For now, Seahawks appear to have decided on a starter at center

RENTON, Wash. — What for years has felt like one of the biggest annual question marks for the Seahawks entering the regular season — the offensive line — suddenly appears as stable as any position group on the team.

Seattle entered training camp with four seemingly sure things on the line in returning starters or co-starters Charles Cross (left tackle), Abraham Lucas (right tackle), Damien Lewis (left guard) and Phil Haynes (right guard).

And all have lived up to that billing so far in camp, each working with the starters every day other than when Lewis missed one practice due to illness.

And what was the one question mark on the line — center — appears to have an answer, as coach Pete Carroll said Sunday that if the season started today, veteran free-agent signee Evan Brown would be the starter.

Brown has been in a competition with rookie Olu Oluwatimi, a fifth-round pick out of Michigan, and through the first week of practices the two traded off days working with the starters.

But Brown, who has 24 starts in an NFL career that dates to 2018, worked every play with the No. 1 offense in Friday’s mock game, and then again in Sunday’s practice at the VMAC in Renton. And afterward, Carroll confirmed that the move meant that for now, Brown is the guy manning the center of the line and snapping to quarterback Geno Smith.

“Evan is ahead,’’ Carroll said.’’ He is ahead just because of his experience. So if we were playing today he would go first.’’

Carroll reiterated that Oluwatimi “is doing a great job’’ and that “the competition continues.’’

And there is no doubt that Oluwatimi remains a big part of the team’s future, signed to a four-year rookie contract while Brown is on a one-year deal that could pay him up to $2.25 million.

As Carroll noted, Oluwatimi was slowed a little for a few days while dealing with a wrist injury on his left (non-snapping) hand.

“He hasn’t had anything negative about (his play) other than his wrist was sore for a couple days that held him back,’’ Carroll said. “But other than that he is right in there.’’

But the Seahawks — as do all NFL teams — also value continuity on their offensive line, and having what appear to be the starting five work together as much as possible may take priority now that they are through the first week and a half of camp and heading into game-week modes with the preseason opener Thursday against the Vikings at Lumen Field.

“Evan is a vet and he’s versatile and he’s really smart in there,’’ Smith said.

So for now, the Seahawks are hoping that maybe the 26-year-old Brown can be the guy to put at least a temporary stop to what has been a revolving door at center since the trade of Max Unger to New Orleans as part of the Jimmy Graham trade following the 2014 season.

Since then Seattle has had seven starting centers — Patrick Lewis, Drew Nowak, Justin Britt, Joey Hunt, Ethan Pocic, Kyle Fuller and Austin Blythe.

Britt had the longest tenure at roughly three and a half seasons before a knee injury midway through the 2019 season essentially ended his Seattle career.

Pocic took over and held the job for two seasons before leaving for Cleveland as a free agent in 2022.

Seattle then signed veteran free agent Austin Blythe in the spring of 2022 and he started all 17 games before deciding to retire entering what would have been his age-31 season.

That had Seattle back on the market again for a center, deciding first to sign Brown — a free agent after two years as a starter at center and guard with the Lions — and then draft Oluwatimi.

Brown played at Southern Methodist and after going undrafted had brief stints with the Giants, Dolphins and Browns before finally finding something of a home with Detroit in 2021, starting 12 games at center when Frank Ragnow was injured.

When Ragnow returned in 2022, Brown moved back to guard.

But when the Seahawks signed Brown, it was with an eye on him playing center — he was ranked as the fifth-best center by Pro Football Focus in 2021.

“With Evan Brown, it was really cool,’’ general manager John Schneider said on an appearance on Seattle Sports 710 in the spring. “We had our free-agent meetings at the end of December, early January, and he was the guy that really stood out [our scouts] were really focused on. This is a guy that he’s been playing guard, but ideally he’s a center … So he can play both, but he’s really truly a center. It was pretty cool to be able to identify that guy and kind of watch the process go.”

Oluwatimi will remain available, and the team also has Hunt working with the third team — he would seem a logical candidate for the practice squad and ready in an emergency.

But Brown becomes the missing piece to a line that the Seahawks may be as enthusiastic about as any they have had in years, maybe even since the Super Bowl season of 2013 when Unger and Russell Okung served as anchors.

Lewis is coming off a third year in which he was quietly considered to have had his best season. Haynes was re-signed after sharing time last year with veteran Gabe Jackson and has been healthy throughout camp and playing as well as any time in his career.

And then there are the twin bookend second-year tackles in Lucas and Cross.

Cross played all but two snaps last season and Lucas all but one game. And after having offseason shoulder surgery, Lucas has been back working with the starters throughout at right tackle.

Sunday, Carroll praised the play of the line and its protection of Smith in Friday’s mock game.

“A big part of it is working together with the O-line,’’ Carroll said of Smith’s play in the mock game, in which he went 10-15 for 171 yards with at least two other passes that could have been caught. “They’re doing a really good job for him. So, he gets a chance to see things clearly. And he knows he’s going to get time and he can feel that he is. … the guys up front did a great job of giving him a chance to see everything.’’

And for that, Brown has been rewarded for now with the starting job at center.