Why Anthony Bradford won Seahawks’ battle at RG

Nov 2, 2024, 9:33 AM

Anthony Bradford of the Seattle Seahawks is held by teammates during a 2023 game. (Al Bello/Getty Images)

(Al Bello/Getty Images)

BY ZAC HERETH

Seattle Sports

The battle at right guard is settled for the Seattle Seahawks – at least for now.

Seattle Seahawks rule out 2 key players for Sunday’s game vs Rams

After several weeks of splitting time with rookie Christian Haynes, the Seahawks are rolling with Anthony Bradford as their full-time right guard Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams.

Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb told reporters Thursday that Bradford earned the job with recently improved play, including in last week’s loss to the Buffalo Bills.

“I thought he did a better job finishing, his execution was better and he had a really good week of practice,” Grubb said. “I thought that was something that showed up in the game. He certainly wasn’t perfect by any stretch. He’s still working through stuff as a young player, but he’s finishing harder and he’s playing with better pad level and he’s starting to live up to some of the things we think he can do.”

Bradford had been getting the bulk of the playing time at the position, logging at least 60% of the team’s offensive snaps in the six games (Weeks 2 and 4-8) he split time with Haynes. And according to Pro Football Focus, the second-year offensive lineman is coming off his two best performances of the season.

In Seattle’s Week 7 win over Atlanta, Bradford posted a season-best 67.2 overall grade and career-best 87.0 pass-blocking grade. He received the second-highest overall grade of any Seahawks O-linemen and didn’t allow a pressure for the second time this season

In last week’s loss to Buffalo, Bradford earned a 65.3 overall grade with 67.9 run-blocking mark, which were each his second-best grades of the season.

Additionally, the LSU product’s penalty problem has subsided after a brutal first three weeks. Bradford committed a team-high seven penalties in the first three games, but hasn’t been flagged since.

Bradford holds an overall grade of 51.1 with a 57.3 in run blocking and 51.1 in pass blocking in 434 snaps this season. He’s allowed a total of 20 pressures and four sacks.

Meanwhile, Haynes’ performance has graded out slightly less favorably. In 104 snaps, he sports an overall grade of 48.0 with a 50.1 in run blocking in 53.3 in pass blocking. The 2024 third-round pick has allowed four pressures and one sack and committed two penalties.

Brock weighs in on RG decision

During his Blue 88 segment on Thursday, former NFL quarterback Brock Huard shared his thoughts on why the Seahawks are rolling with Bradford as the full-time right guard.

Huard feels that the size and strength the 6-foot-4, 332-pound Bradford possess is distinct advantage over the 6-foot-2, 313-pound Haynes.

“It’s just the difference between (a baseball pitcher) 92 (mph) velo and 100 velo,” Huard said. “(Bradford is) athletic, he’s strong, he’s got a massive, massive frame and he’s pretty athletic with it. When he’s disciplined, when he’s conditioned, when he’s on point, when he’s … intentional about all of that, the upside and the skill set is just much better than Christian.

“And they’ve given him opportunities, but he has just been physically – this being Haynes – too many times physically overwhelmed, and Bradford’s not necessarily been physically overwhelmed.”

With that being said, Huard still sees plenty of work to be done on Bradford’s end.

“I think he has been, at times, mentally overwhelmed to do the right thing all the time,” Huard said. “So this is going to give Bradford every opportunity to maximize (his) talent. When we speak of talent, talent that is there, more talent than Christian Haynes has, but certainly a discipline that’s got to grow an awful lot.”

Listen to Brock Huard’s Blue 88 at this link or in the audio player in this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.