NFL draft preview: Expect Seahawks to add to 19 offensive linemen picked in last 10 years
Pass rush remains the Seahawks’ biggest need.
Offensive linemen who can pass block remains Seattle’s most consistent need.
So much for coach Pete Carroll’s stated goal in January that he wanted to keep his offensive line from 2019’ mostly together in 2020. Germain Ifedi, the starting right tackle the last four seasons, is gone. He signed with Chicago in free agency. George Fant, who a couple years ago was the left tackle of the future, is gone, to the New York Jets. Fant was effective the last two seasons as the Seahawks’ extra, blocking tight end on running plays.
Center Justin Britt is no sure thing to be on the field, or a Seahawk, whenever the 2020 season begins; the 2020 NFL season starting on time is no sure thing, amid our coronavirus pandemic. Britt is six months removed from a season-ending knee injury then reconstructive surgery. The procedure often involves 9-12 months of recovery time before a return to the field.
He turns 29 next month. His contract and health make him a candidate to be released.
His cap charge for 2020 is $11.4 million. That’s the fifth-highest cap number on the Seahawks, behind Russell Wilson, Bobby Wagner, Duane Brown and Tyler Lockett. Britt’s base salary for 2020, the final year of his contract, is $8.25 million. The Seahawks could save $8.5 million if they released him.
They would only do that if they are convinced B.J. Finney, the former Steelers guard and center signed last month for two years and $8 million, or Joey Hunt, who filled in for Britt over the final 2 1/2 months of last season, are ready to take over as the new starting center this year. Or, if they believe Britt will remained sidelined well into the 2020 season recovering from his major knee surgery.
In addition to Hunt, the Seahawks have reserve Ethan Pocic. He played center at LSU. Seattle has been using him as a reserve guard and tackle since it drafted Pocic in the second round in 2017.
General manager John Schneider said at the NFL combine in late February he’d been impressed with how Britt had been “doing a great job” working in the team’s training room on his recovery. But the Seahawks aren’t yet sure when Britt could be back on a field.
“That’s an unfortunate thing for him, you know,” Schneider said of Britt’s injury.
Then the GM added: “But Joey came in and played real well. And Pocic can play there, as well.”
Schneider said that before he signed Finney.
Bringing back 2019 starting left guard Mike Iupati this week on a free-agent contract puts Seattle further out of the market for an interior offensive lineman in the draft April 23-25.
Yet even after signing three free-agent offensive linemen in two days last month, a tackle remains a strong possibility. And this draft has impact tackles.
TOP OFFENSIVE LINEMEN IN 2020 NFL DRAFT
1. Mekhi Becton, tackle, Louisville
2. Tristan Wirfs, tackle-guard, Iowa
3. Jedrick Wills, tackle, Alabama
4. Andrew Thomas, tackle, Georgia
5. Cesar Ruiz, center, Michigan
In today’s drafts the value of tackles who are quick, athletic and strong enough to repel charging NFL edge rushers is the highest on offense, except for the quarterbacks those tackles will protect. As always, the top tackles will go off the board early and often in round one April 23.
Those include Mekhi Becton from Louisville, Jedric Wills from Alabama, Tristan Wirfs of Iowa (whom some see as an NFL guard) and Andrew Thomas from Georgia. All are likely to have been selected before the Seahawks’ turn at 27 in round one.
But two top tackles may still be available and likely to make Schneider and Carroll pause before their seemingly automatic trading down in round one; they’ve traded their original first-round choice in eight consecutive drafts.
That’s because Russell Wilson has remained the most pressured quarterback in the NFL.
Josh Jones from Houston and Austin Jackson of USC are expected to stay on the board at least until late in the first round.
Jones is massive: 6 feet 5 and 319 pounds. He pass blocked against speedy edge rushers in 45 starts at left tackle over four years in his college career at Houston.
Jones is a more complete offensive tackle for Carroll’s run-based system in Seattle than what typically comes out of college football today, with its predominance of spread, pass-first offenses. Jones and the University of Houston ran the ball an average of 38 times per game last season and averaged 26 passes. It’s tough to find a school east of Stanford that does that in college football now.
Some analysts see Jones within the top 20 players at any position in this draft.
USC’s Jackson impresses
Jackson is even bigger than Jones, at 6-5 and 322. The early draft entrant started the last two seasons at left tackle for USC, and Carroll assuredly knows inside stories on him from the former Trojans coach’s connections at SC. (Carroll has drafted three USC players in his first 10 Seahawks drafts, not as many as you may have thought.)
For instance, Carroll and Schneider know Jackson donated bone marrow to his younger sister Autumn before USC’s 2019 season. Autumn has Diamond Blackfan Anemia (DBA), a rare inherited disorder that prevents her bone marrow from producing red blood cells. She’d been getting transfusions every three weeks. Sometimes her body was rejecting donated blood, causing extra hospitalizations.
The Seahawks know Jackson took his offseason workouts home and trained on his own last year so he could be with his sister then donate his bone marrow. The procedure drew the marrow from Jackson’s lower back. He could not work out for three weeks following the surgery.
Yet the 2016 high school All-American then became an All-Pac-12 left tackle for USC in 2019, starting all 13 games.
“She’s had it since she was born,” Jackson said of DBA at the league’s scouting combine in Indianapolis, in late February. “The procedure I did, the bone marrow transplant, allows her body to accept my blood cells. Thank God we were a perfect match through blood testing. That allowed her to fully restart her system and her body is now producing red blood cells.
“It was a long process. I had to take the whole offseason to go home and be with her and train on my own. I couldn’t afford to get sick, otherwise the procedure would have been prolonged. I battled back through fall camp and through the season to gain my strength back.
“There were a lot of emotions. I was happy. I was excited. But most importantly I just thanked God,” he said. “It was a miracle, and I was glad I could do that for my family.”
Jackson said his sister is now in “full recovery” with no symptoms.
And he is about to get drafted into the NFL.
After leaving college a year early some see Jackson as a more raw prospect, with athleticism to grow to a high ceiling of untapped ability. Some see him as second-round pick.
I see Jackson as possessing perspective of life well beyond his 20 years.
If Britt is indeed about to be released, Seattle could find a center for years to come in Cesar Ruiz. The Michigan star is the best center in this draft. He is expected to be an NFL starter from just about right away deep into the 2020s.
If the Seahawks decide trading down and addressing their bigger need for pass rushers and defensive tackles is their move in the earlier rounds, they will still have options for offensive linemen later.
Solomon Kindley used his 6-3, 337-pound body to maul defenders while a left guard at Georgia. He is the kind of physical road grader Seahawks line coach Mike Solari has gone with in recent years. D.J. Fluker and Iupati as the starting guards last year plus drafting guard Phil Haynes in 2019 are examples of Solari’s kind of masher.
Kindley is number 66 at left guard here:
Some expect Kindley to be available perhaps into the fourth round, because of questions about his pass protection. Thing is, the Seahawks don’t need more questions in pass protection.
The future at tackle
Tackle is the more pressing issue on the Seahawks’ offensive line.
Brown, Seattle’s starting left tackle, is 35. He had knee surgery in December. His contract ends after 2021.
The Seahawks signed Brandon Shell last month to a two-year, $9 million contract to replace Ifedi as the new right tackle. They also signed free-agent tackle Cedric Ogbuehi, a former first-round pick by Cincinnati.
Ogbuehi appears to have a track to being what Fant was, a backup, “swing” tackle who can play both sides. Ogbuehi, who turns 28 next week, is a stop-gap player. He’s on a one-year contract at up to $2.3 million. He hasn’t started a game since Dec. 17, 2017. He played 11 snaps that day for Cincinnati before injuring his shoulder in a game at Minnesota.
History says the Seahawks are going to draft offensive linemen, more than one, in this draft. Schneider and Carroll have selected 19 of them in their first 10 drafts leading the franchise. Ten of those 19 have been tackles, starting with Russell Okung in the first round in 2010 through Ifedi in the round one in 2016 and Haynes in the fourth round last spring.
This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 8:49 AM with the headline "NFL draft preview: Expect Seahawks to add to 19 offensive linemen picked in last 10 years."
