Competitions at center, left guard while rest of Seahawks’ offensive line appears set
The Seahawks’ changed offensive line is taking shape.
But not yet proper form.
Six practices into training camp, three spots are already taken on a line that could have 80% turnover this season from last season’s up-and-down, injured unit.
Pro Bowl veteran Duane Brown is anchored again at left tackle. His leadership, pedigree and skill protecting quarterback Russell Wilson’s back side is why he has the team’s third-highest salary-cap charge for this year behind Wilson and Bobby Wagner, at $12.6 million. Brown turns 35 this month. He is coming off knee surgery from late December. The team is pacing him somewhat through camp. He took off most team drills Tuesday.
His day off allowed offseason acquisition Cedric Ogbuehi to play left tackle. The former first-round pick by Cincinnati has impressed Seattle’s coaches.
“Cedric gives us a really classy tackle in the rotation, as well,” coach Pete Carroll said before Tuesday’s practice.
Brandon Shell has already locked down the job of replacing departed former first-round pick Germain Ifedi at right tackle. Carroll is glowing on and on about Shell. He signed in March from the New York Jets in free agency for two years and $11 million in March.
“He is exactly what we were hoping he would be,” Carroll said.
That is, a better pass protector against speedy edge rushers on Wilson’s front side than Ifedi was the last four years. The Seahawks let Ifedi’s contract expire without picking up his fifth-year option that would have been worth $10.35 milllion. He signed a one-year, $1.05 million contract with Chicago this spring. The Seahawks got two years of Shell, 28, at about the price of what their option would have paid Ifedi for one year.
That, and Shell’s play so far in camp, equal value.
The best value so far on this line is at right guard. Rookie third-round pick Damien Lewis has been the starter there since the first drill of the first practice of camp, replacing departed D.J. Fluker. There is no one remotely challenging Lewis. You can just about write it down in ink that the rookie will be starting the opener Sept. 13 at Atlanta.
The former national-champion for LSU is stonewalling veteran defensive linemen daily. Tuesday it was end Rasheem Green, Seattle sack leader last season, on consecutive snaps during a one-on-one pass-rush drill.
It’’s just as LSU coach Ed Orgeron, Carroll’s former assistant at USC, told the Seahawks Lewis would do.
“We heard so many good things about Damien Lewis and how he would be able to handle things and stuff right out of the chutes,” Carroll said.
“He has.”
The two O-line jobs realistically open for competition are at center and left guard.
Center appeared to be B.J. Finney’s place after the former Pittsburgh Steelers guard and center signed and Seattle released injured starter Justin Britt this spring. But he got banged in the arm during practice Monday. Tuesday, Ethan Pocic was the starting center.
Finney has played left guard, right guard, center and even some tight end for the Steelers. He started 13 games in four seasons for Pittsburgh. The Steelers went 11-2 in his starts.
Finney is still likely to be the new center. But Carroll, at least publicly, wants there to be a competition there.
Pocic, the team’s second-round pick in 2017, was the starting center at LSU. He has mainly been a backup tackle and guard for Seattle.
“The center spot with Pocic...and you’ll see Kyle Fuller (a four-year veteran who also plays guard), as well as B.J,” Carroll said, “it’s going to be a wide-open competition.”
Finney’s only worked at center for Seattle. Yet the most snaps in his career have been at left guard. That’s where Mike Iupati, Seattle’s 2019 starter the team signed back for 2020 in the spring, is starting right now.
At 33, with 11, often-battering seasons behind him and coming off a nerve issue in his neck that kept him out of Seattle’s playoff game at Philadelphia in January, Iupati is not the future at left guard.
Jordan Simmons and Phil Haynes may be. But Haynes missed practice Tuesday with an unspecified injury. Seattle’s fourth-round pick last year missed his rookie season injured.
Jamarco Jones could start at left guard, too. Seahawks coaches think Jones could start almost anywhere. He is emerging as perhaps the most intriguing lineman on the team. He has become a valuable piece to the line, because he can play four of the five spots on the line: left and right tackle plus left and right guard. Those are the players who make regular-season rosters and are active for each game.
The Seahawks and then-new line coach Mike Solari, Tom Cable’s replacement, drafted Jones in 2018 in the fifth round to be a left tackle. That what he was at Ohio State. Then last season when Fluker was injured, Jones was a revelation to coaches. He quickly picked up guard, excelled there in his first two career stars, as Fluker’s fill-in. He had never played guard before that. He also started at left guard one game in December, when Brown was having his knee surgery.
In Tuesday’s pass-rush drill, Jones was a stud. He was the best blocker in the drill while lined up at left guard. Twice he stopped one of the most consistent pass rushers of camp so far, veteran end Benson Mayowa. Later, on consecutive snaps, Jones stood up and stopped L.J. Collier when the 2019 first-round pick looped at him on a stunt with Bruce Irvin.
“He has really given us a guy who can play a lot of spots,” Carroll said of Jones.
“He played very well for us in come tough games.”
So far in camp the line has had some issues where this unit’s been remade not to have as many in 2020: in pass protection. Particularly, blitzing safeties and cornerbacks have stormed in unblocked multiple times. The fact the team spent the early practices with just three healthy running backs—newcomer Carlos Hyde, rookie DeeJay Dallas and second-year back Travis Homer, while Chris Carson was away following a family death—hasn’t helped the linemen in blitz pickup.
This is the first year of Wilson’s career he hasn’t had either Britt, the released Joey Hunt or Max Unger as his starting center. The Seahawks may need all 12 of their remaining full-pads practices before the opener to get down the protection calls and blitz pickups they need for this season.
“We’ve got good, quality depth,” Carroll said of his mostly new offensive line.
“I can’t tell you what the story is going to be, though.”
This story was originally published August 18, 2020 at 5:32 PM with the headline "Competitions at center, left guard while rest of Seahawks’ offensive line appears set."
