The Seahawks have a (good) offensive line problem
How do the Seahawks get better on the offensive line while also getting rid of good players?
The Seahawks signed tackle Bobby Hart this week, literally adding weight to a problem I encountered when I wrote a practice squad projection for Seattle on Monday: For the first time in a long time, the team’s offensive line problem is not “Who do we have to keep?” or “Who can we add?” but instead, “Who can we risk letting go?”
Yes. The 2026 Seattle Seahawks have too many good offensive linemen.
That has nothing to do with Hart. Even before the team signed Hart, a veteran with 75 career starts but more of a “discount Josh Jones” than a reliable depth piece, the Seahawks were headed towards difficult decisions along the offensive line.
Let’s appreciate that this is the same team that just two years ago was splitting reps at guard between Phil Haynes and Anthony Bradford, signed an early-40s Jason Peters midseason, started Evan Brown at center, and had both Jake Curhan and Stone Forsythe filling in for Abe Lucas. And that was a relatively good year for Seattle’s offensive line.
Last year, the Seahawks started Laken Tomlinson at left guard, Lucas missed 10 more games, and Connor Williams was struggling so badly at center that he retired nine weeks into the season.
Of all the Super Bowl-winning storylines to track last year, from Sam Darnold’s redemption to Mike Macdonald’s defense, the fact that Seattle got over 1,000 snaps each from Lucas, Bradford, and Grey Zabel, a majority of snaps by Charles Cross, and a breakout season at center from Jalen Sundell, somehow wound up under the rug. But the Seahawks offensive line, as well as coach John Benton, deserve far more credit for a championship season than what they’ve received.
(My John Benton career retrospective from 2025, by the way.)
Not only are all five starters back this year, but Bradford is both a) the only one who is a free agent after the season and b) the only one Seattle could be looking to replace anyway.
And it’s because the Seahawks have a starting offensive line set in stone that it’s actually their newfound depth behind those five that should intrigue fans more than Seattle’s sudden status as an AVERAGE-ranking unit! As a matter of fact yes, that was me writing one year ago this month that the Seahawks offensive line was being criminally underrated by the media.
Seahawks offensive line investment
Just since 2022, John Schneider has drafted nine offensive linemen who are still on the roster, a group that doesn’t include starter Jalen Sundell. If Seattle could simply keep those 10 players, how easy this would be.
The Seahawks kept nine offensive linemen in 2023 and 2025, but 11 in 2024. However, Seattle seems to keep more when they feel like they need more, and sacrifices a number or two there when they feel like they feel comfortable.
As I said before, barring injury, the Seahawks have a starting five this year, plus at least a starting-four going into 2027.
Seattle could keep 11 offensive linemen. But with a commitment to two fullbacks, perhaps three quarterbacks again, and bigger needs for depth at other positions like outside linebacker, the Seahawks may go with 10, or even go back to nine offensive linemen in 2026.
If that happens, Seattle’s not just cutting one player they’ve recently drafted, but as many as two or three.
How do the Seahawks go from the 15 offensive linemen on the roster as of June 10 to as few as nine offensive linemen at the end of training camp?
June is not too soon to start talking about how the Seahawks could slim down their offensive line by at least 33% in September. Who makes it, who doesn’t, and who gets traded? There are ways to deconstruct an answer to those questions.
The “Fun” Way: Trade Someone
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Seaside Joe to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.