BRADY HENDERSON

Will the Seahawks address their offensive line early in the draft?

Apr 28, 2016, 1:33 PM | Updated: 1:46 pm

Indiana's  Jason Spriggs is among the offensive linemen who could be available to Seattle at No. 26...

Indiana's Jason Spriggs is among the offensive linemen who could be available to Seattle at No. 26. (AP)

(AP)

RENTON – Every once in a while, general manager John Schneider sneaks away from the Seahawks’ headquarters to attend an afternoon mass at a chapel on Seattle University’s campus. One of the regulars he’s gotten to know there is a Seahawks fan who shares the concerns of many others over what has been the most scrutinized position group on Seattle’s roster.

“We’re leaving mass the other day,” Schneider recalled during a conversation with “Brock and Salk” earlier this month, “and he pats me on the back and he’s like, ‘Make sure you take care of that offensive line, huh?’

“I was like, ‘I got you, brother. God bless you.'”

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The Seahawks will almost certainly address their offensive line in this year’s draft, which begins with the first round Thursday night. It’s just a matter of how early and how often they do so, whether it’s with the first of their nine selections – No. 26 overall – or later in the draft.

Need doesn’t necessarily dictate the Seahawks’ draft decisions, but offensive line is unquestionably the biggest one after they lost their two best starters from a group that struggled tremendously with pass protection for much of last season, at one point allowing sacks at a near-record rate. Left tackle Russell Okung and right guard J.R. Sweezy signed big-money contracts elsewhere and the Seahawks added J’Marcus Webb (two years, $5.75 million) and Bradley Sowell (one year, $1 million) on modest, short-term deals, continuing a trend of piecing together their offensive line on the cheap.

Webb is in line to start at right tackle while Sowell will compete to start at left tackle with Garry Gilliam, who is moving over from the right side and would seem to be the favorite to win the job. Gilliam is playing on a cost-controlled rookie contract as are Justin Britt and Mark Glowinski, the leading candidates to start at left and right guard, respectively. Center Patrick Lewis is playing on a restricted-free-agent tender worth $1.671 million, which means that of the five players who are projected to start as of right now, three are making less than $1 million on average and none are making more than $3 million.

According to the website Overthecap.com, Seattle is committing a little more than $8.75 million in salary-cap space to its offensive line as a whole this season, by far the least in the NFL. Seattle was 30th in the league in offensive-line spending last year, according to OTC.

That has led to the perception that the Seahawks have devalued that position. The reality, according to Schneider, is that Seattle’s minimal spending instead reflects how the team values the players that have been available, and with the demand for quality offensive linemen outweighing the supply in today’s NFL, the Seahawks aren’t going to overspend in order to fill a need.

Schneider explained that college football isn’t producing as many NFL-ready players at that position.

“There’s a lot of kids that if they’re playing both ways (in high school) – defensive line and offensive line – defensive line is just a little bit sexier; they’re going to go that route,” he said. “So those numbers come down. So that’s why you’ve seen us in the past try to make a couple of these conversions, because you can’t just go out and pick them off a tree in the backyard.”

The Seahawks haven’t spent many high-end draft picks on offensive linemen since choosing Okung and James Carpenter in the first rounds of the 2010 and 2011 drafts, respectively. In the four drafts since then, their second-round selection of Britt in 2014 marks the only time they’ve chosen an offensive lineman among the first three rounds.

But that hasn’t been by design, either. For instance, the Seahawks would have strongly considered drafting a center with their top pick last year instead of defensive end Frank Clark had the player they liked not been chosen earlier in the second round.

Seattle has four picks among the top 100 this year – a second- and two third-rounders in addition to No. 26. – and any offensive-line position would seem to be on the table. Texas A&M’s Germain Ifedi and Jason Spriggs from Indiana are two of the top tackle prospects who could still be available late in the first round or perhaps early in the second if Seattle decides to trade back. Alabama center Ryan Kelly and Kansas State guard Cody Whitehair, two of the top-rated interior offensive linemen, could be options in that range as well.

That is if the Seahawks decide to spend an early pick on an offensive lineman, which is a popular assumption reflected in mock drafts but far from a sure thing.

Seahawks fans, like Schneider’s friend from mass, are praying that they do.

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Will the Seahawks address their offensive line early in the draft?