It’s An Unstable Wall Seahawks Try To Fill Offensive Line Holes While Jones Sits Out

Walter Jones is supposed to be making life miserable on the Seattle Seahawks’ opponents.

Instead, the no-show, first-round draft pick clearly is making life on the Seahawks offensive line one fine question mark. Again.

“We’ve struggled over the years,” said center Kevin Mawae, who after three years on the Seattle line earns veteran status. “There have been different combinations the last 10 years.”

And with the No. 6 overall draftee absent, shuffling - which has led to struggling - continues.

As the Seahawks prepared Thursday at their Cheney training camp for Saturday’s preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals, Jones’ agent and the Seahawks’ front office still hadn’t ironed out a deal. Seahawks executive vice president Mickey Loomis said he was on the phone late into the night Wednesday.

“The way we’re going about it is he’s not even here right now. You can’t worry about it,” Mawae said.

However, the void left by the 6-foot-5 left tackle has the offensive line looking like this:

Veteran Derrick Graham, formerly a right guard, lines up at left tackle, but only to keep the spot warm for Jones.

Pete Kendall, a 1996 first-round draft selection at left guard, is playing that position.

Mawae, formerly a right guard but switched to center in 1996, holds down the middle.

Frank Beede and James Atkins are fighting for the right-guard spot.

“We have no clear winner,” said offensive line coach Howard Mudd. “We need a winner.”

Atkins used to play left tackle, but Graham’s there for now. Beede, also a backup center and a free agent out of Panhandle State in 1996, was hoping to be the sixth man.

The right-tackle job belongs to 33-year-old Howard Ballard, but he’s out resting a knee until next week. Grant Williams a second-year tackle who’s 10 years younger, played every offensive down in the Seahawks’ preseason opener against Minnesota.

“We’ve got to take Jones out of the mix right now,” said Mudd, who is in the fifth season of his second tour of duty with the Seahawks.

His man, for the time being, is Graham, whom Mudd coached back in their days in Kansas City. Last year at right guard, Graham played every offensive down.

“I don’t know what they’re going to do (when Jones enters camp),” said Graham, an eight-year vet who signed as a free agent last season. “I can’t worry about that. I’ve played most every position on the offensive line except center.”

Although the situation adds up to a lot of unanswered questions, Mudd said things aren’t all that cloudy.

“This is measurably better than it was last year at this time because these guys (Kendall, Mawae and Atkins) were puppies,” he said. “What we really care about is that five guys work efficiently.”

Mudd said he’s happy to see that the names on the back of the jerseys don’t seem to be changing so rapidly either.

“For me, if we were parading some guys out and some more guys coming in, then it would be more disturbing.

“Then we’d be saying, ‘We’re choosing the wrong people.’ Right now, we’re shuffling people around, but we’re not taking people from the outside and putting them in.”

That’s not to say Mudd isn’t hoping that Jones isn’t in camp ASAP.

“In place is Pete Kendall, a really good player. Mawae, good player. Howard Ballard, real solid player. Derrick Graham is a good journeyman guy.

” When Walter Jones comes in - it’s a really big bonus.’

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MEMO: On television: Arizona Cardinals at Seattle Seahawks, Saturday, 7 p.m., KHQ (6)