Seahawks offensive line projected as worst in NFL. I see things differently

The Seahawks offensive line ranked dead last when Pro Football Focus ranked every offensive line for 2017. Is PFF right, or is there reason for hope?

Another gloomy story about the Seahawks offensive line? Not quite. Let me be clear here. I am not slamming Pro Football Focus in general. Nor am I writing a spittle-spewing diatribe along the lines of “how DARE they malign our great Seahawks players!” PFF puts out a lot of quality information. Besides, how would I justify something like that? “Who you gonna trust, some guy at a keyboard or your own coaches??” I mean, we’re guys at keyboards too, so it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to just say we’re right and they’re wrong, just because we said so.

Now, let’s look at what PFF’s writer actually said. From there, we can decide if it makes sense, or if we can cast reasonable doubt on their contention.

Pro Football Focus ranked Seahawks offensive line last for 2016

And rightly so. Seattle’s line wasn’t very good. Does it matter if you use Football Outsiders ranking, which listed the Seahawks 26th for run blocking and 25th in pass protection, instead? Or you might believe ESPN’s ranking last year, which placed the Seahawks 30th. The offensive line was offensive in all the wrong ways, and it doesn’t matter much if they were 25th or 32nd.

So, let’s get back to the projection. PFF’s Mike Renner wrote:

"“Even with the addition of Luke Joeckel, there’s little reason to think this won’t yet again be the worst offensive line in the NFL. They finished dead last a season ago in snap-adjusted run-blocking grade and snap-adjusted pass-blocking grade. Getting PFF’s lowest-graded left tackle, George Fant, out of the starting lineup should help, but it won’t fix the unit overnight.”"

Here’s Mr. Renner’s article in its entirety for those who prefer the source straight, no chaser.

First, let me go back to the question I posed in the headline. Could this projection be right? Well, of course it could. The Seahawks offensive line was bad last year. Seattle didn’t add a lot of high-profile talent, so it’s reasonable to project that a bad unit will stay bad without significant upgrades. It’s also reasonable to expect serious improvement.