Update On The Seahawks Offensive Line

The Seahawks now have 3 starters from their offensive line on Injured Reserve. Forming a competent unit for this week’s game against the Rams isn’t as easy as just playing the 5 most talented guys. Offensive lines require continuity, communication and teamwork.

The Seahawks have not announced exactly who is going to be playing which position along the line on Monday, but it is pretty easy to put together a reasonable guess. Obviously Unger will stay at center, and Gallery will remain at LG. It also seems likely that Breno Giacomini will also stay at RT.

It’s the other 2 positions where things are less clear. Paul McQuistan seems to be the swing player in all of this. If the team chooses to leave him at RG, then Jariel King will start at LT. But McQuistan can also play tackle, so the Seahawks may choose to move him over to LT and bring in someone else to play RG.

It is that second option that I believe is what is going to happen.

Why do I think that? Because the Seahawks signed G/C Mike Gibson when Russel Okung was placed on IR. If the team intended on playing King, they would have needed another backup tackle. Instead, they signed an interior lineman, which would seems to indicate that McQuistan was moving to tackle.

So if we assume that McQuistan is indeed moving to LT, then who plays RG? I’ve seen a lot of speculation that Mike Gibson will be starting at RG this week. While I think we may see that happen before the season ends, I highly doubt that Gibson starts this week. Instead, I’d be very surprised if we don’t see Lemuel Jeanpierre at RG this week.

Why JeanPierre and not Gibson? Well, if you think back to when John Moffitt was hurt, it was Jeanpierre who came in and played for the rest of that game. There was talk of Jeanpierre possibly becoming the starter at that time, but Pete Carroll decided to start McQuistan instead because Jeanpierre was the team’s only backup center, and Carroll didn’t want to risk having both centers being out there at the same time and subject to possibly getting hurt. Gibson can also play center. So that concern is no longer valid. Plus, Gibson was just signed. Remember the line above about “continuity, communication and teamwork?” It’s hard to have continuity with a guy who’s just come in off the street.

So, as it looks right now, the Offensive line, from LT to RT, will look like McQuistan, Gallery, Unger, JeanPierre, Giacomini.