Speaking on the radio at 950 KJR, Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider provided some clarity to the team’s guard situation following the selection of Damien Lewis and the subsequent release of veteran guard D.J. Fluker.
“Everybody felt like we were drafting a starting right guard in the National Football League,” Schneider said about Lewis, the team’s third round pick in the 2020 NFL draft. “He’s just a man.”
Even after cutting Fluker though, the team won’t just hand a rookie a starting job on the offensive line. Chance Warmack, who they signed early into free agency, is a former first round pick who the team believes has the ability to start in the NFL as well, and the team brought back Jordan Simmons, who started a few games for them back in 2018.
However, one of the expected sources of competition, 2019 fourth rounder Phil Haynes, is apparently going to compete to start at left guard with veteran Mike Iupati, who the team re-signed last month.
Schneider said the team decided to, “bring Mike Iupati back to add some stability on the left side [and] to compete with Phil Haynes.”
Iupati started every game he played last year, but evidently the little the team saw of Haynes near the end of the year was enough for them to consider it an open competition – which also bodes well for Lewis potentially starting on the right side.
No job is guaranteed on the Seahawks, except Russell Wilson’s, so the position battles all along the offensive line should be fun to track over the summer as this team looks to put the most competitive product on the field ahead of the 2020 campaign.
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