RENTON, Wash. — Former Archbishop Murphy star football player and current Seattle Seahawks starting right tackle Abraham Lucas spoke with the media on Wednesday. After spending much of the past two seasons injured, Lucas enters the team’s 2025 Organized Team Activities (OTAs) as healthy as he’s been since his rookie season in 2022.
Here’s most of what he had to say Wednesday at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center.
On doing less injury rehab this offseason:
“I don’t know if it felt any particular type of way. It was work, it was just a different type of work.”
On the differences with the new offensive scheme:
“It’s entirely new, so pretty much everything.”
On new offensive line coach John Benton:
“The first thing that sticks out is experience, obviously. He’s been everywhere and coached a lot of people. Really, that’s the main thing. He’s just a wealth of knowledge. I’m looking forward to learning from him more.”
On if he likes the fact that this offensive scheme will emphasize outside zone runs:
“I don’t have a choice. Yeah, it’s fine.”
On offseason training with other Seahawks offensive linemen:
“Yeah, I trained with Sataoa (Laumea) specifically in the weight room in the offseason. Christian (Haynes) and A.B. (Anthony Bradford) are growing. They’re young, obviously, but they’re growing, picking it up and they’re doing really well. It’s exciting.”
On entering the final year of his contract and potential extension talks:
“I don’t really know too much about how that process works. I’m just trying to learn as much as I can in the offense so I can be crystal clear on it and confident in it going into the season this year.”
On his early thoughts on rookie guard Grey Zabel:
“I think he’s got all the potential to be a really good player. From what I noticed, I didn’t work out with him too much. He was just at the same agency. He was only there for a couple of weeks. He didn’t say too much, just was trying to put his head down to work as much as possible.”
On his first impressions of new QB Sam Darnold:
“Well, my first impression was in 2017 when he was at USC and we beat him in Pullman. But Sam’s a bright guy, obviously coming off a really good year. Great quarterback. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do and how he’s going to lead.”
On the mentality of the offensive line:
“Just downhill running off the ball, establishing the run. I know we had a lot of criticism for that, so moving into this year, we’re looking to really get after it in the run game specifically.”
On having a fullback this season:
“I think when you bring a fullback in, it kind of establishes that the run game is a cornerstone to your offense, not just an optional thing. Fullbacks are primarily blocking backs. I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do in this offense as well.”
On if he thinks he is 100 percent recovered from his knee injury:
“I don’t know if anybody’s ever really 100 percent healthy. I’m playing, that’s a good sign.”
On his impressions of the new offensive line coaches:
“Like I said, they’re super smart. They obviously have more experience than me, so I’d be dumb not to listen to them. I’m really looking forward to continuing to learn from them about how I can continue to improve and get better.”
On his current health:
“Night and day. It helps when you’re not in a brace and you can actually walk without crutches. You guys have seen, I post on social media me lifting and it sends everybody into a frenzy, which I think is kind of funny. But I’m doing good work, so I’m excited about it.”
On if he is heavier or lighter than he was at this point last year:
“I’m 325. I saw that too. Everybody thought I was like 280. I’m 325. Rest assured, I’m good.”
On if there is anything about this offense that makes life easier:
“Not really. When I say not really, I just mean because I don’t know if the pressure’s ever really off of you as an offensive lineman, because you’re the first line of attack. So, no. No pressure.”
On if pass protection is easier in this offensive scheme:
“I guess it depends on how you look at it. Any time you’re not in a one-on-one, it’s probably going to be easier, but that’s with every offense. Some people put tackles on islands more. It just depends on the look.”
On rollouts being a staple of this offensive scheme:
“I guess just the technique changes. It’s not any extra challenge. You coach the technique and you do the technique.”
On if criticism about the Seahawks’ line puts a chip on his shoulder:
“Not really. The only criticism I really am concerned about is the stuff that’s in this building. Everybody has an opinion. I have an opinion on a lot of things. That doesn’t mean it matters.”
On how good the line can be:
“However good we want to be. We have the right coaching, the right tools. The identity has definitely changed from last year to this year. It’s on us as far as we want to take it.”
On how the offensive identity has changed:
“Everybody wants to run the ball. But when you come in and it’s kind of a non-negotiable that we’re running the ball. We put a fullback in the backfield, we’re changing it up, we’re doing things differently. It’s like an old-school mentality with a new-school principle sort of thing. Definitely just looking forward to getting after that.”
“I’ll put it like this: we’re trying to be elite at very few things, but those few things are what the offense is going to be based around, and that’s the run game. We’re going to be elite at the run game. That’s the philosophy with it. So, it’s not some hodgepodge of just a bunch of different stuff we’re just throwing in. We’re going to be elite at the basics and make sure that they work so we can do it against anybody.”
On one play that he loves as an offensive lineman:
“Scoring for one. If I did score, that would be pretty cool, but that’ll never happen. Pancake blocks, that’s pretty cool. When you pass off a twist-and-pass game, that’s pretty cool. When everybody on the o-line executes perfectly, that’s pretty awesome just because it’s like a well-oiled machine kind of all coming together and working. That’s what the game is all about. It’s kind of like an art form. You look at it and you’re like, ‘No, this is art.’ That’s a good thing.”
On how tough the last couple of years have been for him mentally:
“Obviously, I wanted to play, but unfortunately, there are things in life you can’t really control. So, it’s just up to you on how you want to respond. I took precautions to not let things get to my head. It’s probably the reason why I don’t have a Twitter — because I don’t need to deal with all that crap. But it’s like, ‘Ok, I had surgery, so now we’re going to go after the rehab and we’re just going to get back to getting right.’ Things take a while to heal, depending on what you injure. It was tough, but I’m still walking. It’s not amputated or anything.”
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