Seahawks counting on new farmers, not new farm: OL/TE preview

The 2025 RG/C competitions have literally the same players as 2024, so it's up to the new coaches to make it work

Aug 05, 2025

One year ago I wrote that even though Mike Macdonald was telling us that the Seahawks would name a starter at right guard by Week 1, the reality of that situation was and (continues to be) that Seattle could not have solidified that position until the end of the season at the soonest because of how little they invested at guard in 2024. Now here we are 12 months later and the Seahawks have yet to name a right guard between Anthony Bradford and Christian Haynes.

I could literally — in the intended sense of the word — copy and paste most of what I wrote about right guard and center from last season and post it for today’s preview of the offensive line and the message will not have changed:

The reaction to Olu and Bradford struggling shouldn’t be, “Why are the Seahawks so bad at drafting guards and centers?”. It should just be, “Teams have to picked players on day three and most of them don’t become good starters.”
When Haynes was drafted I did write that I expected him to start because since 2005 the only other day one or day two Seahawks draft pick at guard/center to not start as a rookie was Rees Odhiambo. Should fans be worried that Haynes will turn out to be another Odhiambo? I think the best possible answer is…Why weren’t you already worried about that?

The only difference at center and right guard, even moreso than personnel which is practically unchanged from last year’s training camp, is that Macdonald tried to move up the date to pick starters from Week 1 to “as soon as possible”. But I wasn’t buying it then and I’m not buying it now:

The Seahawks are getting exactly what they paid for at those positions and contrary to my prediction that Haynes would win one of those jobs (aside from a minor pec injury, a dearth of first-team reps has indicated to many that Haynes has fallen behind Bradford), the “bigger investments” aren’t seizing their opportunities to be NFL starters in five weeks.

Case in point, there are three starting offensive line positions on lock and two that aren’t:

LT: 9th overall pick Charles Cross
LG: 18th overall pick Grey Zabel
RT: 72nd overall pick Abe Lucas

Abe’s draft position isn’t significantly higher than Haynes (81) or Bradford (108) but that’s how it works out in the middle of the draft in that some turn out really good and many others are instant liabilities who never improve. Seattle could have thrown caution to the wind and made huge investments in guard Will Fries and/or center Ryan Kelly, both of whom signed with the Vikings, and today Seahawks fans wouldn’t have any questions about the starting five.

But just because we have questions now, over a month before real games begin, does not mean that the Seahawks made a mistake by not spending a guaranteed $45 to $50 million to avoid competitions in training camp that could last into the regular season and even into 2026.

In college, a neighbor of mine had a sign in the kitchen that read, “Go out on a limb, that’s where the fruit is.”

(The quote is often attributed to Mark Twain but likely belongs to journalist Frank Scully.)

LT Charles Cross: 7/10 hopeful

LG Grey Zabel: 8.5/10 excited

C Olu Oluwatimi: 10/10 not sure this is the starter

RG Anthony Bradford: 10/10 not sure this is the starter

RT Abe Lucas: 8/10 worried about his health

Cross didn’t make Brandon Thorn’s top-15 left tackles, which is a little worrisome for a player who was picked ninth overall in 2022. That being said, there is a clear emphasis on veterans: 13 of the 15 tackles on Thorn’s list have been in the NFL longer than Cross. Whereas receivers and running backs are expected to contribute immediately and then possibly trail off, tackles tend to move up tiers as they gain more experience.

No, Cross is not one of these immediate home runs like Tristan Wirfs, Rashawn Slater, or Christian Darrisaw. But it’s far too early to be concerned about him, especially given that relative to the other top-10 picks in his class (Evan Neal, Ikem Ekwonu) he is Tristan Wirfs.

Unfortunately — and more surprisingly — Lucas also failed to make Thorn’s top-15 right tackles; Lucas was, I think, 15th last year. There are a lot more young players listed at right tackle (5 of them were drafted more recently than Lucas) but there’s no real mystery here:

Lucas doesn’t play enough to warrant serious consideration to most analysts, nor do any of us feel like the sample size is large enough.

Right off the bat, Seattle’s two best veteran offensive linemen aren’t considered average-to-above average starters by the analyst that a lot of people trust the most to grade the position. Whether Thorn is worthy of that praise or not, that is the perception of the Seahawks tackles and that’s even more noteworthy given that Cross and Lucas were one of the league’s best surprises during their rookie campaigns.

How are you feeling about Cross and Lucas going into year four? Tell me in the comments if you’re a Regular Joes or Super Joes member:

It is really no different than the Seahawks over-drafting Zabel, which yes, continues to be what they did even if we all love having him on the offensive line given the need there: Zabel was drafted much higher than prospects like him were valued in the past.

Ideally, Zabel would have been drafted in the second round — and that’s where he probably would have gone off the board in the recent and distant past — but Seattle didn’t overspend so they had to overdraft. Taking Zabel in the first round also presents a potential contractual standoff in the future, but the Seahawks have far bigger fish to fry with the pick (like him being really good) before we have to worry about that.

Oluwatimi and Bradford could be swapped with Sundell and Haynes, really at either position it turns out, and my feelings wouldn’t change much, if at all. It’s too early to say if the Seahawks are in a bigger hole at center and right guard than they were in 2024 or if they need to make more acquisitions before Week 1.

At least we know it’s the same hole.

If you’re already a paid subscriber but want to further help support Seaside Joe going into season seven of the newsletter (wow, it’s really season 7 of this) you can get a fan a gift subscription or upgrade your membership to Super Joes; Super Joes will get to participate in sending questions for the weekly Q&A.

Give a gift subscription

I don’t have much to preview with regards to Seattle’s OL depth, but given the concerns with the starting five (mostly two of those players) I think that says it all already. If any of those backups are good, we will know soon.

Tight End Preview: Excitement/Worry Levels

In the interest of wrapping this series up, I’m squeezing in the tight ends.

TE A.J. Barner: 9/10 curious

TE Elijah Arroyo: 7.85/10 excited

TE Eric Saubert: 8/10 blocking

Barner ran a route on 27.5% of his plays last season, which is a really, really low percentage if he ends up being Seattle’s top receiving tight end in 2025. Consider this list by Fantasy Points Data, which highlights Barner as a very valuable receiver when he actually runs a route:

The next-closest TE on the list is Isaiah Likely and his route% was basically 2x as high as Barner’s. Using Likely as a comparison, he had 477 yards and 6 touchdowns with the Ravens last year while playing second fiddle to Mark Andrews.

If Arroyo is an immediate receiving weapon for Sam Darnold, the Seahawks may try to emulate the combination of those two as a model for him and Barner.

On the other hand, we know that Klint Kubiak was working for Kyle Shanahan in 2023 and at the top of that list you’ll see George Kittle’s 70.6% route rate and the leader in fantasy points per route. Which essentially just means that Kittle is very productive (1,106 yards, 8 TD) when he’s running a route. Plus, Seattle could look to San Francisco’s 2024 offense for other reasons, which is that their top receiver was Jauan Jennings and they only got a half-season from Brandon Aiyuk. (Bonus: Eric Saubert was there.)

If the Seahawks do have problems at receiver, like many fans worry they do, leaning on Barner and Arroyo in the passing game also makes sense.

Although Barner was drafted as a “fourth round blocking tight end”, that’s not much different than Kittle being a fifth round pick in 2017. Kittle had 515 yards as a rookie, which is more than Barner (245) but he ran more routes and he had Shanahan calling plays, not Ryan Grubb. In year two, Kittle had 1,377 yards.

Without asking for that much, couldn’t A.J. Barner gain half that much (700 yards) this season, if the Seahawks need him to?

Seaside Joe