Seahawks draft UConn guard Christian Haynes in third round
Apr 26, 2024, 7:52 PM | Updated: Apr 27, 2024, 5:31 pm
Seattle Seahawks draft pick Christian Haynes of UConn against Tennessee in 2023. (Donald Page/Getty Images)
(Donald Page/Getty Images)
The Seattle Seahawks addressed their need along the interior offensive line, taking UConn guard Christian Haynes in the third round with the No. 81 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft on Friday night.
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The 6-foot-3, 317-pound Haynes was a third-team Associated Press All-American each of the past two seasons. He showed impressive durability, starting all 49 games at right guard over UConn’s past four seasons in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023. The Huskies didn’t play in 2020 due to COVID-19 concerns.
Haynes allowed just one sack and two quarterback hits in 786 pass-blocking snaps over the past two seasons, according to Pro Football Focus.
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The 24-year-old Bowie, Md., native figures to compete with nine-year veteran Laken Tomlinson and second-year Anthony Bradford for starting time at the guard spots.
Tomlinson signed a one-year, $4 million deal with Seattle earlier this month. He made 138 starts with three teams over the past nine seasons, playing almost exclusively at left guard. Damien Lewis, Seattle’s starting left guard last year, signed with the Carolina Panthers in March.
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Bradford, a 2023 fourth-round pick, started 10 games at right guard last season. He helped fill in for injured season-opening starting right guard Phil Haynes, who remains unsigned this offseason.
The only other guards currently on Seattle’s roster are former Los Angeles Rams backup Tremayne Anchrum Jr. and second-year McClendon Curtis. Anchrum, who signed a one-year, $1.155 million deal with Seattle in March, started one game in three seasons with the Rams. Curtis was an undrafted rookie who appeared in one game with the Seahawks last year.
Haynes was the second Seattle Seahawks pick of the draft. The Seahawks took Texas defensive tackle Byron Murphy II in the first round at No. 16 overall, but they dealt their second-round pick to the New York Giants last October in the trade for defensive end Leonard Williams.
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