Regardless of an excessive offseason makeover, the Seattle Seahawks are nonetheless missing on the offensive line.
With the No. 18 decide within the opening spherical of the NFL draft, together with a pair of second-round picks, the Seahawks ought to have some stable choices to fill their wants. They’ve 5 whole picks within the high 92 and 10 picks total.
Then-quarterback Geno Smith was sacked 50 instances final season, third most within the league, exposing Seattle’s points in move safety. Smith has since moved on to Las Vegas, the place he’s been reunited with former Seattle coach Pete Carroll.
Seattle in flip introduced in quarterback Sam Darnold, after he revived his profession final season enjoying for the Minnesota Vikings.
To date the Seahawks’ solely offseason addition on the offensive line was veteran Josh Jones, who signed a one-year deal after enjoying for the Ravens final season. The Seahawks let go of left guard Laken Tomlinson after one 12 months.
Charles Cross is well-established at left deal with and at proper guard, Sataoa Laumea performed himself right into a beginning function final season as a rookie. At heart, Olu Oluwatimi was pressed into obligation after Connor Williams’ midseason retirement after a knee damage.
General, nevertheless, the Seahawks might look markedly totally different subsequent season beneath new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, who introduced in offensive line coach John Benton. Each held the identical roles with New Orleans final season.
Among the many high linemen accessible are Texas’ Kelvin Banks and Tyler Booker of Alabama, and Gray Zabel out of North Dakota State. Booker allowed simply three sacks in three seasons with the Crimson Tide.
Another prospects embrace Georgia guards Tate Ratledge and Dylan Fairchild and heart Jared Wilson. Fairchild and Wilson each had pre-draft visits with Seattle.
Wilson is prone to be the highest heart taken within the draft, particularly after clocking a 4.84-second 40-yard sprint on the NFL mix.
Normal supervisor John Schneider, chatting with reporters on the NFL annual conferences final month, didn’t rule out utilizing a few of these 5 early picks to commerce up within the draft.
“Initially, you’re like, ‘Yeah, we’re going to take five really good players,’ ” Schneider stated. “But then you get in a situation where it’s like, ‘All right, that guy’s a starter, we should probably move to go get him,’ if you can. It depends on how other people see these guys. But yeah, it allows us the ability to just be more free throughout our draft process.”
Full QB room?
The Seahawks received’t essentially want so as to add a QB to supply reduction of Darnold after reportedly bringing again Drew Lock, who was with the group in 2022-23 after coming from Denver within the Russell Wilson commerce. Lock was a free agent after spending final season with the Giants.
He joins Darnold, Sam Howell and Jaren Corridor on Seattle’s QB roster, which decreased the likelihood that the Seahawks would look to the draft on the place.
Different strikes
The Seahawks traded receiver DK Metcalf, a fixture on the group for six seasons, to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Receiver Tyler Lockett can also be gone after 10 years in Seattle. The Seahawks signed former Los Angeles Rams receiver Cooper Kupp to a three-year deal.
The Seahawks additionally added four-time Professional Bowl defensive finish DeMarcus Lawrence.
Anything?
Whereas the Seahawks have Kupp, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and one other offseason signee, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, at receiver, the group might look so as to add depth there.
One choice could be Washington State’s Kyle Williams, who had 70 receptions for 1,198 yards and 14 touchdowns as a fifth-year senior. Seattle was amongst his deliberate pre-draft visits.
Different prospects embrace Tetairoa McMillan out of Arizona and Elic Ayomanor from Stanford.
