Seahawks place surprisingly high in Brandon Thorn’s offensive line rankings

Not everyone agrees with that analysis, though

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A few days ago we shared our rankings of all 32 offensive lines around the NFL. The formula was simple: we averaged each unit’s ranking at three different sites: Pro Football Focus, Pro Football Reference and Sharp Football. One thing they all agreed on was Seattle has a below-average OL heading into the 2023 season.

Not everyone agrees with that analysis, though. Line play guru Brandon Thorn at Establish the Run has a new ranking of all 32 offensive lines and he has the Seahawks at No. 9 in the league.

“Seattle had a stellar 2022 draft haul with two new long-term starters at tackle in first-round pick Charles Cross and third-round pick Abraham Lucas. Both had their fair share of rookie struggles as last season progressed (particularly handling power-rushers) but that was undergirded by an overall high display of competence, skill and key foundational traits to build off of moving forward. Inside, the team has the underrated tone-setter Damien Lewis at left guard with a four-man competition for the center and right guard spots… This is an extremely young, talented group that has put the team in the rare and advantageous position of spending less than any team in the NFL at the position with a projected tier three level of production.”

To our knowledge, this is the first positive outlook on Seattle’s offensive line in the Pete Carrol era – perhaps going back as far as Walter Jones.

Again, the x-factor here is what happens at center – we believe rookie Olu Oluwatimi represents the team’s best-possible starter, both long-term and in the 2023 season. If he hits the ground running and both OT spots can progress in Year 2, this might really be an above-average OL overall.

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Watch: Brian Baldinger breaks down Derrick Brown’s bull rush vs. Green Bay

Panthers defensive tackle Derrick Brown notched the first two sacks of his NFL career last night against the Packers.

Panthers defensive tackle Derrick Brown notched the first two sacks of his NFL career last night against the Packers.

This wasn’t hard to see coming. While it doesn’t show up in the box score, Brown has had a lot of success generating interior pressure on opposing quarterbacks with his bull rush all season.

Watch Brian Baldinger break down his beast-like night in Green Bay.

Baldinger isn’t the only expert on line play who has taken notice of Brown’s progress lately. On Wednesday, Brandon Thorn shared a few choice clips of Brown’s bull rush wreaking havoc last week against the Broncos here.

This is correct. While Brown will have to eventually add to his pass-rushing repertoire in order to live up to his potential, for now that pure power is carrying him to a fine rookie season.

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