What Seahawks offensive line might look like in 2012
Feb 22, 2012, 12:18 PM | Updated: 12:29 pm
By Brady Henderson
Three season-ending injuries in as many weeks robbed the Seahawks’ young offensive line of valuable time it needed to gel. They could also force some reshuffling along that unit next season.
Tuesday’s edition of Cold Hard Facts with John Clayton included a discussion on what Seattle’s offensive line could look like in 2012.
Let’s take a deeper look.
Left tackle: Russell Okung was lost for the season when he was slammed to the turf in Week 14, resulting in a torn pectoral muscle. Pete Carroll has said he expects Okung to be ready for offseason workouts, so we can safely pencil him into the Week 1 lineup.
 A knee injury cut John Moffitt’s rookie season short. (AP) |
Left guard: Robert Gallery missed four games with knee and groin injuries, but started the final 12, leaving no reason to think he won’t be healthy for Week 1.
Center: Ditto for Max Unger, who missed one game with a foot injury last season but started the other 15.
Right guard: Rookie John Moffitt needed surgery to repair the MCL and PCL in his right knee following a Week 10 injury. Those injuries typically come with a shorter recovery time than an ACL injury, leading Clayton to believe that Moffitt could be eased back into action during training camp.
Lemuel Jeanpierre, who stepped in when Moffitt went down, is under contract and would seem to be a viable option should Moffitt not be ready to start the season.
Moffitt’s league-imposed suspension won’t be an issue since he served the four-game ban while on injured reserve.
Right tackle: Rookie James Carpenter tore his ACL in practice days after Moffitt’s injury. Citing the typical rehabilitation time for an ACL surgery, Clayton said he thinks Carpenter won’t be ready by the start of the season. The team could place Carpenter on the Physically Unable to Perform list, leaving him unavailable for six games.
“I don’t think he’s going to be cleared to play by September, so that means he may be able to go six, seven weeks into the season,” Clayton said. “… I think under those circumstanced he’s probably best served to start out at guard and then see if he can get back at the tackle position in say, 2013. Fortunately he’s young. Young guys heal a little bit quicker, but I think if you look at most timetables probably October is when he might first be available, and if that’s the case, he’s probably going to come back as a backup guard that once he’s healthy they start working him in.”
Breno Giacomini replaced Carpenter and played well enough to earn a two-year contract extension. He’s the most logical option to play right tackle in Carpenter’s absence.
