The Seattle Seahawks have reached a one-year deal to bring back guard Mike Iupati, a source confirmed to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler on Tuesday.
Iupati signed a one-year deal worth $2.75 million with Seattle last March in what was effectively a swap of left guards with the Arizona Cardinals, who replaced Iupati by signing J.R. Sweezy away from Seattle.
Iupati, who turns 33 on May 12, made 15 starts in the regular season, but he missed both the Seahawks’ playoff games with a neck injury.
The Seahawks added four offensive linemen in the first wave of free agency, signing right tackle Brandon Shell, center/guard B.J. Finney, guard Chance Warmack and swing tackle/tight end Cedric Ogbuehi. They let tackles George Fant (Jets) and Germain Ifedi (Bears) leave as unrestricted free agents.
Center Justin Britt is coming off a torn ACL and is scheduled to count $11.42 million against next year’s salary cap, making him a candidate to be released or restructured.
A first-round pick out of Idaho in 2010, Iupati, who has played left guard exclusively throughout his NFL career, spent his first five seasons with the San Francisco 49ers and his next four with Arizona. He was a first-team All-Pro in 2012 and made four straight Pro Bowls from 2012 to 2015.
Iupati’s time with the Cardinals was defined by injuries, as the veteran didn’t play a full 16-game schedule in any of his four seasons with the team.
He was limited to 10 games in 2018 while dealing with back and knee injuries. That followed a 2017 season in which Iupati missed the rest of the season after suffering a triceps injury in Week 1. He also missed one game in 2016 and three games in 2015, his first with the Cardinals.
When healthy, Iupati was consistent, starting all 39 games that he played after joining the Cardinals on a five-year deal worth $40 million in 2015, when he was widely considered the best offensive lineman on the free-agent market.
With Iupati returning to Seattle, the Seahawks have 11 remaining unrestricted free agents: DE Jadeveon Clowney, DE Ziggy Ansah, LB Mychal Kendricks, LB Dekoda Watson, CB Akeem King, RB Marshawn Lynch, RB Robert Turbin, RB C.J. Prosise, WR Josh Gordon, WR Jaron Brown and QB Geno Smith.
ESPN’s Brady Henderson contributed to this report.