Who will be beasts up front offensively for Seahawks in 2019
By Lee Vowell
The Seahawks led the NFL in rushing in 2018. They would love to do the same in 2019. Here is a guess at what Seattle’s offensive line will look like.
The Seahawks made an effort to get back to a more run-heavy offense in 2018 and it worked brilliantly. Until the playoffs, that is. Seattle led the NFL in rushing by 8 yards a game and finished the regular season 10-6. This was better than expected and a lot of the praise can be placed on the offensive line.
The line wasn’t perfect, of course. Russell Wilson still got pressured a lot more than he should have. Wilson was sacked 51 times, eighth most in the league. So while the offensive line were road-graders, they weren’t very good at pass protection.
Seattle didn’t seem to worry about that last part too much this offseason, however. They did add some offensive linemen, but the ones they added are still historically better at run-blocking than pass protection. Clearly, the Seahawks liked what the offense did last year and simply wants to do more of that.
Seattle began with nine offensive linemen on its week one roster. I will assume they go with that number as well for week one in 2019. Here is who I think will make the team.
Guard
D.J. Fluker (starter)
Mike Iupati (starter)
Jordan Simmons
Seattle is pretty set at guard and should be good there. If everyone stays healthy, that is. If Seattle can get a solid 14 games out of Fluker and Iupati, the Seahawks will lead the league in rushing once again.
Center
Justin Britt (starter)
Joey Hunt
I am keeping Hunt on the active roster because Seattle seems to want to do that. Maybe Pete Carroll just feels safer having a center on the team to backup Britt instead of moving a guard over to center should Britt be injured. Hunt is smart and knows the offense extremely well so he has value. Britt, hopefully, will get back to near-Pro Bowl quality in 2019.
Tackle
Duane Brown (starter – left tackle)
Germain Ifedi (starter – right tackle)
George Fant
Next. 4 Seahawks that must be better in 2019. dark
I am going with just three tackles to start the season. If Brown or Ifedi were to get hurt Seattle would just plug Fant in at either position. Heck, Fant might even end up outplaying Ifedi and get a lot more snaps. Possibly even starter snaps. Should there be an injury issue to two tackles, though, Seattle could possibly slide Jordan Simmons out to fill that role.