What style of lineman fits new Seahawks OC Grubb’s scheme?

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: the Seattle Seahawks need to address their offensive line in this year’s NFL Draft.

Could Seahawks wait until next year to draft QB?

With new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and offensive line coach Scott Huff coming from the UW Huskies to join the fold, it’s worth wondering what type of linemen the team needs to bring in to fit its scheme. Do the Hawks need a big, mauling presence to pave the way for a power run game, or an athletic blocker who get to spots and excels at winning in space?

Former NFL quarterback and UW Huskies alum Brock Huard is plenty familiar with Grubb and Huff from their time on Montlake, and he weighed in on what type of player the Seahawks should be looking for during Wednesday’s Blue 88 segment on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.

“They’re not just a man power scheme. They’re not an outside Alex Gibbs zone team. They’re not just a one-dimensional zone read team,” Huard said. “They kind of just do whatever their personnel does.”

That means the best fit for the Seahawks will be the best player available, according to Huard.

“I think one of the advantages you have when you’re a college coach coming to the NFL, we’ve seen this with a few of them, is that you take what you have on your roster and you’ve got enough scheme that you can play to their strengths,” Huard said.

Grubb and Huff guided college football’s best offensive line last season, with the Huskies’ unit up front winning the Joe Moore Award, which is given to the nation’s top O-line. The team had plenty of talent with NFL Draft prospects Troy Fautanu and Roger Rosengarten bookending the line at tackle, but it also navigated the challenge of playing an undersized freshman at center.

Many draft experts have projected Fautanu to land in Seattle with the No. 16 overall pick in the first round, with the thought being he could slide over to guard and help the Seahawks shore up the interior of their offensive line. He’d be a player who already has plenty of familiarity with what Grubb and Huff are looking for in the trenches. Another name popping up is Duke’s Graham Barton, a four-year starter with experience at tackle and center. Barton is also projected as a guard in the NFL and could bring a similar type of positional flexibility as Fautanu, and he appears to be a more realistic get if Seattle trades back in the first round.

“They’re going to have draft an offensive lineman, or maybe two,” Huard said. “The interior of the offensive line, you look at their roster, you just need people to fill some of those spots.”

Listen to the full Blue 88 segment at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

More on the Seattle Seahawks and the NFL Draft

• As Hawks open offseason program, changes under Macdonald obvious
• Seahawks Draft Profile: How would Oregon QB Bo Nix fit?
• Huard’s Seahawks Draft Profile: Potential OL starter on Day 3
• Michael Penix to a Seahawks rival in NFL Draft? Mel Kiper thinks so
• The UW Huskies draft prospect that will surprise people in NFL

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