With two weeks of NFL free agency now in the books, I bet there are Twelves scratching their heads over the state of the Seattle Seahawk offensive line, leaving bloody scabs of frustration for concerned loved ones to see. I will be the first to admit that I’m surprised by the lack of movement at guard and center, given the needs.

The NFL offseason is fleeting. A week and a half ago, the Seattle Seahawks were free agency darlings in the eyes of SI journalist Albert Breer for the way they moved off of Geno Smith for Sam Darnold and essentially a third round pick. Fast forward to now, we have various analysts now calling them big time losers of the offseason because they signed Darnold and haven’t made big free agent moves to upgrade the offensive line for him.

“What is the plan in Seattle?”

“It seems like the Seahawks have no plan.”

Indeed. From an outsider perspective, it’s a fair take. For those close to the team, however, there is a nuanced perspective national media folks won’t spend time discussing. Nuance does not great headlines.

I don’t believe that the Seattle front office is the clueless mess that skeptics would have it. First of all, I didn’t think this year’s free agent crop of offensive lineman was that great. The only player I was really hoping for was former Altanta center Drew Dalman who quickly signed a massive contract with Chicago. Secondly, I think it is worth reminding frustrated fans that the draft appears to be promising for interior offensive linemen.

At the Senior Bowl, it was noted by many how intently GM John Schneider was studying offensive line drills. He was watching these guys like a hawk (intended pun). This should have been a big tell for what Seattle’s plan would be to address the offensive line this offseason.

With now two weeks into free agency and no real move to be made on the offensive line outside of adding a swing tackle, I am beginning to let go of expectations of what I thought this team would do, and I am embracing their process. There are talented players in this draft class who are going to fill needs on Seattle’s offensive line, and I am ready for them to come in.

When reality smacks you across the face, it is time to let go of expectations that you have held onto, and just accept what is. This ability to let go is beneficial for survival, and has been passed down to us through generations of strife.

When our forefathers were picking berries down by a riverbank, and a gigantic saber cat jumped out of the brush, grabbed one of their children, and ran off with it for an easy snack, our forefathers didn’t just stop producing more kids. Instead, they just got smarter about where to bring them around.

So, while I would have imagined that Seattle would have made former Viking center Garrett Bradbury their new center here, following Sam Darnold to the 206, I had to quickly pivot off of that. Likewise, when I also would have thought that Teven Jenkins possibly would have been signed last week to become the new starting left guard.

Neither of these moves happened. Bradbury was never brought in, and it is worth noting that Seahawk center Olu Oluwatimi has a similar 2004 PFF grade to his. Jenkins did visit, but left Seattle without a contract, and quickly signed elsewhere. It is obvious that Seattle was not as high on these players as many Seahawk fans had been, and I think the answer to this is now obvious.

Bradbury never lived up to the hype of his first round status in Minnesota, and Jenkins has a problematic injury history, and a questionable desire to play through pain. As desperate as we can be wanting to see Seattle make free agents moves to improve the offensive line, I don’t think we should hold it against them that they punted on either of these guys.

Seattle obviously sees prospects in this draft that they could land, and develop as long term answers rather than make spendy moves on free agents whose previous teams felt ready to move on from. Alternatively, it is also very possible that their new offensive coaches honestly like the potential of young players recently drafted, and they want to further develop them as starters.

Believe it or not, Anthony Bradford was actually one of the better zone run blocking guards in football last year, per Pro Football Focus. The problem was that with former coordinator Ryan Grubb, Seattle did not run the ball nearly enough, and he was not consistent enough as a pass blocker. If the new offensive line coaches can further unlock the potential of Bradford, he has the size and athletic profile to be a dominating run blocking guard in this league.

Additionally, last year’s third round pick Christian Haynes was one of the best pure zone blocking guards in all of college football in 2023, but he was little used by Grubb, and once Bradford was lost for the season after eleven games, he was leap frogged by six round pick Sataoa Laumea, who coaches could like, as well. There is a perception around the team that Grubb mishandled the development of Haynes, and this could be true. The interesting thing about Haynes is that he has a body type that could make for an intriguing candidate at center, if Seattle takes a guard early in the draft, and views Bradford as a starter at guard, as well.

But why am I bringing up all this zone blocking jargon, you ask? Well, Seattle is adopting a scheme that is largely reliant on zone blocking, and with that offensive linemen who are really good at getting to second level defenders, and creating elaborate running lanes for running backs are requirements to making the scheme go.

What does this mean most likely for Seattle and the offensive line moving forward this year?

They added Josh Jones as a veteran swing tackle, and I suspect that they will make one more modest veteran move on the offensive line prior to the draft that is now a month away. Like Jones, it will likely not be a move that gets many Twelves hopeful, but I suspect that the real big splash for the offensive line will happen in this draft, likely in round one or round two.

It is recently been estimated that there are 16 interior offensive line prospects in this draft that will be viewed as NFL starters. That’s a healthy number.

Some of them are college tackles who will convert to guards in the pros, and some might even convert to center. Dennison and Benton have long proven track records as NFL offensive line coaches who have converted college tackles into production interior offensive linemen.

It is very safe to say that in a month’s time, at least one of these 16 mastodons is going to be a Seattle Seahawk. It is possible that with Bradford and Haynes on this roster, that player will be our new starting center. It is also possible that the coaches will look to convert Haynes to center to make way for a talented rookie to play guard, as he has a good body type for the position.

Does this feel risky? Yes. Absolutely it does, but almost every move that Seattle has done this offseason has been a big calculated risk.

It was risky moving on from Geno Smith in favor of Sam Darnold, who even though I believe might prove to be an upgrade, there is no guarantee of that panning out.

Likewise, even though Cooper Kupp is likely a better scheme fit for Seattle than DK Metcalf likely would have been, there is no guarantee he stays healthy enough, and therefore it is a huge risk for Seattle to trade off DK only to pivot to Kupp. Because of this, I fully expect Seattle to draft a receiver at some point within the first two days of the draft.

I think there is even a modest risk that Seattle has signed 31 year old DeMarcus Lawrence to a big three year contract. He’s older, coming off of a significant injury last year. While I am hopeful that Mike Macdonald will make good use out of him, there is no guarantee that his body won’t start to further break down given his violent style of play.

What I like about all of these moves is that the Seattle front office has realized that annually treading water at 9 or 10 wins a season is not likely going to bring them any closer to another Super Bowl ring, and they are now finally willing to take some educated risks. If Sam Darnold does prove to be a good system fit here, as I think he will, then Seattle has effectively solved its longer termed quarterback question, and if not, then they can look to the draft in a future year. If the totality of Cooper Kupp and a promising rookie receiver is a greater sum than DK Metcalf for this scheme at receiver, then Seattle will have made a brilliant move to trade him rather than overspend to keep his unhappy butt on the roster.

Likewise, if Seattle does indeed draft North Dakota State offensive lineman Grey Zabel, and he converts to a pro bowl center for Seattle for the next ten years, then it would be a brilliant stroke from the front office to not settle on a mediocre veteran center like Garrett Bradbury just because of his familiarity with Sam Darnold. Raise your hand, if you are a Seahawk fan who would love to see the center position finally secured by a quality player for the next decade of Seahawk football.

This is the biggest thing to consider now as a Seahawks fan. Wouldn’t it be more prudent to invest in young talent in a good draft for interior offensive linemen than overspend for mid level players in the free agency? My answer to this is very much a resounding yes.

You made the switch from Ryan Grubb to Klint Kubiak because you recognized that the Kubiak system would be better for your team. Kubiak brought with him top notch NFL offensive line coaches who master at coaching a zone blocking scheme, and you have a couple year guards on the roster who have shown to be good zone blockers. This draft is loaded with college players who were good in zone blocking schemes.

It appears that John Schneider is prepared to trust these coaches to get the most out of young players. It is not the safest thing to do. It does not make me feel as comfortable as I want to be as a Seahawks fan. It is, however, probably the smartest thing to do given the mediocrity of the free agent market for guard and center, and the promising nature of this draft class.

This draft is not thought to be strong at quarterback, and Seattle quickly pivoted to Sam Darnold when they felt they would not reach a deal with Geno Smith. This draft is also not thought to be greatly rich at receiver, either, and that is why I think we have seen moves to add Kupp, Marquise Valdez Scantling, and now River Cracraft.

This is a promising draft for guards and it has some players who could convert to center. This is a great draft for defensive tackle, running back, and tight end.

This is a good draft for Seattle to get meat and potato players on both sides of the ball. If you want to play stout defense, and run the ball, control clock, play connected as a team, then I think Seattle is well positioned with five picks in the top 92 to add to the line of scrimmage, and around out the roster for this team to better play the style of ball that Macdonald would have it.

Seattle could even theoretically draft a special player at 18 in this draft who doesn’t play on the offensive line, and still find solutions for their line in the second and third rounds. It would make me incredibly nervous if they did this, but there are a couple tight ends who will be drafted in the top frame of this draft who are talented enough that if one fell into the lap of Seattle at 18, it might be too difficult to resist the urge of selecting. If Seattle took one of these guys, I would be pretty on board with that, and then I would keep my fingers crossed that they could grab a couple good offensive linemen in round two.

What I suspect is most likely, though, is that John Schneider does the very conventional thing and takes the best offensive lineman on their board at 18, or a little bit later in the first round after a bit of a trade back, and then he takes another offensive lineman on day two. History supports this likelihood.

In 2022, after they traded Russell Wilson, Seattle was very thin at offensive tackle. While some wanted them to take a swing on a quarterback in the weak quarterback draft class, they conventionally took the best left tackle on their board in Charles Cross, and then they took right tackle Abe Lucas in early round three. Cross was not widely viewed as a top ten draft prospect but they stayed safe, and took him at 10 overall, anyways. This proved to be a pretty decent payoff, and they found decent value with Lucas later on.

It feels very logical that John Schneider should look to replicate this with the interior of Seattle’s offensive line this April. I can see a very vivid scenario where Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart is sitting at pick 18, and Seattle choses an offensive line over a quarterback who will have a lot of Twelves clamoring for him like they did with Malik Willis four years ago when Seattle took Cross, instead.

Grey Zabel is going to be a guy who is going to be talked about a lot for Seattle in the coming weeks. He is a tall, strong, athletic zone blocker who plays with a lot of attitude and toughness, and is reportedly a very strong leader. He took a series of reps at the Senior Bowl at center, and snapped the ball well. Some think he has the profile to be a solid guard in this league, but could ultimately be a top tier starting center down the line. I think there is an extreme possibility that Seattle would draft him at 18, but I also think it is very possible that he is taken before Seattle’s pick.

If this proves the case, and Zabel won’t be available to them, that could compel Seattle to trade down a bit and still take a guard, and then double dip at guard again on day two, and then consider moving Christian Haynes to center. It wouldn’t get a lot of Seahawk fans excited, but with the high number of offensive tackles in this draft that could convert well to guard, plus guys who were quality guards in college last year like Ohio State’s Donovan Jackson, Georgia’s Tate Ratledge, and Alabama’s Tyler Booker, a Haynes move to center suddenly becomes more interesting in an open competition with Olu Oluwatimi, if Seattle grabs a couple of these fellas.

There are a couple other convert to center candidates in this draft, as well, that Seattle could consider. Purdue offensive lineman Marcus Mbow has a similar projection to convert to center as Zabel, based on his physical traits that suit the position. Some think that West Virginia’s Wyatt Milum could be suited for the spot, as well.

Outside of these two other guys, though, this draft is considered very thin at center in terms of who were actually playing the spot in college last year. Georgia center Jared Wilson is the only player who is thought to have strong starter potential in this draft. That is why guys like Zabel and probably Mbow are going to be elevated based on projection.

This is why Zabel is going to continue being a very talked about player for Seattle at 18. Based on the current needs of the team, he might be a top player on their board at this point. Their ideal scenario might be being able to take him at 18, and then keeping their fingers crossed that one of Jackson, Booker, Ratledge, or Oregon’s Josh Conley Jr falls in their lap in round two.

If they are fortunate to land Zabel and there is a run on top guard prospects to the point where none of them land to them in round two, then that is where they might go different directions much like they did in free agency, and they trust their coaches to further develop Haynes and Bradford as guards. Is this ideal? Probably not, but objectively speaking, it is a fall back that could work out, or at least work better for them in the 2025 season.

It is already noted that Bradford and Haynes have both shown good abilities as run blockers in a zone scheme. The truth of the matter for Seattle is that with Kubiak replacing Ryan Grubb, Seattle is venturing back to their 2012-2014 DNA of predominantly being a running team with play action passing being a complimentary feature. If they add Zabel inside, that could be enough to further uncork the potential of Ken Walker and Zach Charbonnet and it further mitigate the limited pass blocking traits of a guy like Bradford, and who knows, perhaps Benton and Dennison are able to develop Bradford further as a pass blocker. This is possible.

In their ideal world, I feel like this coaching staff would probably love to see Sam Darnold throw on average about 25 times a game, and the bulk of that on play action passes where he has shown to be very good at it. This is the strength of their new quarterback, and he might be perfectly fine staying in this game managerial lane while guiding Seattle to wins. At this point in his career, he is probably just looking for stability, and a chance to win as a starter however which ways those wins come. If this is the case, that is not a terrible thing, at all, for Seattle, or for him.

I suspect that this is their plan. They want a good young enough game managerial situation at quarterback. They want to win with defense, play good special teams, and close out the circle by running the football, killing clock, and making explosive plays off of play action.

Ironically, I think they really do want to get back to Pete Carroll football in many, many ways.

Now go get Grey Zabel.

Go Hawks!