As the Seahawks look to improve upon last year's finish, which saw them barely miss the playoffs, Seattle will have to contend with significant turnover among the players tasked with protecting quarterback Geno Smith.
Five offensive linemen were lost to free agency earlier this month, including three 2023 starters in center Evan Brown and guards Damien Lewis and Phil Haynes, leaving a clear void on the offensive front.
Speaking this week, general manager John Schneider recognized the need to fortify the offensive line, adding that the Seahawks are exploring multiple approaches to address this concern.
"We're going to be bringing a couple of veteran offensive linemen through in this second phase of free agency, and then comparing that to what the draft looks like," Schneider said on Seattle Sports 710, . "...That is a need on our team right now, I think it's fairly obvious."
So far, Seattle has signed tackle George Fant, who started 13 games in Houston last year, along with guard Tremayne Anchrum Jr. and center Nick Harris, though the duo had a combined two starts in 2023. But with the roster-building just beginning, the draft could also be an appealing avenue to pursue.
The Seahawks have the No. 16 overall pick of this year's draft, and hold seven selections overall, with discussions ongoing to determine if, or when, would be the best time to draft an O-lineman.
"What does the draft look like? What are the different levels? What are the cutoffs?" Schneider said. "How far do you push to go get a guy or to fall back to get into another group of players where there may be three or four guys as compared to the talent level at one specific player or prospect. We'll be constantly evaluating that over the next four weeks here."
Whoever is added would join one of the younger units in the league. Guard Anthony Bradford and tackles Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas all started at least six games in 2023, and all were drafted within the last two years, leading a group that could have a lot of room to grow with more snaps this upcoming season.
"We like some of the young guys, (Raiqwon) O'Neal, McClendon Curtis, there's some younger guys we really like too that we've added right after the first game last year," Schneider said. "So they're some young players that a fan might not necessarily know, but that we're excited about in the mix."
Though the first wave of free agency has passed, and some of the bigger names available have signed elsewhere, there's still a lot of offseason left in which to continue adding players, working to build out an offensive line set to look very different than the past year.
"When you talk about holes, we do pride ourselves on not acting like, OK, we have all the answers here and now our job is done. We're building this team 365 days a year, and that's never changed; we'll constantly be doing that… It's a constant process. I think (head coach) Mike (Macdonald) said it the other day, We're not playing next week, so we're going to be constantly working on everything."
