Nearly a decade after trading Max Unger to the Saints as part of the blockbuster deal for tight end Jimmy Graham, the Seattle Seahawks have been in center purgatory with Justin Britt being their last multi-year starter dating back to 2019.
Since then, Seattle has had 10 different players snap a football from the center position in a regular season game. 10 centers in seven seasons. One of the keys to a successful offensive line is continuity. Seattle has had anything but that over the last half decade.
This year began with the exciting acquisition of solid veteran center Connor Williams. He appeared in nine games before abruptly retiring midseason, leaving Seattle in the lurch once again at the pivot position.
Second-year man Olu Oluwatimi stepped into the vacancy created by Williams' departure after arriving in Seattle as a highly decorated center in college for the Michigan Wolverines. The fifth round pick filled in admirably but unspectacularly to finish the 2024 season.
Seattle begins the 2025 offseason much like it did one calendar year ago with some uncertainty around the center position and wondering if Oluwatimi is the franchise's future at the spearhead position, which remains much in flux once again.
To Oluwatimi's credit, he did not allow a single sack in 260 pass blocking snaps this season. He earned an overall Pro Football Focus grade of 64.2, which ranked 18th among 35 centers with at least 400 snaps. There is still time for him to develop into a quality center.
However, another recent draft pick along the offensive line could slide inside and push Oluwatimi for playing time. Third round rookie Christian Haynes came to Seattle with high marks for his pass blocking prowess after a sensational college career at UConn, looking the part of an instant starter for a team desperate for one in the middle.
Unfortunately, that did not materialize into a starting job in 2024 at guard. Haynes played less than 200 snaps on offense, mostly at right guard, without making a single start. In that small sample size, his 48.5 PFF grade ranked seventh out of the 10 offensive lineman who took at least 100 snaps for the Seahawks, and he eventually lost out on a chance to start with sixth-round pick Sataoa Laumea getting the nod to replace injured starter Anthony Bradford instead.
Haynes never played center while at Connecticut, exclusively playing right guard at the college level. However, he did see some work at left guard during training camp and the preseason, creating some buzz about him potentially moving to center at some point.
Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald did not compeltely shut down the idea in his closing press conference last week either.
We'll see. Right now, I'm thinking more (offensive) guard, but that's a conversation that can be had."
- Mike Macdonald on Haynes
Seattle should at least be open to the idea. After spending a third round pick on Haynes, he couldn't crack the lineup even when injuries happened in front of him, ceding snaps to Laumea in the final six games after losing a competition against his fellow rookie.
Macdonald did not come out and say that Laumea had straight up beaten out Haynes for the job moving forward, expressing lingering optimism that Haynes could be a fixture on Seattle's offensive line starting as early as next season.
When we were making that decision to go to Sataoa (Laumea), it wasn't that Christian hadn't done enough to earn an opportunity. We just felt like Sataoa did more, but Christian's gotten all the reps, he still had meaningful reps early in the season. I thought he played well earlier in the season, good enough to win, but we want more from our entire offense.
- Mike Macdonald
Given the fact that Seattle used a third round pick on Haynes, with his quality skillset, they should find more ways to make it work. Clearly, he is talented. Perhaps he can showcase what he was praised for in college better at another position That is, taking good angles and bringing the power and nastiness to his blocking style while not possessing elite length. That might be better suited for a chance to play center.