One of the most urgent offseason needs for the Seattle Seahawks is to upgrade the offensive line.
To assess the state of the Seattle front line and identify potential paths to improving the unit this offseason, I spoke with analyst Brandon Thorn, creator of the Trench Warfare newsletter, which focuses on offensive and defensive line play in college and the NFL. Thorn also does NFL Draft scouting for Bleacher Report with a heavy focus on offensive line prospects.
Our conversation focused on three areas: assessing Seattle’s 2024 season up front, free-agent options and potential draft targets.
The current front
The Seahawks had six different starting offensive line combinations in 2024. One of those featured George Fant at right tackle for two games, but he played just 12 offensive snaps in the season opener and only 16 upon returning to the lineup in Week 9. And although third-round rookie Christian Haynes didn’t make any starts, he played multiple offensive series in seven games as part of a two-man rotation with fellow right guard Anthony Bradford. Seattle started four different right tackles, and the intended starter Abe Lucas was available only for a seven-game stretch from Weeks 11 through 17.
“The whole right side was just kind of a problem the whole year,” Thorn said.
Left guard Laken Tomlinson started every game but didn’t play well. Veteran center Connor Williams struggled before retiring after the Week 10 bye. He was replaced by second-year center Olu Oluwatimi, who was an improvement but didn’t play at a level that should dissuade the Seahawks from attempting to upgrade the position this offseason. Four of Seattle’s five offensive line spots were “shaky at best,” said Thorn, who described the team as having “one of the bottom five or six lines in the league.”
With left tackle Charles Cross due for a potential extension and Lucas now healthy, the three interior positions are the primary points of concern.
At center, Thorn said Oluwatimi’s size — he’s listed at 6 foot 2 and 309 pounds — and lack of play strength have been a reoccurring issue, as has his ability to sustain blocks.
“A little bit of a sawed-off, squatty kind of build and just not the most powerful guy,” said Thorn, who had a fifth-round grade on the 2022 Rimington Trophy winner. “But he does a lot of the little things. He’s an athlete. … I think he’s replaceable, though.”
The 2025 class of centers isn’t great, Thorn said, which works in Oluwatimi’s favor, but he still believes Seattle can find an upgrade this offseason.
“There’s a pretty decent chance of that, honestly,” Thorn said.
Some of Seattle’s best rushing performances occurred when sixth-round rookie Sataoa Laumea was in the lineup at right guard. Thorn said Laumea showed flashes of the natural power in the run game that he put on tape at Utah. Pass protection was a different story, however. Laumea allowed quarterback pressure on 11 percent of his snaps in pass protection, the highest rate in the league among qualifying guards (all stats provided by TruMedia unless stated otherwise).
“Some of his finer aspects of pass protection — specifically like processing things in front of him: stunts, line games, being out of position, being caught a little late reacting to loopers — (he) gave up quite a bit of penetration,” Thorn said. “He looked very raw to me in pass protection, although kind of like a ball of clay. Kind of like a Day 3 pick, with some promise there.”
Thorn was bullish on Haynes coming out of Connecticut in last year’s draft, giving Haynes a third-round grade and classifying him as a high-level backup and potential starter. Thorn didn’t agree with former offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb’s assessment that Haynes had problems with play strength in games (practices could have been different, of course).
“I saw him get walked back a couple times from bull rushes, but not anything out of the ordinary from anybody else — on that line especially, but just across the league,” Thorn said. “A rookie coming in where he was drafted, I thought there were some positives, too. It was a lot more even with some promise as opposed to, ‘We whiffed, and he shouldn’t have gotten drafted.’ I didn’t see that.”
Of Seattle’s returning interior offensive lineman, Thorn is most optimistic about Haynes, though he expects Seattle to add at least one or two players to that group either via the draft or free agency.
Free-agent fixes
The big fish in this year’s free-agent class is Kansas City Chiefs right guard Trey Smith, a sixth-round pick in 2021 who was voted to the Pro Bowl on the initial ballot this year and will be only 26 years old next season. Smith has a chance to become the highest-paid guard in the league, surpassing Eagles left guard Landon Dickerson’s average annual salary of $21 million.
Aside from Smith, Thorn said, there’s a second tier of impending free-agent interior linemen that includes Bears left guard Teven Jenkins (27 years old next season), Buccaneers left guard Ben Bredeson (27), 49ers left guard Aaron Banks (28), Lions right guard Kevin Zeitler (35), Steelers right guard James Daniels (28) and Cardinals right guard Will Hernandez (30).
Half of those players are coming off injuries, and finding a good fit depends on preference and scheme. Assuming new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak brings his zone-heavy scheme to Seattle, Thorn highlighted Bredeson and Banks as potential fits. Banks underperformed in 2024 but has experience in the scheme Kubiak will likely run, having played for 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan.
As for Bredeson, who played in more of a gap scheme last year, Thorn said: “He is a pretty good athlete, moves pretty well. He can function for you for a year or two in the zone run scheme.”
These are all “band-aid type of options,” Thorn said, which is typically the case in free agency when not spending top-of-the-market money.
The same is true at center. Ryan Kelly is expected to test the open market ahead of his age-32 season after playing just 10 games for the Colts in 2024 due to neck and knee injuries, the latter of which required surgery. Thorn said the four-time Pro Bowl center could be a nice short-term fix for the Seahawks, health permitting.
A younger, though potentially pricier answer would be Packers center Josh Myers, who turns 27 in July. Myers has experience in a zone-based scheme and allowed only one sack last year but also had one of the highest pressure rates among qualifying centers.
Draft targets
Thorn’s top-rated true guard in the class is Tyler Booker, a two-year starter at Alabama. Despite the Crimson Tide deploying a diverse run scheme, Thorn said Booker would make sense for the Seahawks, who could use his combination of size, strength and athleticism in both the run and pass game. He also anticipates Booker winning teams over because of how he carries himself and his reputation as a good teammate.
“He’ll be a first-round pick,” Thorn said.
The 2025 draft class is unique in that there is an abundance of tackle-guard hybrids. Thorn said teams tend to be split on how they view those prospects based on measurables or inconsistency in pass protection. He anticipates that many of this year’s prospects will start as tackles due to a lack of supply at the position.
Thorn’s top offensive lineman is LSU left tackle Will Campbell (he was the third offensive lineman off the board in Dane Brugler’s most recent mock draft). Campbell was a first-team All-American last season and shared the award for the top lineman in the SEC with Texas’ Kelvin Banks Jr. Thorn feels Campbell is an outstanding run blocker, but he also had many clear losses in pass protection, particularly when on an island, which is in a position he’d be in often as a tackle in the pros. Those issues playing in space, specifically against quality edge rushers, are why Thorn believes Campell will be better at guard in the NFL.
“If I was the Seahawks, I would love to put him as my left guard,” Thorn said. “He’d be my No. 1 option.”
The second option would be Banks, a player who has often been mocked to the Seahawks this offseason (Brugler had Seattle taking him with the 18th pick).
“I’d be pretty happy with him somewhere late Round 1, ideally,” Thorn said. “If you can get good value in that regard, he could be your left guard.”
Rounding out Thorn’s top three first-round favorites is North Dakota State’s Grey Zabel, who was named the overall practice player of the week at the Senior Bowl in a poll of executives from all 32 teams, according to Senior Bowl director Jim Nagy. Zabel played all over North Dakota State’s offensive line, but Thorn sees him as an interior player and has highlighted his footwork, mobility and ability to displace defenders. He can be a starting guard or center in the NFL, Thorn said.
There’s a drop-off after that, Thorn said, but another name to consider is Georgia’s Jared Wilson, who missed the Senior Bowl due to injury. “Definitely no worse than the No. 2 center in this class,” Thorn said. A late-round option would be Sacramento State’s Jackson Slater, who like Zabel was able to help his draft stock in Mobile, Ala., by showing out against premiere competition.
“Had a really good Senior Bowl, and he’s very athletic,” Thorn said of Slater, whom he has with an early Day 3 grade. “He had a little bit more play strength than I thought coming in based on watching this film, which was really nice to see, so I gave him a little bit of a boost.”
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