Seahawks re-sign key DL Ahtyba Rubin for 3 years
The Seattle Seahawks kept one of their priority in-house free agents in DT Ahtyba Rubin, who started all 16 games in 2015…
The Seattle Seahawks are working their best to ‘keep the band together’ and starting off free agency by re-signing DT Ahtyba Rubin to a three-year contract worth $4 million annually.
In this market, it’s a small price to pay to keep one of the league’s top rush defenses in-tact, and the 29-year old Rubin figures to play some of the best years of his career on this particular contract, though the statistics won’t do his impact justice.
Good hustle by Ahtyba Rubin https://t.co/fOGrt4uBg7
— IDthe22 (@idthe22) January 21, 2016
Rubin isn’t a sack artist from the defensive interior, but he’s an athletic 330 pound player that has provided the Seahawks with stability on the inside next to Brandon Mebane.
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How has Seattle been able to maintain its high level of play defensively now going on four years? They have been able to keep these guys together, largely. Though there have been hiccups with some players holding out (Kam Chancellor) or guys who have been hurt for periods of time, keeping players like Rubin is key to the success of this defense because if you can stop the run, you can force teams to have to try and pass against this vaunted Seattle secondary.
Seahawks defensive coordinator Kris Richard said this about Rubin:
“With our defense, it absolutely starts up front. The four guys that we put down there, they put their hands in the dirt, and they absolutely know what their responsibility is. And he’s been a staple for us right there. Right there in the middle. Darn near playing every snap. He plays a lot of reps for us, and he does a fantastic job of being stout.”
Pete Carroll cited Rubin’s consistency as one of the reasons he was prioritized as an in-house free agent, and the Seahawks got him back on a pretty team-friendly deal.