PFF (again) ranks Seahawks offensive line as one of NFL’s worst

For all of the fan optimism about the Seattle Seahawks offensive line, the folks over at Pro Football Focus aren’t so bullish. In fact, they think this unit could be extremely bad.

In their unveiling of the 2023 offensive line rankings, PFF placed the Seahawks at a staggering 30th out of 32 teams, ahead of only the Arizona Cardinals and Tennessee Titans. Last year they were ranked dead last entering the regular season, so improvement?!

Here’s their rundown:

Projected Starting Lineup

LT Charles Cross

LG Damien Lewis

C Evan Brown

RG Phil Haynes – Rotated off the bench at RG in 2022

RT Abraham Lucas

Seattle’s line largely rests on the development of its young tackles, Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas. While both played well early, each fell off substantially as their rookie seasons wore on.

If those tackles play well, this ranking is too low. But if they don’t improve, this is a group that could struggle badly given its interior personnel.

Best Player: Damien Lewis

Damien Lewis allowed 19 pressures last season and earned the best PFF run-blocking grade of the group (66.7).

PFF had the Seahawks OL at 27th in their final rankings for the 2022 season based on their often cited and heavily debated grading system. Damien Lewis had the best overall grade but no one else was above 70, and only Charles Cross and Abe Lucas were also above 60. The departures of Austin Blythe and Gabe Jackson for (based on projections) Evan Brown and Phil Haynes are the major cause for concern in their eyes. At least this breakdown had the caveat of improvement for second-year players Cross and Lucas, whom it must be said had their share of struggles towards the end of their respective rookie campaigns but were definitely net positives given they were put into Day 1 starting jobs.

I would, of course, exercise caution with rookies Anthony Bradford and Olusegun Oluwatimi should either one of them (or both) land a starting job over Haynes and Brown respectively. Seattle somewhat caught lightning in a bottle with the instant promise shown by Cross and especially Lucas, so it’s asking a lot for a repeat to happen by players drafted in Day 3. But this is a very young OL unit that has plenty of potential to vastly outperform the lowly ranking PFF has given them.