Have The Seahawks Learned From Their Mistakes?
The Seattle Seahawks enter this offseason with several needs, but none are more significant than its offensive line. The Seahawk's offensive line has been an issue for this team for over a decade, and not many things have been done to remedy this issue. Still, after seeing the Philadelphia Eagles win the Super Bowl behind a dominant offensive line, one has to wonder if the Seahawks will finally learn from past mistakes.
The last time the Seahawks had an elite offensive line was in 2005. The Seahawks O-Line, which was led by future Hall of Famers Walter Jones and Steve Hutchinson, would finish number 1 in the league. Behind this O-Line, running back Shaun Alexander would rush for over 1800 yards, set the league record for most touchdowns in a season with 28, and win that year's Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year awards. The Seahawks would have the best season in team history until that point, going 13-3 and making the team's first-ever Super Bowl appearance. While the Seahawks would lose in the Super Bowl (A Super Bowl widely considered the worst officiated one in history), there is no denying that the last time the Seahawks had an elite offensive line, the team was wildly successful.
Since the beginning of the John Schneider in Seattle, the team's offensive line has often been its greatest weakness. The best the Seahawks’ O-line has been under Schneider was in his first season as general manager; in 2010, the Seahawks line finished 19th in the league. In the Seahawk's Super Bowl-winning season in 2014, the offensive line finished 27th, and while the rest of the team was talented enough to make up for this deficiency that season, that has not been the case for the last decade. The offensive line struggles were primarily to blame for the rift that would grow between Russell Wilson and the front offense, resulting in his eventual trade from the team. For every season of Wilson's tenure with the Seahawks, the O-line never had a pass-blocking grade higher than 18th, and for five of his ten seasons with the team, the O-line had a bottom-five pass-blocking grade. For all of current quarterback Geno Smith's seasons with the team, the offensive line has yet to finish above 20th in pass blocking grade.
This past season, the Seahawks' offensive line finished 31st in the league, making it the second-worst line in the NFL. The line gave up 54 sacks, the third most in the league last season. This season's poor line play also significantly hurt the run game; the Seahawks only rushed for an average of 95.7 yards per game, which was the worst in the NFL. It is not a stretch to say that if the Seahawks' offensive line had been slightly better this season, they would have made the playoffs. The offensive line costing the Seahawks a shot at the playoffs is no more evident than in their week 9 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Rams. In the 20-26 loss to the Rams, the Hawks' O-line gave up seven sacks, and the running backs could only average 3.2 yards per carry, an abysmal amount. Had the Seahawks won this game, they would likely have won the division and secured a playoff spot.
The Seahawks' offensive line struggles have not come from a place of not caring; the first two first-round picks John Schneider ever made were offensive linemen Russel Okung and James Carpenter. During his fifteen years as a Seahawks general manager, John Schneider drafted 25 offensive linemen; the problem is that up to this point, only one of these linemen was ever signed to a second contract, that being 2014 second-round pick Justin Britt. Most of the linemen the Seahawks have drafted over the past fifteen years have been lucky to play out their entire rookie contracts, with most flaming out two or three years in. It has become clear that there is an issue with the scouting and player development departments regarding offensive linemen.
While the Seahawks' drafting of linemen has not gone well, there has at least been an attempt; the same can not be said for addressing the offensive line in free agency. Under John Schneider, the team has never been one for making big moves in free agency, which is likely for the best as most of the time, it has ended in disaster when they do. The only significant free agent move that Schneider has made regarding the online was the signing of tackle Duane Brown, which was purely reactionary as it was only made because starting tackle George Fant tore his ACL in the 2017 preseason. For most of Schneider's tenure, he has made it a point to avoid spending money on the offensive line at all costs; this was all but confirmed when, in March of 2024, John Schneider said, "Guys get overdrafted at [the guard] position and, in my opinion, they get overpaid," this philosophy has resulted in Schneider primarily signing players like Laken Tomlinson, Brandon Shell, B.J. Finney, Austin Blythe, journeymen on cheap one-year deals. The strategy of not resigning drafted players and only bringing in cheap free agents has caused the Seahawk's O-line to be a revolving door for the past 15 years, negatively affecting the team's performance.
Going into the offseason, the question on many Seahawks fans' minds is whether the team has learned from its past mistakes and will finally commit to building a great online that could allow them to recapture the success of 2005 or continue down the same path of putting band-aids of bullet wounds and roll out another patchwork online in 2025. Unfortunately, it seems like the latter is far more likely, as just this week in an interview, John Schneider said regarding the offensive line, "You can't just throw money at something to fix to it, to fix a perceived need,." The onus is on Schneider to change a philosophy that isn't working; otherwise, it might be time for the Seahawks to find a new GM.
Go Hawks!
