Seahawks continue looking for speed on o-line

The Seahawks have been through multiple offensive line coaches in recent years, and there’s now enough data to begin to piece together the types of players the new regime is looking to add up front.

The Seattle Seahawks addressed the trenches on both sides of the ball in the 2024 NFL Draft. The addition of defensive tackle Byron Murphy on Day 1 and guard Christian Haynes on Day 2 gives the team a pair of players who could contribute immediately on the field, and then Day 3 saw the team add two more offensive linemen in Sataoa Laumea and Michael Jerrell.

Fans, of course, are picky and always have their own list of the players they wanted the team to select, and it’s obviously impossible to please everyone all the time. That leads to grumbling and the gnashing of teeth, but at the end of the day there is no telling how the newly added players will perform in the years to come.

With that in mind, one of the questions of the offseason has been how the Seahawks would approach the issues faced by the offensive line the past couple of seasons. The Hawks certainly didn’t splurge in free agency to address the issues on the interior of the offensive line, and there have been multiple changes in the offensive linemen Seattle has looked to add over the years.

Under Tom Cable, the Hawks looked for strong, explosive players like J.R. Sweezy, Justin Britt, Mark Glowinski and George Fant. Then came Mike Solari and his preference for long-armed, mauling linemen, including on the interior of the offensive line, with athleticism coming more as an afterthought. This strategy saw the team add lower paid veteran on the interior in Mike Iupati and D.J. Fluker, while largely neglecting the position group in the draft.

In Solari’s four years as offensive line coach Seattle drafted just four offensive linemen, and never drafted more than a single lineman in any given season. Of those selections, Damien Lewis was by far the greatest success, while Phil Haynes, Jamarco Jones and Stone Forsythe have struggled to get on the field. None of the three have played 500 or more snaps in a season so far in their career, and both Jones and Haynes remain unsigned free agents with much of the offseason already in the rear view mirror.

After moving on from Solari, the reins of the offensive line were given to Andy Dickerson, who focused on adding athleticism. That focus included the selection of Charles Cross, Abe Lucas and Anthony Bradford while adding athletic free agents like Evan Brown and poaching the like of McClendon Curtis and Raiqwon O’Neal off the practice squads of other teams.

And now it’s new offensive line coach Scott Huff’s turn to show what he can do, and to show fans what the new regime is looking for from its offensive linemen. A look at the physical and athletic profiles of linemen added this offseason reveals an easy to spot trend.

What jumps right out of that table is the speed of many of the players added. the 5.03 Christian Haynes posted in the 40 is in the 93rd percentile for offensive line prospects this millennium, while Michael Jerrell’s 4.94 checks in at the 96th percentile. Sataoa Laumea did not run the 40 at either the Combine or his pro day, but many pre-draft estimates place him in the 5.10 to 5.20 range.

The majority of the players added in free agency also fit this speedy criteria. George Fant, Tremayne Anchrum, Laken Tomlinson and Nick Harris all ran the 40 at 5.22 or faster at either the Combine or their pro day, as did undrafted free agent Garret Greenfield. Of the ten offensive linemen added to the roster this offseason, the only two who did not clock in faster than 5.22 in the 40 are undrafted free agent Mike Novitsky out of perennial powerhouse Kansas and Max Pircher, a former International Pathways Player for the Detroit Lions.

Of course, athleticism is irrelevant if players aren’t able to apply their athletic skills in a competent manner on the field, so now it’s up to the new coaching staff to ensure the athletic skills of the new lineman don’t go to waste.