2 weeks Ago
The Seattle Seahawks feel they’ve checked all the necessary boxes ahead of the NFL Draft on Thursday night. “We like where we’re at,” general manager John Schneider said during a pre-draft news conference Monday at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center. “We can just go pick darn good football players.
” Advertisement This is where every team would like to be, particularly those picking outside the top 10. The goal is to be without any glaring holes so that a true best-player-available strategy can be utilized, as opposed to bypassing objectively better talents in the name of positional need. That mindset will affect how Seattle maneuvers through a draft in which it has five selections within the first 92 picks.
The team could come away with a strong haul by doing this. There’s only one surefire way for the Seahawks to have a successful draft, though: Upgrade the trenches. The Seahawks have a solid roster, which is why they routinely play meaningful games late in the regular season.
But together, the offensive and defensive lines have combined to amount to an average unit, which is why Seattle hasn’t won a playoff game since 2019 and hasn’t advanced beyond the divisional round since 2014. A major step toward ending those droughts can be taken by improving the front lines this weekend. During a weekly radio appearance in February, Schneider said that when he watches the Seahawks on game day, he focuses on the offensive and defensive lines.
He understands they will go as far as those units take them. “What’s important? That is what’s important,” Schneider said. “If that’s not going well, nothing else is going well.
” The draft is such a critical part of the roster-building process because of the opportunity to acquire players who drastically outperform their four-year rookie deals. High return on investment along the two front lines better equips teams to make deep playoff runs. It’s hard to supplement inadequate drafts with trades and free-agent signings — coughing up draft capital and/or paying market-value salaries limits the potential for a high return on the investment.
Schneider became Seattle’s general manager in 2010. He’s made nearly 30 offensive line selections, starting with left tackle Russell Okung, the sixth pick in the 2010 draft. Okung made the Pro Bowl in 2012 and is the only one of those O-line picks to do so (none has earned All-Pro honors, either).
Schneider has drafted two dozen defensive linemen in Seattle. None has been voted to the Pro Bowl while playing for the Seahawks (Frank Clark, a second-round pick in 2015, made three with the Chiefs). Advertisement Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors are not the only measures of quality line play, but they provide a baseline for assessing above-average talent, at the very least.
The Seahawks have Super Bowl aspirations this year , just as they’ve had virtually every season for over a decade. It is very difficult to get near that goal without using the best talent-acquisition resource available to bolster the front lines. On Monday, Schneider called the offensive line “an area of need,” echoing a sentiment he’s expressed all offseason.
“But it’s also a little bit of a lazy narrative,” Schneider added, “because every team is looking for offensive linemen.” Schneider is correct about the second part. In fact, he’s correct about most of what he has said about the offensive line over the past few offseasons.
There’s a dearth of talent at the position that can be traced back to youth football, where the athletic children who meet the height and weight thresholds to play on the line tend to choose defense, the more glamorous side of the trenches. He’s correct that supply and demand at the NFL level leads to mediocre offensive linemen being overdrafted and overpaid in free agency. And it is true that this offensive line conundrum is not unique to the Seahawks.
“It’s not anything that anybody in football is happy about,” Schneider said. “It’s an area that hasn’t been developed as well as the other side of the ball for one reason or another.” 🚨 NEW #SeahawksMan2Man pod 🚨 “From prospects to playmakers” Live now: Draft mailbag on ideal picks at 18, Jalen Milroe visit, Tetairoa McMillan, Tyler Shough, Mike Macdonald’s influence, the QB class + more! YouTube https://t.
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com/ZSwIwDLNDh — Dugar, Michael-Shawn (@MikeDugar) April 16, 2025 However, it is also true that Seattle’s ability to handle this problem relative to its peers is an issue, and has been for years. Diagnosing the problem is only half the battle; doing something about it is how contenders are built. Swing tackle Josh Jones, who signed a one-year, $4 million contract, is, so far, Seattle’s only notable offensive line transaction of the offseason.
The Seahawks are banking on offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and his staff to take what they’ve inherited up front and put a competent group on the field . The new veteran offensive coaches are also expected to help identify and develop any prospects selected this weekend. But even if Kubiak’s guys are O-line whisperers, they still need premier talent to work with.
Advertisement This doesn’t mean Seattle’s top pick must be an offensive lineman. Each of the first three rounds should have multiple prospects capable of upgrading Seattle’s line, which is returning nearly all of the players from one of the worst units in the league last year (our big board includes specific names to consider). The Seahawks found multiple offensive line starters in the 2022 draft — its best class in years and the one that helped produce the last playoff appearance.
Getting back to the postseason (at minimum) will likely require Seattle doing the same this weekend. Seattle’s defensive line depth chart isn’t as bereft of talent, thanks to a quality interior trio of Leonard Williams, Jarran Reed and Byron Murphy II, and a four-man edge group of Uchenna Nwosu, DeMarcus Lawrence, Boye Mafe and Derick Hall. But a higher baseline doesn’t mean that side of the ball can’t get better, too.
Seattle’s games against playoff teams — minus Week 18 against the Rams — showed the strides the defense still needs to take. The offensive line needs to go from problematic to passable; the defensive line needs to go from very good to elite . The latter is much harder to do, but it is what’s required to be more than a potential wild-card club.
So, what does that look like? On the edge, Seattle needs to raise its ceiling. The Seahawks have good players but not a true game wrecker who must be accounted for every snap. Mafe performed like that type of player for a stretch during the 2023 season , and Lawrence has been that player in the past.
Maybe they’ll return to those heights, Nwosu will stay healthy and look like the player he was in 2022, and Hall will take a Year 3 leap. But counting on all that happening shouldn’t impact the pursuit of a dominant pass rusher who can tilt the scales late in the season. Just like with the offensive line, this doesn’t mean Seattle’s top pick must be spent on the edge.
Many of the top pass rushers in the league were first-round picks, but there are also plenty of examples of teams drafting difference-makers after the first night. Seattle must be one of those teams. The interior defensive line has one of those difference-makers in Williams, who last year became the first Seattle player since 2018 to eclipse 10 sacks; he had 11 and made the Pro Bowl as an alternate.
Reed is a solid veteran, and Murphy flashed potential as a rookie in 2024. Seattle needs to add a player with the type of pass-rush upside that Williams has, similar to what Reed looked like he might become when he recorded 10.5 sacks in 2018.
It might seem obvious to state that the Seahawks need to draft better up front. But keep in mind the stakes are different when discussing those positions. There’s a reason that’s where Schneider’s eyes go when he watches the team play live.
Advertisement Should Seattle try to draft a quarterback of the future? Cornerbacks who might replace the guys on expiring deals? A starting receiver to replace the loss of DK Metcalf? Yes, yes and yes. But the trenches will ultimately tell the story of this draft for the Seahawks. Just as they have told the story of the team’s shortcomings for the better part of the last decade.
(Photo of John Schneider: Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn Images).
