Seahawks OL gets surprising endorsement

"I think the Seahawks are going to take a big jump and it’s going to start with the offensive line”

The “actually the Seahawks offensive line isn’t that bad” train left the station two weeks ago after the Chiefs preseason game and on Tuesday it reached TheOLineCommitteeville.

On “The OLine Committee” podcast, co-host Jeremiah Sirles ranked Seattle’s offensive line as the 13th-best in the NFL going into the season:

“The Seattle (ranking) is pure projection based off of what I think they’re going to be. You go Charles Cross, Grey Zable, my guy Jalen Sundell, uhh Anthony Bradford going into a contract year, so you’re going to get the best out of him. Abe Lucas going into a contract year, going to get the best out of him. And you have that Klint Kubiak system going in there; run, play action, wide zone.

I think the Seahawks are going to be a running machine this year and I think it’s all going to start with that group up front. First round pick Grey Zabel, Zach Charbonnet, Kenneth Walker, Sam Darnold doing what Sam Darnold does which is play action deep shots to Jaxon Smith-Njigba. I think the Seahawks are going to take a big jump and it’s going to start with the offensive line.”

Now there is an endorsement for the Seahawks offensive line that comes from a podcast about offensive lines and hosted by two former NFL offensive linemen who currently still work in the business with young pro offensive linemen.

Sirles ranked Seattle in the top half of the league, whereas co-host Alex Boone eventually ranked the Seahawks at 18 after realizing he only ranked 31 teams.

That’s two more people who have the Seahawks offensive line in the top-20 and even if that’s mostly a projection based on what they think Seattle will become, it’s a fairly huge improvement from pre-training camp rankings that squarely had the franchise once again stuck in the bottom-5. Or in the words of PFF’s Zoltan Buday:

“There is not much to suggest that the Seahawks won't again field a bottom-tier offensive line.”

Yeah putting Seattle’s offensive line in the top-15 is a little bold, but there’s really “nothing to suggest” that the Seahawks couldn’t have an improved offensive line? Nothing to even suggest it? Not the first round pick used on a guard? Not the return of Abe Lucas in the second half of last season? Not the former top-10 pick who is playing for an extension in 2026? Not overhauling the entire offensive coaching staff, including 3 or 4 coaches with extensive histories as offensive line coaches?

None of those suggest Seattle has the potential to improve?

Maybe there’s nothing to suggest that PFF watches as much football as they claim to watch.

Seaside Joe doesn’t go out of his way to defend Seahawks players, coaches, or even the entire team against criticism. If anything, Seaside Joe doesn’t think there’s enough criticism. However, Seaside Joe does defend common sense and I’m seeing a lot more of it with The O-Line Committee’s ranking of the Seahawks offensive line than the popular narrative that Seattle’s offensive line “sucks”.

Not because the popular narrative is negative, but only because it IS a “popular narrative”, which means that a lot of people seem to be taking the easy route when it comes to ranking offensive lines and putting the Seahawks at the bottom. It’s fine to put the Seahawks at the bottom, but you have to come with a better argument than “because it’s the Seahawks”.

Here’s what else I’m seeing about the Seahawks this week:

Grey Zabel hype video:

New video by Legion of 12s highlights what Zabel showed in the preseason that already SUGGESTS a draft day hit:

The last Pro Bowl offensive lineman drafted by the Seahawks was Russell Okung 15 years ago, and before him was Max Unger in 2009. Zabel hasn’t even made his NFL debut yet, but his presence allows me to remember what it was like for Seattle to draft good interior linemen.

Does anyone know this: Who is the first player drafted by the Seahawks to make a Pro Bowl?

Tory Horton WR3 video

Making his Seaside Joe debut is the Best Available channel with a breakdown of another Seahawks rookie: Tory Horton.

Horton could get plenty of opportunities in Week 1.

New Video by All_22

Set aside almost an hour tonight or sometime this week to consume All-22’s entire Seahawks-49ers preview:

Where were Seahawks drafted?

Here is a snapshot of the 53 players on the current roster and where they were drafted. “Original” means that the player was drafted by Seattle:

Notes:

• The only two third round picks on the roster drafted by Seattle are Jalen Milroe and Abe Lucas. Christian Haynes is on IR, so not on the 53.

• That’s as many third rounders as there are first rounders (Darnold, Leo) drafted by the Jets!

• The Seahawks have 12 players that they drafted in the first two rounds, including 11 since 2022. The only exception is Jarran Reed, a 2016 second round pick who left and returned.

• Only 3 players on the roster were drafted by Seattle after the fifth round and only one other who was drafted that late by any team (Derion Kendrick, a late addition on waivers). It is amazing how much of a fuss gets made on trading late picks or “who did the team draft late?” given how rare it is for those players to have an impact. Even the ones who made it — Cabeldue, Richman, Dareke Young, Kendrick — are just barely hanging on right now.

It could be the case that in two years we are talking about Cabeldue or Richman as a starter, but making the team as a rookie 6th/7th is not unusual. Young making the roster in year four and surviving almost solely because of special teams, that is unique. Just this week, the Seahawks released Damien Martinez from the practice squad, making room for Sataoa Laumea, who was released a day earlier.

And yes, it is also noteworthy that the Seahawks have more former undrafted free agents than they do former 1st/2nd round picks. The pool is also much larger as a UDFA and not counting Jason Myers and Chris Stoll, only one of those players is a starter, Sundell, and maybe two if we count Josh Jobe.

Former 1st/2nd rounds account for approximately ~10 starting positions on offense and defense.

And if that wasn’t convincing enough that early picks make a difference, how many Seahawks fans would trade Seattle’s current offensive line for the one that Pete Carroll sported in 2016 at the end of the team’s attempt to have a dynasty:

• All 2,000 offensive snaps at tackle were by former UDFAs (Gilliam, Fant, Sowell) or 7th rounders (Webb)

• Fant was a rookie learning how to play tackle (did he ever actually graduate that class?)

• Sowell was in his 5th year as a backup journeyman and started 9 games

• The team had not yet given up on Gilliam, but he only made one more start after 2016

• Webb was only a known name at the time because of how bad he was as a starter for the Bears

• Ifedi was a college tackle learning to play guard

• Britt was a college tackle learning to play center after not learning how to play tackle or guard

• Somehow the best out of this entire group is former fourth round pick Mark Glowinski and that was only after Seattle cut him in 2018

The Seahawks invested in the offensive line with a first round pick this year, which doesn’t seem like a huge gesture but for Seattle it definitely qualifies as one. Even more so because Zabel is not a tackle. Whether it pays off or not remains to be seen, but the Seahawks’ investment in Zabel, Cross, and Lucas is the reason for people starting to take notice.

Seaside Joe 2374