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How Much Of An Issue Is The Seahawks Offensive Line?

Dominate your way to 13 regular season wins. Take out the defending conference champions in the biggest football game ever played in the Pacific Northwest. Destroy the Denver Broncos 43-8 in the Super Bowl. Check, check and check. That’s what the Seattle Seahawks did last season in winning their first ever Super Bowl.

Fresh off that dominating performance against Peyton Manning and the Broncos, Seattle has faced its fair share of player departures. Gone are two valuable defensive backs in Brandon Browner and Walter Thurmond III. Gone are two key rotational defensive ends in Red Bryant and Chris Clemons. Gone are two wide receivers that combined for over 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns two seasons ago in Golden Tate and Sidney Rice.

As good teams do, general manager John Schneider will look to fill these holes internally and through the draft. Heck, it could be said that they have some in-house candidates who could act as upgrades over the aforementioned departures.

Joe Camporeale, USA Today: Jermaine Kearse is more than a decent replacement at wide receiver.

Joe Camporeale, USA Today: Jermaine Kearse is more than a decent replacement at wide receiver.

Jermaine Kearse is a solid down-field threat at the wide receiver position and averaged nearly 16 yards per reception last season. Cornerbacks Jeremy Lane and Byron Maxwell were better last season than what we have seen from Browner and Thurmond recently.

Good teams will lose key players to other organizations who are willing to overpay for them. That’s just the way it is in this business. It’s how that team decides to replace those players that will determine whether it will have sustained success.

At every position that I mentioned above, Seattle seems to have a plan in place.

This seems to indicate that the loss of Breno Giacomini might be the biggest of the offseason. While likely not much more than an slightly above-average right tackle in the NFL, he has started 33 games for the Seahawks over the past three seasons and has even seen some action at left tackle with Russell Okung showing injury-prone tendencies.

Joe Nicholson, USA Today

Joe Nicholson, USA Today

In addition to losing Giacomini, backup offensive lineman Paul McQuistan moved on to the Cleveland Browns in free agency. Couple those two losses with concerns over Okung’s toe and there appears to be one glaring hole on Seattle’s roster as draft season gets going.

As of right now, Michael Bowie would be pencilled in to start Week 1 with Alvin Bailey and Caylin Hauptmann as the two primary offensive tackle backups. Another set back for Okung and one of those two would be asked to fill in as a starter.

That has disaster written all over it for the Seahawks.

Fortunately, Seattle has two picks in the first two rounds of the NFL draft to do something about it. Regardless of its need for a big possession receiver opposite Percy Harvin, Seattle must go hard after a starter-caliber right tackle that can step in from day one or find a guard to take over for James Carpenter and slide him to the outside. Though, that second option would be less than ideal for Peter Carroll’s squad.

The issue here is that barring a slide down the draft board by one of the top offensive tackle prospects, Seattle may be rummaging through leftovers when the end of day one of the draft approaches.

Greg Robinson and Jake Matthews are the consensus top two tackles in the draft. Both of them are going top 10, possibly even top five. Fresh off a great performance at the scouting combine, former Michigan offensive tackle Taylor Lewan should also hear his name called in the top half of the first round.

Then you have Zack Martin from Notre Dame, who some have pegged as a guard at the next level. Martin would be the ideal scenario for Seattle, who needs upgrades at both guard and tackle. His upside seems to be that of Anthony Davis with the San Francisco 49ers, which isn’t too shabby at all. In fact, Davis is among the best right tackles in the NFL.

Joe Camporeale, USA Today: Zack Martin would be ideal, but he's going to be off the board at 32.

Joe Camporeale, USA Today: Zack Martin would be ideal, but he’s going to be off the board at 32.

Again looking at rankings and my personal observations, Martin is highly unlikely to be there at 32. If Seattle were to target him, it would be through a trade up. Unfortunately, pickings are slim there. The Minnesota Vikings possess its third-round pick from the Percy Harvin trade of last offseason.

This leaves a ton of questions come draft day. Alabama’s Cyrus Kouandjio was pegged for a top-20 selection prior to reports that he failed multiple physicals during his days with the Crimson Tide over what might be a chronic knee issue (via NFL.com).

You know very well, as do I, that this is a major red flag for the talented offensive lineman. With that tremendous amount of upside, does Seattle think about risking him at 32? It’s a strong possibility.

Morgan Moses from Virginia would be a great asset to the Seahawks roster. He’d likely be an immediate starter at right tackle and could eventually move to the left side if/when they part ways with Okung. Again, he’s unlikely to be there at 32 after a slow but steady climb up the draft boards.

Second-round options could include Antonio Richardson, Jack Mewhort and JaWuan James, all of whom could step in and start out of the gate. At what level would be the major question there.

As it relates to free agency, not a whole lot to look at here.

David Stewart, Bryant McKinnie, Eric Winston and Tyson Clabo headline the best remaining tackle options on a bare free agent market. As to where it shouldn’t be too hard to replace the pedestrian play of one Breno Giacomini, these four options would actually be downgrades heading into the 2014 season.

In reality, Seattle is right up there with Denver and San Francisco as the three top contenders for the Super Bowl this season. The talent it possesses up and down the roster is astonishing. With that said, we all know how important offensive line play is, especially in front of a young franchise signal caller. Schneider and Carroll are going to need to get to work over the next two months or so in order to fill what are gaping holes along that offensive line. Anything short of adding a starting right tackle, starter-caliber guard and a backup swing tackle would be seen as a disappointment for this team.

That’s a whole lot to ask for right now, especially with the market as bare as it is on the free agent market and Seattle’s draft positioning. With that said, there is no reason not to trust the brass in the Pacific Northwest. They have this on lockdown on their end. Let’s just sit back and see how it plays out.

Photo: Robert Deutsch, USA Today

 

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