The future of the OL

[hawkfan68]

Belichek fired his OL coach for a piss poor OL. Maybe Carroll needs to do the same to his.

 

[Hawk4lyfe]

I sure hope you are right Kearly. I have been complaining to my wife for years, that we are winning DESPITE our o-line, not because of them. I am a firm believer that you start with the lines, and build out. If we could even get an average o-line in there we would be pretty tough to beat. Wilson getting pressured all the time is slowing his growth as a pocket passer imo, and it contributed significantly to our loss to Carolina (read the pick 6). I think its time we protect our investment in Wilson, and I hope the coaches make the effort this year, make it a priority

 

[seahawks08]

I really appreciate this thread and the (mostly) well-reasoned responses to the OP. I would just like to point out that we have invested some draft capital to OL, starting with Okung, but we haven't hit pay dirt much. Carpenter is okay (playing for someone else), Moffit was a fail, Britt is a giant question mark, and the other late round/FA guys are all sort of TBD at this point. Glowinski shows promise at RG.

As for what I wish would happen, I do like Lewis, but I can't ignore how his lack of athleticism is a factor against upper-echelon DTs, and I wonder how adept he is at line calls and what not. I think we could do worse than Lewis, but I would love an upgrade in the worst way. Finding a veteran C who is reliable and makes the right calls would be grand, especially if Lewis can continue to study and find ways to play to his strengths. At least getting a solid draft pick for competition is essential, particularly if we pay up to keep Sweezey and/or Okung.

And speaking of Okung, I'm seriously ill at the thought of gambling on Gilliam, or even Bailey, at LT next year. Both those guys can play a bit, but would you bet Russell Wilson's health on either of them for long? Maybe if we got a real stud at RT a move would make sense, but that seems like a wish. That said, how much do you gamble on Okung remaining healthy? He is simply not reliable for a season, especially as we get to the playoffs. Even if we have to sign him, I hope the deal is structured to move on from him without too much pain, and I hope and pray that we draft a replacement for him this year. I just don't see a viable FA replacement that really gets us much.

My point is that LT and C are, to me, the two positions I would like to solidify. Even if Sweezey leaves, I'm ok with Glow or competition at RG, and I think Gilliam was fine (not great, but not a disaster) at RT. Britt needs to take some ballet or something, but I think he can be a solid LG in pass pro with experience and conditioning.

And no matter what mix we have on our OL, it's imperative that we have game plans to address our competition. Teams like the Rams and Panthers with great interiors need to be met with a spread O for Christ's sake, but we don't seem to want to do that until half a game has slipped by.

Long time, no hear from you. I agree with most of your points, I just don't agree on the spread offense against the Rams. They are so quick on pressure and had so much packages to confuse RW and our line, we had no answer for them. I think just body on body, blocking and a solid running against them is the only way to ease up the pressure. If you get less than 1.5 seconds, all short intermediate passes also get covered really quick for RW to figure things out. Hopefully Pete is going to coach him to read through all of this and be much better against elite defenses. I am excited for next season.

 

[brimsalabim]

Not re-signing Kearse and cutting Graham would free up an extra 12M or so to spend on the OL (9M from Graham and about 3-4M from Kearse). I'm hoping they do this.

The Seahawks spent 12.8M on the OL last season with only two other teams spending less. Would be nice if they can double that number in free agency to go along with some high draft picks next season.

A great line and no playmakers? How did that work out for Dallas?

No playmakers ? what....Romo, Dez Bryant, Jason Whitten, and Darrin Mcfadden, aren't playmakers?

 

[mrt144]

Not re-signing Kearse and cutting Graham would free up an extra 12M or so to spend on the OL (9M from Graham and about 3-4M from Kearse). I'm hoping they do this.

The Seahawks spent 12.8M on the OL last season with only two other teams spending less. Would be nice if they can double that number in free agency to go along with some high draft picks next season.

A great line and no playmakers? How did that work out for Dallas?

No playmakers ? what....Romo, Dez Bryant, Jason Whitten, and Darrin Mcfadden, aren't playmakers?

Injuries screwed the first two up and McFadden is aged.