Drew Lock signs back. And the Seahawks have a new option at center. Or is it guard?

Drew Lock wants to play.

He also wants to return to Seattle, for what the Seahawks offered him.

Lock, the former Broncos starter and last season’s backup to Pro Bowl quarterback Geno Smith in Seattle, agreed to re-sign with the Seahawks Thursday. It’s a one-year deal with a $4 million base salary, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported. With incentives, Lock could earn up to $7.5 million.

To maximize those bonuses, the 26-year-old Lock will have to do something in 2023 he didn’t do in 2022.

Play.

Lock arrived this time last year in the Seahawks’ trade of Russell Wilson to Denver. Coach Pete Carroll gave Smith the first shot at starting in spring minicamps, because of the locker room’s respect and admiration for Smith’s previous three seasons backing up Wilson. Smith seized the job and never let go. Lock got COVID-19 the week of the second preseason game he was supposed to start in August, and that was his last, lost chance to start in 2022.

Smith went on to his first Pro Bowl season. He took every snap in the regular season then made the first playoff start of his 10-year career. He broke three of Wilson’s records for passing in a season.

Last week, the Seahawks rewarded him with a three-year, $75 million contract.

Lock told The News Tribune the day after Seattle’s season ended in a wild-card playoff loss at San Francisco in January he thought the Seahawks’ environment was “special.” He loved the coaching he got from offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and quarterbacks coach Dave Canales.

But, he told the TNT two months ago, “I want to play.”

Lock seemed a possibility to sign with Tampa Bay after the Buccaneers hired Canales to be their new offensive coordinator early this offseason.

But this week the Bucs signed former Cleveland first-overall pick Baker Mayfield to compete with Kyle Trask as the successor to retired Tom Brady as Tampa Bay’s quarterback.

A day after Mayfield made his choice, to the Bucs, Lock made his. Back to Seattle to give coach Pete Carroll and Waldron the continuity they said they wanted at quarterback.

Seahawks general manager John Schneider confirmed the deal for Lock Thursday afternoon on his regular radio show with KIRO AM in Seattle.

“What an awesome guy,” Schneider said to 710 ESPN Seattle. “Everything he’s been through. We talked about it a bunch, coming here, competing with Geno, getting COVID — really bad timing for him. Game 2 (of the preseason) was going to be his game against Chicago here, and then he got really sick. He still didn’t have his legs against Dallas (in the preseason finale). So just really excited. Really happy for him.”

A new center. Or a new guard?

The Seahawks signed fourth-year veteran Evan Brown to a one-year contract for their offensive line.

The deal reportedly includes a $1 million signing bonus and a $1.25 million base salary, for a salary-cap charge of $2.25 million. Brown, 26, could earn another $500,000.

Brown made 11 of his 12 starts last season for the Lions at right guard. He was primarily a center playing for Miami, the New York Giants, Cleveland and Detroit his first three NFL seasons.

The last two seasons Brown has made 12 starts at center and 12 starts at guard. He got his first extended playing time at center with the Lions in 2021 after veteran Frank Ragnow got a season-ending toe injury in October. Ragnow returned to play for Detroit last season.

Carroll said this month at the NFL’s scouting combine his team must “fix” the center position. The Seahawks have been burning through a series of one- and two-year trials at the anchor position of the offensive line pretty much since they traded Pro Bowl center Max Unger to New Orleans for tight end Jimmy Graham in 2015.

Last season’s center was Austin Blythe. He chose to retire following one season with and $4 million from Seattle.

The best way to fix center would be to draft a good one and have him under rookie contract for three seasons at minimal cost.

The Seahawks released veteran right guard Gabe Jackson last week to save $6.5 million against the salary cap for 2023. They re-signed right guard Phil Haynes to a one-year, $4 million deal. Jackson and Haynes alternated as starters at the position last year.

Brown’s experience at guard and center, and his short-term deal, keeps the Seahawks likely to draft a center with one of their 10 choices in next month’s NFL draft. Seattle has four of the first 52 selections and five of the first 83.