The Seattle Seahawks had their reasons for trading away defensive stalwart Michael Bennett to the Philadelphia Eagles. Just a day after the deal was made, those reasons are now starting to trickle out.
According to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, Bennett was apparently causing a lot of problems for Seahawks coaches last season.
“We’ll have more on the Michael Bennett trade later in the column, but I wanted to address first what the Eagles are getting from the Seahawks: A player who isn’t quite what he was and picked his spots more than he has in the past, according to the three offensive coaches I asked about him. He was also a pain in the ass for the Seattle coaches. The good news? With the depth of the Eagles defensive line, Bennett will be more of a spot player there, and Philly’s locker room, on paper, is a good fit.”
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows about Bennett’s personality that he can be a handful to deal with. He’s a strong-willed, outspoken individual who will not back down to anyone, even his own coaches.
If he continued to consistently produce on the field, the Seahawks might have been a bit more willing to tolerate that sort of behavior. But now that he’s slowing down a bit in his 30s, Seattle probably didn’t feel it was worth putting up with his grating personality and that likely factored in their decision to trade him away.
Despite those concerns, the Eagles obviously feel Bennett is still worth bringing on. He’s not required to be a big-time player for them given their depth on the defensive line, which could help maximize his effectiveness. Meanwhile, the Eagles likely feel their locker room culture is strong enough to keep him in line.
And if the Eagles coaching staff feels the way the Seahawks did, they can just cut Bennett with no dead money after the season. All those factors likely made his acquisition worth the risk for the champs.
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