Seahawks must avoid reaching for offensive line help

The Seattle Seahawks cannot afford another draft mistake on the offensive line. They’ll be better off taking a player later in the draft than landing another Justin Britt or James Carpenter. 

When discussing the draft needs of the Seattle Seahawks, obviously the offensive line is front and center. The group is currently filled with nothing but a lot of “could be” and “never was” from a talent perspective. With no sure things in that position group, adding additional options is a must.

But the Seahawks must avoid acting in desperation. That is how mistakes are make. It is these types of mistakes that got the line into its current shape in the first place.

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I am talking, of course, of selecting Justin Britt in the second round two years ago. The Seahawks had failed to develop a starting caliber player before that, so they were desperate to starter.

That desperation led them to draft a player way too early for his talent level. Two disastrous seasons later, the Seahawks are just hoping he turns into semi-serviceable player. Sadly, there are plenty of better linemen who were taken after Britt in that draft class.

They made similar mistakes in 2011 when they used their first and third round selections on James Carpenter and John Moffitt. Moffitt was a disaster and was out of the league after 2.5 seasons (though he is back as a backup now). Carpenter took three years to become a fairly decent guard, but no where near good enough to justify his draft slot.

The concern now is that this history will repeat itself once again, and Seattle will miss out on potentially great players to draft another mediocre lineman. While they don’t want the offensive line to derail another season, they must also realize that drafting another Justin Britt isn’t going to help either.

All of this random and twisting logic is a result the recent reports that Tom Cable worked out Germain Ifedi individually at the Texas A&M pro day. This story has “draft mistake” written all over it. Hopefully John Schneider isn’t talked into another error on this one.

Next: Will Seattle draft a WR from Germany?

I’ve already posted my scouting profile on Ifedi. He’s another heavy footed belly-bender, just like Justin Britt, and just like James Carpenter. In other words, he’s another guy that’ll fail at OT and end up inside at OG. He’s also got that “mean streak” quality that Cable seems to think is more important than actual talent.

Basically, this is the perfect match of the team’s blind spot and roster need. Perhaps it’ll lead to nothing, but I find myself bracing for disaster.