The Seattle Seahawks drafted guard Christian Haynes with a third-round selection in the 2024 NFL Draft. General manager John Schneider knew he needed reinforcements to upgrade the interior of his offensive line. Despite that, Haynes had a disappointing impact as a rookie.
Veteran Laken Tomlinson was signed in free agency to play left guard. Haynes found himself in a competition with sophomore blocker Anthony Bradford at right guard. Bradford ultimately won the job, but played poorly enough for Haynes to receive the occasional opportunity.
Then-offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb never fully committed to Haynes, however. Tomlinson and Bradford played extremely poorly at guard. Seattle’s lackluster offensive line ended up being their Achilles heel throughout the season. Grubb has since been fired and replaced by head coach Mike Macdonald with Klint Kubiak.
The Athletic’s Michael Shawn-Dugar recently spoke with acclaimed offensive line guru Michael-Shawn Dugar for a fantastic piece about Seattle’s offensive line. Thorn offered his thoughts on Haynes’ rookie season. Interestingly enough, he feels Grubb mishandled Haynes’ play time.
New: The #Seahawks have to address their offensive line this offseason. I talked with @BrandonThornNFL about the team’s current front line — Haynes, Olu, Sataoa, etc. — some free options and players to target in the draft. https://t.co/1OJCCUBXh0 pic.twitter.com/LzftDZneIj
— Dugar, Michael-Shawn (@MikeDugar) February 6, 2025
“I saw him get walked back a couple times from bull rushes, but not anything out of the ordinary from anybody else — on that line especially, but just across the league,” Thorn told Dugar. “A rookie coming in where he was drafted, I thought there were some positives, too. It was a lot more even with some promise as opposed to, ‘We whiffed, and he shouldn’t have gotten drafted.’ I didn’t see that.”
The Seahawks are entering the offseason with a desperate need to upgrade the offensive line. In-house solutions would be helpful. Haynes should receive a fresh opportunity under Kubiak.
