The Seattle Seahawks made their first big move to bolster their offensive line and appease quarterback Russell Wilson by acquiring veteran guard Gabe Jackson from the Las Vegas Raiders for a fifth-round draft pick, according to two people with knowledge of the deal.
The people spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday night on the condition of anonymity because the teams had not announced the trade.
The move to land a proven veteran for the offensive line will likely please Wilson after six weeks where his feelings about the organization have been clearly mixed.
Making some sort of move with the offensive line was already likely to be on Seattle’s wish list, but became a top priority when Wilson took frustrations public following the Super Bowl. While not calling out his current offensive line, Wilson made it clear on multiple occasions he had grown tired of being hit and sacked at his current pace.
Acquiring Jackson won’t solve all of the perceived offensive line problems, but it’s a significant step by general manager John Schneider and coach Pete Carroll in making Wilson happy.
Seattle needed a left guard following the retirement of Mike Iupati and the decision not to tender a contract to restricted free agent Jordan Simmons. While Jackson has primarily been a right guard in his career, he has played left guard in the past. The Seahawks believe both Jackson and Damien Lewis have the versatility to play either guard position.
The Raiders have traded away three players from their expensive offensive line this offseason, dealing right tackle Trent Brown to New England for a swap of 2022 draft picks, center Rodney Hudson and a seventh-round pick to Arizona for a third-rounder and now Jackson to the Seahawks. The moves saved the Raiders about $25 million on their 2021 salary cap.
Jackson was one of the longest-tenured Raiders, having been drafted in the third round in 2014. He has played 100 games over that span as a regular on the line. After missing time with injuries in both 2018 and ’19, Jackson was healthy last season and played all 16 games.
He committed just three penalties on the season and was credited with allowing only one sack, according to game-tracking data from SportsInfo Solutions.
Jackson is owed $9.6 million in each of the next two seasons with no money guaranteed.
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AP Pro Football Writer Josh Dubow contributed to this report.
