Right guard has been an issue for the Seattle Seahawks for many years, and yet the team keeps running Anthony Bradford out to start every season. Clearly, the team sees something in the player that fans and national pundits don't.
Seattle has tried to take players in the draft to potentially replace Bradford. Christian Haynes was a third-round choice in 2024, for instance. He's been terrible, though, and even worse in training camp and practice than Bradford. This year, general manager John Schneider chose Beau Stephens.
Stephens might be the guy to finally take over the starting gig at right guard. He was elite in college at Iowa, after all. What is more likely, though, is that Bradford once again starts, at least in Week 1, and maybe this is the season Bradford is actually decent.
Maybe this is the season that Seattle Seahawks right guard Anthony Bradford is actually good
To be fair to the player, he's also been an adequate run-blocker because he's a road grader who can use his girth to push defenders back. Where he struggles is when he is asked to move laterally very much. That is one reason he's been relatively awful for much of his career in pass protection,
That wasn't the case for the entirety of 2025, however. Between Weeks 9 and 15, the right guard didn't allow more than two pressures in any game. In four of those seven games, he didn't give up any pressures. Before Week 9 and after Week 15 were the real problems, especially in the NFC Championship game and Super Bowl, when he allowed nine pressures total.
What if -- and, admittedly, this is a huge if -- Bradford began to turn the proverbial corner last season, understanding what elite offensive line coach John Benton was trying to teach him, and for most of 2026, the right guard position isn't a concern. Maybe Bradford is a good fit in new offensive coordinator Brian Fleury's scheme, too.
The player also likely understands that if he is poor again in 2026, he could be facing a future starting next year when he doesn't have a home with the Seattle Seahawks anymore, but has difficulty finding a team anywhere. If he does land on a different team after another bad season, he won't be making much money.
The right guard could also have an excellent season, and he can then transition that into the kind of money that former Seahawks guard Damien Lewis did in 2024 when he signed with the Carolina Panthers in free agency for four years and $53 million. Lewis was better overall with Seattle, but teams might be willing to pay Bradford if he is coming off a good season.
That is as much of a possibility as Seattle replacing him with Beau Stephens. The team has shown they are willing to stick with Anthony Bradford when others doubt why that is happening. Maybe 2026 will be the season when the Seahawks' belief in the right guard pays off.
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