In the Seattle Seahawks’ first game against the San Francisco 49ers in 2024, Fred Warner was a beast. That’s nothing new for Seahawks’ fans. Warner is going to the Hall of Fame five years after he retires. In 2025, his eighth year in the NFL, he will almost certainly surpass 1,000 tackles for his career.
The Seahawks were in the middle of their worst stretch of the season when San Fran came to town back in October, ’24. They were coming off an embarrassing home loss to the New York Giants and were in the process of losing five out of six games.
Mike Macdonald would get his defense straightened out over the bye week, and Seattle would be far more respectable in the second half of the season, but in mid-October, things were bleak.
One Seattle Seahawks rookie was drafted with Week 1 in mind
The San Francisco game revealed a fundamental flaw in the Seahawks’ offensive game plan. They simply could not run the ball. This was why Robbie Ouzts was drafted.
The Georgia tight end was not projected to go in the fifth round, which is where Hawks’ GM John Schneider selected him. As a tight end, Ouzts isn’t nearly fast enough or explosive enough to threaten for a front-line roster spot. Had Schneider not chosen him, it’s possible the former Georgia Bulldog would have been available as a free agent after the draft.
But Seattle wasn’t interested in a tight end in the fifth round. They had already taken a promising one in the second round. Elijah Arroy joined 2024 fourth-rounder A.J. Barner to give the Seahawks a good young core at the position.
Ouzts was drafted to play fullback, something he had done well at Georgia. In the era of increased passing, not many teams employ a fullback on any kind of regular basis. At 6’3”, 274 pounds, Ouzts plays more like an extra guard, albeit one who can catch passes with reasonable proficiency.
Schneider also snagged three offensive linemen in the draft. Clearly, rebuilding the blocking scheme was a priority. In that regard, Ouzts may turn out to be almost as valuable as top pick Grey Zabel. Look for him to lead Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet through holes beginning Sunday against Fred Warner and the 49ers.
In that first 49ers game in ’24, Warner led San Fran with 11 tackles. Seattle ran the ball just 20 times for 52 yards. That works out to 2.6 yards per carry. They were unable to sustain drives, managing just two first downs until the final drive of the first half. By that point, they were trailing 16-0 and essentially abandoned the run entirely.
If we can believe Macdonald and his new offensive coordinator, Klint Kubiak, this year will be different. Zabel and a revived Anthony Bradford should make the middle of the line stronger. We got a brief, tantalizing look in the first drive of the preseason game two against Kansas City a few weeks ago.
A balanced attack – six runs and four passes – marched right down the field for a touchdown, One of those passes – indeed, the longest one on the drive – went to Robbie Ouzts.
But that’s not why Robbie Ouzts is on the team. He is on the team to block. You might go so far as to say he is on the team to block Fred Warner. He gets his first chance this Sunday, and his success or failure will have a major impact on whether the Seahawks offense sputters like it did last year, or hums like we are all hoping to see in 2025.