The Seahawks general manager doesn’t go too in-depth on how Seattle will fix its offensive line, but acknowledges it’s a problem.
The Seattle Seahawks once had arguably the best offensive line in the NFL. That was also so long ago that the first iPhone was two years out from hitting the market. We only wish we could have Walter Jones, Steve Hutchinson, Robbie Tobeck, Chris Gray, and Sean Locklear as a starting line again.
Following another disappointing season of offensive line play from the Seahawks, the expectation is that Seattle will have no choice but to focus heavily on improving the line through the draft and free agency. On Friday’s offseason special edition of The John Schneider Show, the Seahawks general manager talked about the Seahawks’ process and whether anything has changed over his 15 seasons in charge.
“Philosophically, no, not really,” Schneider said. “We know exactly what our deficiencies are. It’s, you know… we can all see it, right? We have a plan to address everything. Part of the acquisition part also is like, okay, what’s the buy-in then with everybody so you can develop guys? You have to be a strong developmental team.
“And getting back to [the Philadelphia Eagles], they’ve done a great job there. Their offensive line coach is a really good coach and been there for a long time. They’ve done a really nice job getting the acquisition and development in there, and that’s what we need to improve on. We need to improve our ability to identify and then develop, because it’s 50% both ways and you have to be able to develop these guys.”
When Seattle Sports 710 host Bob Stelton asked Schneider about addressing the offensive line through free agency vs. the NFL Draft, he had an interesting response.
“Great question,” Schneider said. “I would say it changes every year by position, except for the offensive line, because everybody’s on this constant quest for offensive linemen and developing offensive linemen.
“To answer your question, every position changes every year based on depth, but the offensive line, there’s always like this dearth of talent at the position,” he continued. “So, you know, supply and demand, right?
“When you talk to other teams, when you talk to other GMs about trades and stuff like that, or our guys upstairs are talking to other teams, everybody kind of skips the offensive line because it’s, like, just a given. Everybody’s looking for them, you know what I mean?”
And talking about free agency, don’t expect any splash signings.
“You can’t just throw money at something to fix to it, to fix a perceived need,” he concluded. “We’ve made mistakes there in the past and we’re gonna try not to repeat mistakes we’ve made.”
Full video can be watched below!