One of the most enjoyable parts of the Seattle Seahawks’ offseason is not just the fact that they’re Super Bowl champions, which we’ll continue to note as much as possible, it’s the relief of not having a familiar positional “need” to be addressed through free agency, trades, or the NFL Draft.
Here’s a thorough summary of Seattle Seahawks free agent and trade acquisitions along the offensive line this offseason:
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Added: None
Re-signed: Josh Jones
Released/traded: None
That’s it. The Seahawks have their starting tackles under contract for multiple seasons, a standout first-round pick at left guard with up to four years left on his rookie deal remaining, an undrafted center who’d otherwise be a restricted free agent at the end of 2026, and a heavily discussed right guard whose contract is expiring next season. They brought back their key reserve on another cheap contract, plus they have several recent draft picks as either depth or potential right guard competition.
Seattle has retained every offensive lineman from last season, which has never happened before under John Schneider, not to mention offensive line coach John Benton did not go with Klint Kubiak to the Las Vegas Raiders. This isn’t to say that all of them will be on the next 53-man roster—they won’t, because no team rosters 13 OL in the regular season—but there’s no need for major changes to the starting lineup. At worst, the Seahawks do make a push to replace Bradford given his expiring contract and inconsistencies. There’s no particularly strong reason to bench/move on from Jalen Sundell, and the other three positions are clearly locked in place for years to come.
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After the loss to the Los Angeles Rams in 2024, I said that John Schneider’s time in Seattle should come to an end if he didn’t change his offensive line philosophy. This was my closing paragraph:
Last year, I said Pete Carroll’s inability to rebuild his defense was one of his greatest failures as a head coach. This latest shambolic offensive line should be Schneider’s greatest failure. He has had many successes, many winning seasons, and a damn Super Bowl title to his ledger, but you don’t live off of your positive reputation in perpetuity. If we work on the assumption that Schneider will still be the GM in 2025—I’m confident this will be the case but perhaps less so if the Seahawks are 5-12 or thereabouts—then the onus is on him to finally change what hasn’t been working. Otherwise Seattle will be looking for a new GM, and the Carroll/Schneider era will have an ending as ugly as the prime seasons were beautiful.
Well, it ain’t time to move on. Schneider nailed every aspect of 2025’s offensive line approach: drafting Grey Zabel in the first round, signing Josh Jones to be a swing tackle, extending Abe Lucas before the season started, extending Charles Cross during the year, and not going the extra mile to “overpay” Will Fries in free agency after the Vikings gave him more long-term security. Yes, he finally extended his own offensive line draft picks for the first time since Justin Britt. Yes, he drafted a guard in the first round and the Seahawks coaching staff kept him at guard. Yes, he did try to make a splash move for a guard in free agency but thankfully it didn’t materialize. Four of Seattle’s five starters were drafted by Schneider, and while Sundell was undrafted he is effectively a homegrown talent given he failed his physical with the Cleveland Browns. Even when Seattle won the Super Bowl in 2013 they had Russell Okung, James Carpenter, and J.R. Sweezy as starters drafted by Schneider (and Pete Carroll), but the Seahawks eventually retained none of those players, sparking a sequence of unfortunate transactions trying to fill those roster holes.
It should be emphasized and clarified that continuity in itself is not an obvious good. On no planet could anyone look at the 2016 and 2017 Seahawks offensive lines and rationally think that the likes of Bradley Sowell, Luke Joeckel, Oday Aboushi, and Rees Odhiambo just needed a little more time in Tom Cable’s system to develop into plus starters. When you have an offensive line ranking 12th in ESPN’s pass block win rate and 8th in run block win rate, why wouldn’t you want to bring the band back together?
Sam Darnold just put up the lowest sack rate of any Seahawks quarterback since Matt Hasselbeck had Walter Jones still blocking for him. Kenneth Walker won Super Bowl MVP and a huge free agent contract after the run blocking transformed itself late in the season. For all of the griping about Bradford and the need/desire to upgrade at right guard, the line as a whole was so much better in 2025 such that it’s not a total structural collapse on days when Bradford doesn’t play well.
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The best may still be yet to come for the Seahawks. While I think time is ticking on Christian Haynes, both Bryce Cabeldue and Mason Richman will be interesting training camp and preseason watches this summer. Amari Kight showed some promise in preseason and filled in adequately for an injured Josh Jones in the playoff romp over the San Francisco 49ers. At last, Seattle has a young, talented offensive line with intriguing young talent in reserve, plus the potential to add through the NFL Draft next month. The perpetual one-year veteran stopgaps are hopefully a thing of the past. This is how an offensive line should be built, and it’s one of the reasons why Schneider has got an Executive of the Year award to go along with his second Super Bowl.
