Why this could be make-or-break camp for Seahawks OL Christian Haynes

RENTON — For all the understandable discussion — and often criticism — of the Seahawks’ offensive line during the John Schneider era, the team can point to one stat in its defense.

Specifically, when the Seahawks have used a top-100 pick on an offensive lineman, they’ve usually gotten a pretty productive player.

The Seahawks have drafted 12 offensive linemen in the top 100 since Schneider arrived as general manager along with Pete Carroll as coach in 2010.

Of those, eight became starters their first year and went on to long careers or appear on their way to one — tackles Russell Okung (6th, 2010), Charles Cross (ninth, 2022) and Abe Lucas (72nd, 2022); guard Damien Lewis (69th 2020); guard/tackles James Carpenter (25th, 2011) and Germain Ifedi (31st, 2016), guard/center Ethan Pocic (58th, 2017) and guard/tackle/center Justin Britt (64th, 2014).

Cross and Lucas are entering their fourth years as established starters for the Seahawks while the rest of the players on that list all are or have been starters for five or more years with the Seahawks and with other teams.

Another, guard Grey Zabel, taken 18th overall this year, has been the starting left guard for the Seahawks since the day he arrived last spring and early indications in camp are that he is proving worthy of that designation.

Only two top 100 OL picks in that time can be considered busts — guard John Moffitt (75th pick in 2011 who started just 15 NFL games) and tackle Reed Odhiambo (97th pick in 2016 who started just seven games in his career).

That leaves the fate of one top-100 pick seemingly still to be determined — Christian Haynes, a guard taken 81st overall last year out of UConn.

Haynes was given two chances to win the starting right guard spot last year and each time lost out — in camp when he lost out to Anthony Bradford, and at midseason when Bradford was injured and the Seahawks went instead with Sataoa Laumea to start the final six games.

Haynes finished the year playing in 16 games but with only 167 snaps, most coming when he rotated for a few games with Bradford. He was even somewhat surprisingly declared a healthy inactive for a Week 9 game against the Rams.

Haynes, who evinces a good-natured, go-with-the-flow personality off the field, says he took the struggles of his rookie season as part of a not-unexpected learning curve.

“I would describe it as a challenge, a new challenge,’’ he said of last season. “And just a mountain just trying to keep climbing up.’’

Another year means another challenge to win a starting spot but this time with some new dynamics.

Not only is there a new offensive line coach in John Benton but there is also a new running scheme — an outside zone attack replacing the largely power scheme of last season.

There is also a new position at play — center, where Haynes has been getting consistent snaps, at times with the starting offense, as well as his usual right guard.

It adds up to what could be a make-or-break training camp for Haynes to show he belongs.

For one, the outside zone scheme — which calls on the OL to get out on the run more — appears to most observers to be a better fit for his skill-set.

“He has a good first step off the line of scrimmage, and that makes for some impactful blocks as a puller and a zone blocker,’’ Pro Football Focus wrote in its assessment of Haynes prior to the 2024 draft. “His overall athleticism is good.’’

It’s also more of what Haynes did at UConn, where he was coached by former Seahawks head man Jim Mora.

When asked if the scheme could be a good fit for him, Haynes responded quickly “great fit. (It) shows my abilities to run and my quickness. I’m feeling very fast right now and feeling like I’m able to move. So just being able to go out there and just keep showing that I can run a few different things and get (out) to the linebackers has been great.’’

The move to center, meanwhile, has allowed Haynes to show he has versatility and also takes advantage of the kind of leadership he displayed at UConn, where he was twice voted on by teammates as a captain.

As critical as any aspect of a center’s job is calling out signals to the rest of the OL to make sure they have the correct blocking assignments as the ball is snapped.

Haynes said he has never played center in a game but practiced it some at UConn during a time when there was a thought of moving him there. He began taking some snaps there at midseason last year when Connor Williams shockingly retired and the Seahawks needed to make sure they had enough depth.

“It’s been great,’’ he said of playing some center. “I’m enjoying every opportunity I’ve been given. Getting the guys on the same page, I like having that leadership ability to go out there and do that.’’

Coach Mike Macdonald said last week that using Haynes at center was about more than just giving him some training camp snaps to develop depth, instead saying he is “in the mix’’ at the spot. Still, Olu Oluwatimi and Jalen Sundell are 1-2 at that spot, and for now Oluwatimi seems to have the edge.

Still, some observers have wondered what it means that the Seahawks are trying Haynes at two spots, which can sometimes be perceived as not having proven to be a long-term answer at any one spot, as Zabel appears to be at left guard.

Instead, Haynes is in what appear to be three-man battles at both spots — with Bradford and Sundell also getting consistent snaps at right guard and Oluwatimi and Sundell at center.

Asked what position he considers himself now, guard or center, Haynes said “really just both. I love to have coaches giving me different goals and different challenges to go out there and attack.’’

He said he spent the offseason getting in even better shape to play a different kind of offense and watching as much film as he could, saying that one of the biggest lessons he learned as a rookie is how small the margin for error is in the NFL.

“You can’t mess up as much (as in college) and still get away with it,’’ he said.

In the spring, Macdonald cautioned against judging much by a rookie season when talking specifically about the four rookies the Seahawks had on their OL last season (the others being Sundell, Laumea and tackle Michael Jerrell).

“I think it wouldn’t be wise to underestimate a year one to year two jump,’’ he said.

Haynes hopes to make that prediction come true.