Emerald City Sports Spotlight ~ with Peter D

The Seahawks’ Offensive Line: Draft Hope or More of the Same?

The NFL Draft is upon us, and while the headlines buzz with new coaching hires, quarterback moves, and defensive schemes, there remains one question that lingers over this Seahawks franchise like the low-hanging gray of a Pacific Northwest winter.

What about the offensive line?

It is the elephant in the room—no, the mammoth. For over a decade, the Seahawks’ offensive line play has ranged somewhere between average and alarming, too often leaving quarterbacks scrambling for their lives and running backs forced to conjure miracles from broken plays. And as the 2025 NFL Draft nears, fans, analysts, and players alike are asking: will this be the year Seattle finally addresses the trenches?

At the Seahawks’ pre-draft press conference, General Manager John Schneider was pressed directly on the state of the offensive line. His answer was revealing—not just about the Seahawks’ strategy, but about the state of offensive line play across the league.

“It’s been very well documented throughout the spring,” Schneider admitted. “It’s an area of need, yeah, absolutely. But, you know, it’s also a little bit of a lazy narrative, because every team is looking for offensive linemen. We’re trying to create guys every single year.”

Lazy narrative? Or persistent problem? Schneider acknowledges both. And maybe there’s truth in that tension. Yes, every NFL team covets offensive linemen. But few teams, year after year, have struggled as Seattle has to build a cohesive, durable front. It is not just about having linemen—it is about having the right linemen. The kind who can open holes for a zone-run scheme, who can hold up in pass protection, who can anchor an identity.

So why is it so hard to find these guys?

Schneider offers some context: “It used to be, when I started in the league with Ron Wolf, a free agent had to have three redeeming qualities. Now, especially with offensive linemen, you have guys in the fourth round that have two redeeming qualities. Tall and long, strong and quick… It’s just happened. It’s not anything anybody in football is happy about.”

In other words, the talent pool has thinned. Or at least, the development pipeline has.

Schneider points to the broader football culture—where kids dream of sacking quarterbacks, not protecting them. “If you’re going to be playing football at a young age, do you want to go sack the quarterback and do your sack dance? Or do you want to go block for a running back or a quarterback?” he mused.

This is not just a Seahawks problem. It is systemic. College programs churn out defensive ends and edge rushers with polished moves and elite athleticism, but offensive linemen often lag behind, lacking the same level of technical refinement. The NFL used to have a bridge—NFL Europe—a training ground where raw linemen could get meaningful reps, refine technique, and transition to the pro game. That is gone now. And so too, Schneider suggests, is much of the hands-on coaching at the college level.

“You used to be able to go to a college practice, watch the first 25 minutes of individual periods, and see these guys work,” he said. “Now it feels like they’re just out there running plays.” The nuance, the fundamentals, the trench warfare tactics? Too often missing.

So here we are. Another draft. Another need. And the uncomfortable truth: even if the Seahawks select an offensive lineman early, will he be ready?

Schneider admitted that, like quarterbacks, offensive linemen are often drafted higher than their grades merit simply because of scarcity. That raises another question—are teams overvaluing traits like length and speed at the expense of technique and toughness?

It is easy to point fingers at the Seahawks’ front office, but Schneider’s comments suggest a deeper issue. This is not about a failure to draft linemen. It is about a league-wide failure to develop them.

But here is the rub. Schneider can recognize the trend. He can explain it, justify it, contextualize it. But fans? They are tired of excuses. They have watched Russell Wilson scramble for his life. They have watched Geno Smith take unnecessary hits. And now, with Sam Darnold in the fold and Klint Kubiak tasked with establishing a run-first identity, the offensive line is not just another positional group—it is the foundation.

So, the question remains: Will Seattle break the cycle this year? Or are we destined for more of the same?

Draft night will bring answers. But Schneider’s comments remind us that some answers run deeper than any single selection can fix.