Seahawks offseason assessment: offensive line
By Keith Myers
The Seattle Seahawks have some tough decisions to make along the offensive line. The weakest link of team could see many new faces next season.
For the second-straight offseason, the Seattle Seahawks have bit of a crisis on the offensive line. Only two of their top seven linemen from last season are currently under contract for 2016.
This is the second in our position by position breakdown of the current roster. David kicked things off yesterday by looking at the cornerbacks.
Rostered Players
| Player | Pos | Age | 2016 cap # |
| Justin Britt | OG/OT | 24 | $942,799 |
| Gary Gilliam | OT | 25 | $604,000 |
| Mark Glowinski | OG | 23 | $611,422 |
| Kristjan Sokoli | OC/OG | 24 | $547,621 |
| Kona Schwenke | OT | 23 | $450,000 |
| Drew Nowak | OG/OC | 25 | $520,000 |
| Will Pericak | OG | 26 | $450,000 |
| Terry Poole | OG/OT | 23 | $450,000 |
Free Agents
| Player | Pos | Age | Type |
| Russell Okung | LT | 28 | UFA |
| J.R. Sweezy | RG | 26 | UFA |
| Patrick Lewis | OC | 24 | RFA |
| Lemuel Jean-Pierre | OC/OG | 28 | UFA |
| Alvin Bailey | OT/OG | 24 | RFA |
Assessment
One look at the above charts will make it obvious that the Seahawks are in a fairly dire position along the offensive line. Their two most experienced linemen are both unrestricted free agents, and a third starter is a restricted free agent.
The only two starters that aren’t free agents were both first-year starters in 2015. Gilliam was steady but unspectacular. Britt was mostly a disaster at LG.
Luckily, both starting center Patrick Lewis and key reserve Alvin Bailey are both restricted free agents. That means that they’ll be back if the team wants them back. That will help provide some continuity as the team looks to replace multiple starters for the second year in a row.
That doesn’t change the fact that the team is still is a fairly desperate here. The biggest issue is at left tackle. Alvin Bailey can fill in there as a short term injury replacement, but he isn’t someone who should be counted on as a full-time starter.
That puts the Seahawks in a tough spot. Re-signing Okung or bringing in another capable veteran will be expensive. Failing to do so means committing to using a high-end draft pick on the position and also dealing with rookie growing pains.
Similarly, if the Seahawks go with a rookie at LT, they won’t want to do the same at RG. They saw what happens when you make wholesale changes along the line last year, and it wasn’t pretty.
That makes this an either-or situation. The Seahawks will need to re-sign, or replace with a another veteran, one of their free agent starters.
Ideally, I think it would be best for the Seahawks to bring Sweezy back. He’ll be much cheaper to sign than Okung, and has been more dependable in terms of injuries. That would leave the team needing a LT, which they would get with their first draft selection.