profit for the Seahawks.
There’s no reason to think Aboushi has a worse shot at making the Seahawks starting lineup than most of the other competitors for a guard position. He has18 games of experience starting at guard, which puts him ahead of most of his Training Camp rivals.
8. Quinton Jefferson, DT
Quinton Jefferson missed all but three games last season due to a knee injury that put him on Injured Reserve. A fifth-round pick in 2016, Jefferson is entering his second year of his rookie deal worth a total of $2.5 million.
If Jefferson comes back healthy and simply makes the team out of Training Camp, as he is expected to do, getting into the rotation at defensive tackle could make him a nifty asset on defense. He’ll have to compete against rookie Nazair Jones for snaps, but Carroll and company liked what they saw of him in limited action last year, for what it’s worth. Jefferson could prove himself again in Training Camp this year and become the valuable run-stuffer/interior gap controller the Seahawks need their interior linemen to be.
Unfortunately, Jefferson may not return in time from his pesky knee injury to see much action in Training Camp. Hopefully he can get some useful reps in during Preseason.