Last week, Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald admitted to reporters that the team’s offensive line is a work in progress. Now nearly three weeks removed from the beginning of free agency, the team has only signed a couple of career backups for their interior: Nick Harris from the Browns and Tremayne Anchrum from the Rams. Right now those two may project as the starters at guard, sandwiching Olu Oluwatimi at center. All together those three have only started six games in the NFL, though.
That means regardless of what Seattle has planned for the 2024 NFL draft, adding some more experience to this unit is a good idea. General manager John Schneider seems to agree and says the team will be bringing in a couple of free agent veterans for visits. Here’s what he told ESPN radio about the OL on Friday:
“We’re going to be bringing a couple veteran offensive linemen through (for visits during) this second phase of free agency and then (be) comparing that to what the draft looks like… Anytime you’re just drafting for need – that is a need on our team right now, I think it’s fairly obvious – but we like so many young guys (like Raiqwon) O’Neil, McClendon Curtis. I mean, there’s some guys in there, some younger guys that we like, too, that we’ve added … There’s some young players that a fan may not necessarily know, but that we’re excited about in the mix.”
Schneider has a point about O’Neil and Curtis, two highly-regarded members of the 2023 rookie class who combined for just 27 snaps as rookies – most of them coming on special teams. If either one can grow into a reliable contributor this year it might make a big difference at an exceedingly low cost – both are under salary for less than $1 million in 2024.
However, we would be surprised if the team doesn’t sign at least one veteran who has extensive experience as a starter at guard. We’ll be reviewing some of their best options tomorrow.
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