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While the Seattle Seahawks‘ offensive line did seem to find a groove towards the end of last season and built themselves into a formidable group, they spent much of the beginning of the year as one of the NFL’s worst units. This was a major component to the Seahawks’ slow start, as quarterback Russell Wilson was found on the ground much more than any team would be comfortable with. Unfortunately for Seattle, they find themselves in a rather familiar position again at this point of the offseason.
Seattle lost two starters on their line from last season to free agency in J.R. Sweezy to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Russell Okung to the Denver Broncos. They also lost Alvin Bailey to the Cleveland Browns, who was listed as the second string for every offensive line position except center and was able to play some valuable time at left tackle when Okung was hurt. Backup center Lemuel Jeanpierre is also still on the market, but Patrick Lewis seems to be holding onto that spot barring any problems, making Jeanpierre someone Seattle can let walk unless they are able to bring him back for little money.
With the departures of some key components of their offensive line, Seattle brought in free agents J’Marcus Webb on a two-year deal and Bradley Sowell on a one-year deal. Webb is now the highest paid member on the Seahawks’ line and is expected to come in and play at either tackle position depending on if Seattle wants to keep Gary Gilliam at the right tackle spot. He started all 16 games for the Oakland Raiders at guard last season but was rated as one of the worst guards in football by Pro Football Focus, performing below average in both pass protection and run blocking.
Seattle can still look to free agency to build on the offensive line with Amini Silatolu still on the open market as well as center Stefen Wisniewski. Silatolu has had some injury problems in recent years, tearing his ACL in both 2013 and 2015, but he has the ability to at least compete for a starting role and add some much-needed depth to the line. Not to mention that at 6-foot-4 and 320 pounds, he’s another big body to bulk up the offensive front. Silatolu meet with the Seahawks a couple weeks ago. Wisniewski started all 16 games for the Jacksonville Jaguars last season at center, and could be a decent option to bring in to compete with Lewis for the starting center role. Seattle may be comfortable leaving Lewis there though, as he finished the season pretty strong. Both options would be relatively cheap.
Seattle also has the upcoming draft to look for some help on the offensive line where they have nine total picks, including four in the top 100 and two in both the third and forth rounds. Most mock drafts have Seattle taking either an offensive lineman or a defensive lineman with their first-round pick. Pete Carroll and John Schneider have proven their ability to draft well, so it will be interesting to see where they go.
The Seahawks saw some big strides made by their offensive front as the season went on last year, but there were also some glaring problems throughout the season. Seattle’s offensive line coach Tom Cable is one of the best in the NFL, but he will have his work cut out for him dealing with at least two new starters.
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