Why K.J. Wright remains jobless is truly mind-boggling; it really is. For teams now steamrolling towards voluntary workouts and training camp, a veteran leader approaching a decade worth of experience within the nucleus of a defense isn’t a dime a dozen. 

With offenses constantly altering and progressing towards modern concepts to take advantage of slower, lumbering athletes on the defensive side of the football, Wright has stayed consistent to the tune of 32 consecutive starts over the past couple of seasons serving as the anchor in a now-underperforming Seattle defense. 

After consecutive dominant seasons within the Seahawks’ second-level, Wright now finds himself in an unfamiliar spot this late in the spring. For a team in need of immediate pop production, it doesn’t get much better than the Super Bowl champion in Wright. He brings over 140 games of NFL experience, nearly 1,000 career tackles, and leadership simply unmatched arguably from any linebacker in all of football into a facility in desperate need of such.

With the draft now over, and free agency nearing its docking, here are three teams that could be a fit for Wright, a talent far from the end of his career who could prove to be the steal of late-cycle acquisitions if given the ideal opportunity. 

Philadelphia Eagles

Who else, right? The Philadelphia Eagles have arguably the worst linebacking unit in all football, and I don’t think many would dispute the statement. A group touting the likes of Alex Singleton, Shaun Bradley, and Eric Wilson is not an NFL-caliber group. General manager Howie Roseman failed to address the position in free agency and the draft, leaving the Eagles completely inept at a position new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon will ask to be active in multiple facets of his defensive scheme. 

Wright’s addition would in no way fix the unit and solve its lack of talent as a whole, but it surely would help in a big, big way. A stalwart in the run game behind an above-average defensive line could be an intriguing spot for Wright who’s one of the league’s best in sliding from gap to gap to wrangle down ball carriers. Additionally, his leadership and veteran prowess could be a priceless addition to an unproven group. 

Although Wright could be looking to win right away—which would ultimately draw him away from the Eagles—the scheme fit with the opportunity to produce serving as the main attraction, Philadelphia could represent an appropriate match.

Green Bay Packers

The switch to the Green Bay Packers’ odd front would require a small transitional period, but for a 10-year vet in Wright, it wouldn’t require an astronomical transformation in his fundamental skill set for him to see production. Within one of the more promising defensive units in football, Wright would be able to step in right away to fill the losses of Blake Martinez and Kyler Fackrell from a couple of seasons ago; two linebackers general manager Brian Gutekunst has failed to replace since their departure. With Wright working adjacent to Krys Barnes, the nucleus of defensive coordinator Joe Barry’s unit would be solidified, rounding out a rather impressive unit on paper considering the backend talent in Jaire Alexander, and versatile players up front in Kenny Clark, Preston Smith, and Za’Darius Smith.

Indianapolis Colts

The Indianapolis Colts failed to address the loss of Anthony Walker in free agency and the draft, and maybe that’s a sign of head coach Frank Reich’s optimism towards Matthew Adams or E.J. Speed, but for a team that only deploys three linebackers a quarter of the time, Wright wouldn’t be tasked with playing over 70% of the snaps, a mark he’s reached in nine of his 10 seasons. Pairing him with an All-Pro talent in Darius Leonard, similar to his work adjacent to Bobby Wagner in Seattle, could provide a stellar duo in the middle for a team with major expectations entering the 2021 campaign.