This offseason is chance for Seahawks to prioritize the trenches

The Seattle Seahawks have parted with a few big names this week, including safety tandem Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs.

Who Seattle Seahawks’ safety options could be after cutting Adams, Diggs

It’s a new era of Seahawks football as Pete Carroll is gone and Mike Macdonald is the team’s new head coach. John Schneider is still Seattle’s general manager, but it’s clear that this is the start of something new with the Seahawks.

Parting with Adams and Diggs certainly showcased that, and that helped lead Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy to talking about roster building and where the Seahawks’ priorities need to be with Nate Tice of The Athletic.

“I am a big believer in trenches first, inside out. Quarterback and offensive line or defensive line and pass rush and then you get the corners and the coverage guys after that,” said Tice, a former scout and coach as well as the son of former Seahawks tight end and Vikings head coach Mike Tice. “But right now, to me, it seems like the Pete Carroll thing and just how this roster was built was defensive backs first (on defense). They had so many safeties they could play last year, or kind of tweener types. And then the (focus on) offense was the receivers. I don’t know if that’s always great. I’m not saying that’s good or bad, that’s just what they were. But I think this is a refresh or revamp that they’re going to be trying to do and maybe a new image of it all. But they need help in the trenches, especially on offense.”

Offensively, the Seahawks have two young tackles to build around in Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas, both of whom are set to enter their third NFL season. But the interior of Seattle’s offensive line could look very different as Week 1 starting guards Damien Lewis and Phil Haynes as well as center Evan Brown are all pending free agents.

“I thought the Charles Cross and Abe Lucas investments were well worthwhile and I think they’re still great players – I really do, if they can be healthy. But you need to keep investing,” Tice said of the offensive line. “Even if you’re going to get a quarterback of the future past Geno (Smith), you need a center to help, a battery mate for the next decade if you want that to be part of your plan. I’m a big believer that the center position is super important, so you need to invest in it, though. It can’t be just a cast off kind of thing.”

Who could Seattle Seahawks target in draft?

In a recent mock draft for Yahoo Sports, Tice had the Seahawks selecting Oregon center Jackson Powers-Johnson, who at 330 pounds also has the size to be a guard.

“His tools are greater than kind of what the skill set is right now, but there’s not a lot of 330-pound centers that move like that. That’s kind of the bet you’re making,” Tice said.

There have been some rumblings about the Seahawks potentially being interested in drafting a quarterback early, but Tice said Seattle shouldn’t do that in the first round unless someone that love “falls into their lap.” He wants the Seahawks to prioritize drafting offensive and defensive line help early come April.

“Tie goes to the trenches. No matter what, we need to invest in that because that’s gonna have repercussions in a good way on the rest of our team (regardless of) whatever happens with (receivers DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett) down the road, whatever happens with Geno down the road,” he said. “But we still need to build this base to launch everything else from. You can’t do anything, all the fun stuff, unless you have a good offensive line.”

“I also think that with the defense, too,” Tice added. “Against the run has been just so frustrating for the Seahawks the last couple of years and that’s because the front seven kind of is just a mishmash of parts.”

Listen to Bump and Stacy’s full conversation with Nate Tice at this link or in the player near the top of this story.

More Seahawks coverage from Seattle Sports

• Seattle Seahawks Draft: Versatile players for Mike Macdonald’s defense
• Seahawks cut D-tackle Bryan Mone in big money-saving move
• Rost: 4 big questions after Seahawks release Diggs, Adams and Dissly
• Salk: Do Seahawks’ 3 releases signal a big change?
• What stands out after Seattle Seahawks’ 3 big cuts
• Huard: How Seahawks can still benefit from Russell Wilson trade

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