Macdonald: G/C competitions far from settled

Who will win Seahawks C and RG competitions? We may have some new information since camp started to imply the winners. 8/5/2024

Brandon Thorn does a writing and podcasting job that really needs a lot more representation: Covering and analyzing the offensive linemen of the NFL.

In his recent post for Trench Warfare ranking the top-15 offensive linemen at each of the five starting positions, a CTRL+F search for “Seahawks” returns only one result: A note by Thorn that Charles Cross just missed the cut for left tackles. Thorn adds that Cross “has the upside to make the list in the future”.

As you could have probably guessed, the Seahawks were very extremely close to not having a tackle, guard, or center on the roster who made Thorn’s list, except for one: Thorn ranked Abe Lucas as the 15th-best right tackle. He didn’t say much about Lucas except that he has a concerning injury history and this:

“That said, Lucas was solid in the four and half games that he did appear in last year, building on an outstanding rookie season in 2022 that is still a factor in his projection.”

Other than Seattle’s best offensive lineman barely making the cut for right tackles in spite of his absences and injury history, the Seahawks do not have another starter considered by most people who follow and/or cover the league to be “above-average”, which is essentially the cut-off for a top-15, right? In theory, anyone not on that list is going to be “below-average” or something akin to that.

That feels like bad news—I know we’d all feel better if the Seahawks had even one player like Penei Sewell or Zack Martin or Quenton Nelson or Creed Humphrey, someone great to pin your hopes on to say, “At least there’s THAT guy!”—but this is just how Seattle’s offensive line is graded in August. It’s much more important how they are graded for the 2024 season once we get to January, 2025.

And there’s a lot of upside there with Cross, who has been getting positive reports for the entire offseason and into training camp, and Lucas, who is allegedly going to be ready for the regular season according to Jeremy Fowler. On Cross, Macdonald told Brock and Salk: “Charles Cross works his tail off, his consistency, our offensive coaches think he’s taken a step fundamentally and I’m excited for him.”

Monday’s early Seaside Joe: Answering your questions about training camp and a big Seaside Joe announcement!

Plus, Laken Tomlinson was a Pro Bowler as recently as 2021 and unless I’m mistaken, was on Thorns’s left guard top-15 just last year. In a not that distant universe, the Seahawks could be well off at left tackle, left guard, and right tackle.

It is the center and right guard positions that Seattle seems not-so-comfortable with a couple of weeks into training camp and headed into the preseason.

In an interview with Seattle Sports on Monday, Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald briefly cited the interior offensive line as a position group having a lot of competition so far in training camp, and that nothing is likely to be settled for at least a couple of weeks. What does that mean for the players currently competing for those interior jobs?

The interview coincided with a report that the Seahawks released undrafted free agent center Michael Novitsky and signed linebacker Blake Lynch. Novistky was not expected to make the team, let alone start, but that’s one small bit of clarity and it could potentially even be a pre-emptive move for Seattle to sign a center in the coming weeks if needed.

What’s going to happen at center and guard? And what if Lucas isn’t ready?

Let’s look at the players involved at center and right guard, where those competitions currently stand, who is most likely to be those two starters, what could happen at RT if Lucas is NOT ready, and which players (inside and outside of the organization) could overtake them:

Center

Names: Olu Oluwatimi, Nick Harris, Connor Williams

Presumptive favorite Olu Oluwatimi certainly should have the lead. He has been the Seahawks starting center throughout the offseason and training camp, by all reports, and free agent Nick Harris has been following around Sam Howell wherever he goes. With Geno Smith out last week, and Howell practicing with the 1s, Harris went with him. Now that Geno is back at practice on Monday, it should be safe to assume Olu will follow him back to the 1s.