The Seattle Seahawks are heading into the free agency and draft portion of the offseason with a whole lot of question marks on their roster.
Perhaps no position group is less settled than the offensive line, who could be out four of their five starters depending on how the offseason shakes out.
Duane Brown will almost certainly be back, but Germain Ifedi and Mike Iupati are both unrestricted free agents, along with George Fant, and both Justin Britt and D.J. Fluker are potential cap casualties.
As such, there could be a lot of new faces in front of Russell Wilson in the 2020 season. While the team will certainly look to free agency and the draft to add more bodies, they also have a surplus of young offensive linemen on the roster who could step into full-time roles in 2020, if called upon.
Perhaps the most notable of that group is Jamarco Jones, a left tackle by trade who started games at three different spots for Seattle in 2019, including both guard spots. His performance there surprised his coach, Pete Carroll, who admitted he should have believed in him more.
“Jamarco did a nice job for us,” Carroll said at the NFL combine on Tuesday. “He really did. He surprised us a little bit that he would be so comfortable, particularly on the right side because he had been a left side guy and a left tackle most of his playing time. Mike Solari always said he was a really savvy football player and the game made sense to him, and he could just assimilate our stuff from his old stuff, right from the beginning. I guess we should have realized he could make that transition and do it better, but he really did surprise us.”
Carroll went on to say that Jones had some work done on his shoulder, presumably a post-season surgery, but he didn’t seem too concerned about the injury lingering into training camp.
He also alluded to Jones being in the competition for a starting job next year – which doesn’t really mean much at this stage in the offseason – but his positional versatility does allow Seattle to pursue a wider range of players, knowing Jones can fill in everywhere but center.
“We’re counting on him to be very versatile and very much a part of the competition for all the playing time,” Carroll continued. “He’s worthy of that and he deserves that shot.”
“It’s an exciting start for him.”
[lawrence-related id=56742]