Over time you see certain patterns develop within certain organizations around the NFL. To name a few, the Eagles tend to have a dominant defensive line, the Seahawks always have a strong wide receiver corps, the Steelers usually have a superb run game and the Bears have been searching for a star quarterback for roughly 100 years.
One thing you can usually count on for Seattle is the offensive line being a liability, as was the case for most of the Pete Carroll era. Missing on several first-round draft picks didn’t help, but in recent years the issue has been a lack of investment. Last season the Seahawks spent less money on their offensive line than any other team in the league. According to Jason Fitzgerald at Over the Cap, that’s the case again this year.
The #Eagles lead the NFL in investments on the offensive line. #Lions and #Panthers are a close second and third. pic.twitter.com/RWORLA0M4n
— Jason_OTC (@Jason_OTC) May 8, 2024
They rank 32nd
— Jason_OTC (@Jason_OTC) May 8, 2024
To review, at OT the Seahawks have Charles Cross and Abe Lucas on their rookie contracts and there’s no guarantee either one will be re-signed for longer than that. At center they’re likely to start Olu Oluwatimi, who’s played 128 offensive snaps in his career. At right guard rookie Christian Haynes is projected to start and at left guard they splurged for Laken Tomlinson, who’s at the tail end of his career and has a cap hit of just barely over $1 million.
Actually hitting on an offensive line draft pick and signing them to a second contract would help in this department, but whether they are home-grown or outside free agents, either way they’ll eventually have to pay a couple of proven veterans in order to field a good unit, here.
General manager John Schneider may have a point about guards being overdrafted and overpaid, but it’s starting to look like the entire front line may be a blind spot for him – and this wasn’t just an issue for Pete Carroll alone.
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