Our preseason offensive line evaluations continue with the NFC West. RosterWatch Nation knows their best friend is a good offensive line. So do all the head coaches in this division. There’s been a lot of change out West and we’re here to break it down.

*We credit Pro Football Focus, STATS and Football Outsiders in assessment of past performance of the offensive linemen outlined below

Seattle Seahawks

Surprisingly, the Seahawks offensive line graded as a below-average unit in 2014 by most services. Its best lineman, by far, was center Max Unger. He now resides in New Orleans, and TE Jimmy Graham – who was a crappy blocker for the Saints – is a Seahawk.

On paper, this is a group that looks like it’s taken a step back for 2015. Seahawks insiders tell us otherwise, though. They believe the depth of this unit is better after this year’s draft class, and that Alvin Bailey is going to be an improvement over James Carpenter at left guard. Carpenter graded as a third-string caliber player in 2014, so the Seahawks let him walk in the offseason. And while Max Unger is still young and has been a top five center in recent years, he was injured far too often.

It’s noteworthy that both offensive guard prospects Seattle selected in the fourth round of this year’s NFL Draft, Terry Poole and Mark Glowinski, were formerly offensive tackles in college. Offensive line coach Tom Cable is said to be going after more athletes in an attempt to solidify this unit. It appears this group could also use the positional versatility, because the longterm future of the starting unit is far from clear.

We currently have some significant concerns about the quality of Seattle’s offensive line. But, we tend to give this franchise a pass that we wouldn’t give others. The pure stats, to some extent, may belie to the overall toughness of Seattle as a team in the trenches, on both sides of the ball.

Russell Okung, LT 6’5″ 310 pounds- Flashed big ability in 2012 but has been an average option otherwise, early RD1 pick in 2010. Was an injury-riddled 2014, if he can stay healthy it’s a significant boost to this unit

Alvin Bailey, LG 6’3″ 320 pounds- Has improved conditioning and shed weight this offseason. Started 5 games late in 2014 and started in playoff game vs GB where he performed reasonably well, has the traits to become a good run blocker

Lemuel Jeanpierre, C 6’3″ 301 pounds- Graded poorly over 4 games played in 2014 but appeared in all 16 games, very limited action in 2013 where he also graded poorly

JR Sweezy, RG 6’5″ 298 pounds- Has graded out terribly over last 3 seasons, has shown some improvement but has not performed as a starter in this league, was a RD7 pick in 2012 switching from DE at NC State, was considered a long-term project and we’re not sure the experiment has gone well

Justin Britt, RT 6’6″ 325 pounds- A second-round pick in 2014, started as a rookie but performed as PFFs #74 ranked OT which is abysmal even if not completely accurate – Britt was, however, a player we really liked as a prospect, so we’re not throwing in the towel on him just yet

Notes-

After an in-depth review of this unit, we are less surprised that Peter Carroll opted to throw the ball at the goal line in the Super Bowl. To the naked eye, this is a motley unit that is extremely unproven. The bench has been reinforced, but nobody knows how good any of these young second and third-stringers are going to be in NFL. More likely than not, they would struggle if they had to play. It’s interesting that as St. Louis and Arizona continue to bulk up on the offensive line to scheme against Seattle’s defensive athleticism, the Seahawks are getting leaner and more athletic with their offensive front.

Thank the football gods for Russell Wilson’s scrambling ability and quick decision making – and Marshawn Lynch’s ability to gain yards after contact – because on any other team this a C-, maybe even D unit. However, there’s really no reason to think much will change with either player this season.

Perhaps the shortcomings of this offensive line explain why Lynch is sometimes a bit of a boom-bust player on a week to week basis; or why the passing game volume in Seattle still hasn’t take off even though Russell Wilson has the fundamentals of a great passer. The quarterback-center relationship will be something to watch this year.

As everybody tries to figure out exactly how Jimmy Graham will assimilate to this offense, from the perspective of the offensive line – we see a guy who is going to be targeted heavily as a safety valve. Pass protection is going to be an issue this season, and Graham is the big body at range that Wilson will be looking for over and over again. He’ll also offer the kind of redzone target that would have probably won Wilson another Super Bowl ring last year.

Furthermore, Graham doesn’t necessarily need to be a great blocker to effectively achieve taking a man out of the box when he motions out. Graham has to be accounted for in these situations, which gives the Seattle OL and Marshawn Lynch numbers on inside-run plays without Graham touching a single person.

The depth of this group will likely consist of OT Garry Gilliam, OG Terry Poole, C Patrick Lewis, OT Jesse Davis, C Kristjan Sokoli, OG Mark Glowinski, and OT Keavon Milton.

Gilliam has one start in his career. Poole and Glowinski are rookies. Lewis was signed from the Browns practice squad last October and went on to play poorly in four late-season starts in Seattle. Keavon Milton has taken very few regular season snaps. Jesse Davis has never started in the NFL, and Sokoli is a rookie drafted in the sixth round as a converted defensive lineman – much like the team did with Sweezy a few years ago.

NFL Draft expert Mike Loyko broke down the two incoming rookie offensive guards, Terry Poole and Mark Glowinski as follows-

Terry Poole, OG 6’5″ 307 pounds in RD4 – Loyko’s #20 ranked OT – “Poole has natural size, arm length, and the feet to play in the NFL”; “Poole has an attractive combination of power and functional mobility which will play up if he moves to Guard.”

Mark Glowinski, OG 6’4″ 307 pounds – RD4 – Loykos #10 ranked OG – “Mark Glowinski has all the traits to play Right Guard in the NFL” “Glowinski’s calling card is his great upper-body power and hand strength”; “He may take a season or two to develop but he has the look of an NFL contributor”