When Ethan Pocic took over as a starter at guard in 2017 while Luke Joeckel was recovering from knee surgery, many fans of the Seattle Seahawks quickly fell in love with his technically sound play, even if he was a little overmatched against NFL defenders. The thought was that it would simply be a matter of spending some time in the weight room and bulking up, and Pocic could step in as either a guard or center for the team for the foreseeable future.
Following a rookie campaign in which he played 638 offensive snaps for the Hawks, the hopes were high during the offseason prior to the 2018 season.