Big Ray: Why Seahawks rookie OL ‘jumped off the screen’

The offensive line is among the more interesting position groups to watch for the Seattle Seahawks during the preseason.

Brock and Salk: What stood out in Seattle Seahawks’ preseason opener

The Seahawks are set to have a new look in the trenches with the potential of four new starters when the regular season kicks off next month. Three of those roles could go to veteran offseason additions like recently signed center Connor Williams, guard Laken Tomlinson and tackle George Fant.

There’s also a number of younger players fighting for prominent roles, headlined by second-year center Olu Oluwatimi, second-year guard Anthony Bradford and rookie guard Christian Haynes.

The interior of the line appears to be where the biggest competition is, and the performance of one of the players in those battles stood out to Seahawks Radio Network analyst and former NFL O-lineman Ray Roberts during the preseason opener against the Chargers.

Roberts explained who that was Monday when he joined Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob.

“Well, the first thing that kind of stood out was just their rotation,” Roberts said. “They played a lot of guys in those interior three spots, the two guards and the center spot, and then I think of that rotation, the guy that really jumped off the screen to me was Christian Haynes. He came in the game and played left guard and then he moved over to right guard, and he had, to me, equal success on both sides of it.”

Pro Football Focus also felt that Haynes had a solid preseason debut. The site highlighted an interesting grade from each game during Week 1 of the preseason, and the Connecticut product was the featured subject of the Seahawks-Chargers matchup.

Haynes, who played 41 total snaps, graded out with 62.8 run-blocking grade and 66.1 pass-blocking grade, allowing just one pressure on 20 pass-blocking stats.

Roberts was impressed by how “active” the third-round draft pick was and believes he will give the Seahawks coaching staff a tough decision to make at guard.

“He was active and violent with his hands, he was quick with his feet, he was getting up to the second level, he was finishing blocks, he was just being really explosive off the ball,” Roberts said. “And so it’s just something about the way he was moving, the way he was going about his business, that just made me think that this guy definitely belongs on this level.

“… If they go with Bradford and Tomlinson (as the guards), it’s going to be hard to keep this guy on the sidelines.”

Listen to the full conversation with former Seattle Seahawks offensive lineman Ray Roberts at this link or in the audio player near the top of the story. Tune in to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2-6 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.

Seattle Seahawks coverage

• Seahawks hope addition of center Connor Williams will solidify O-line
• The Seahawks player who had the best preseason opener
• Wyman’s Seahawks Takeaways: A strong start to the Macdonald era
• Rost: What we learned in Seahawks’ preseason opener
• Big Ray’s perspective on Seattle Seahawks adding Connor Williams

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