Seahawks Countdown to Training Camp: Will the offensive line be better in 2017?

SEATTLE – Training camp – and thus, the NFL season itself – is drawing ever closer with the Seahawks now just a little over 10 days away from taking the practice field to begin preparing for the 2017 campaign.

To get you ready for the start of another season we’ll count down the top 10 questions – one for each day from now until training camp – facing the Seahawks this year.

We’ll start with what might be the most obvious, vexing and maybe ultimately important – will the offensive line be any better?

The easy answer? It can’t be worse, right?

The more nuanced answer? There are reasons to be optimistic but it’s understandable if fans remain pessimistic until the team proves otherwise on the field.

The reason for optimism is that the Seahawks have added three players who could each be significant factors and possible upgrades from a year ago and also return four starters from last year, three of whom were first-time starters in 2016, experience the team thinks could make a big difference in their play.

The reason for pessimism? Depending on how things play out, the Seahawks could field a line with largely the same players as last season, with it fair to wonder if experience will really make that big of a difference. One voice echoing that thought recently were the analysts Pro Football Focus, who recently rated the Seahawks as having the worst offensive line in the NFL heading into the 2017 season stating “there’s little reason to think this won’t yet again be the worst offensive line in the NFL.”

And despite bringing in some reinforcements in the offseason, the Seahawks are still set to enter 2017 with the lowest-paid line in the NFL at $15.9 million, almost $4 million less than any other team, according to OvertheCap.com.

Almost half that is taken up by the Seahawks’ most significant offseason acquisition, guard/tackle Luke Joeckel, who was signed to a one-year deal worth up to $8 million – more by itself than the $6.3 million the Seahawks were paying their entire offensive line at the end of the 2016 season.

The 2017 total could rise if the Seahawks work out a contract extension for center Justin Britt, whose successful move to that spot a year ago was one of the few positives for the Seattle line in 2016.

Britt enters camp this year as about the only sure starter on the line with each of the other four spots in some flux, even if each also has a leader heading into camp.

As the Seahawks headed into the off-season what seemed to be the team’s preferred starting five looked this way: LT George Fant, LG Joeckel, C Britt, RG Mark Glowinski and RT Germain Ifedi.

That the Seahawks might go with Joeckel at left guard surprises some given the team’s investment in him and that he played primarily left tackle during his four years in Jacksonville, where he was the second overall pick in the 2013 draft.

But he played guard last season before suffering a season-ending knee injury in October and the Seahawks think that may be his best position. But that plan probably only works if Fant – who was regarded as one of the offseason standouts after bulking up and adding roughly 25 pounds – can hold down the left tackle spot.

But if Fant/Joeckel become the left side starters, then the right side of the line could feature two players who started a year ago but who now could be at positions where they have more overall experience and that the team thinks could be better fits now – Glowinski, who last year played left guard but now moves back to the side he played primarily in college; and Ifedi, who last year played right guard but now is back to the tackle spot where he spent most of his college career.

None of that, though, is certain. Second-year player Rees Odhiambo will also compete for the spots on the left side, and as noted, Fant will have to show he’s a better option for the left tackle position than Joeckel. And second-round pick Ethan Pocic will be tried initially primarily at right tackle to battle Ifedi with free agent acquisition Oday Aboushi, a starter in 18 games the last three years with the Jets and Texans, competing with Glowinski.

In some composition of positions, though, those eight players figure to be on the 53-man roster to start the season.

It’s a group that has 133 career starts with five players having 13 or more.

By comparison, last year’s line had 136 career starts heading into the 2016 season but with 61 of those coming from J’Marcus Webb, a veteran free agent signee who ultimately couldn’t win a job out of camp and was released in November.

Seattle’s predominant starting offensive line last year featured three players – Glowinski, Ifedi and Fant – who had a combined just one career start prior to the season (with Ifedi and Fant each rookies in 2016).

At the end of mini-camp in June Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said he thinks the added experience – both from the new players brought in and those already on the roster – will result in vastly improved performance in 2017.

“I think probably the biggest area that we’re going to see us grow is in offensive line play,” Carroll said. “I think you’re going to see a change in the group and an elevation of their awareness based on that one year of experience and coming back for a sophomore year and things just jump.”

The success of Seattle’s season in 2017 rests in large part on if Carroll’s prediction comes true.