The Seattle Seahawks already made one big decision in the offseason by moving on from long-time head coach Pete Carroll and replacing him with first-year head coach Mike Macdonald.
Now, they have a couple more decisions to make with their roster before the start of the regular season. Here are three of them:
Who plays right guard?
The Seahawks have had some issues on their offensive line — and especially on the interior — for a couple of years now, and right guard remains one of the open position battles in this year’s starting lineup.
Second-year player Anthony Bradford would seem to have the inside track and is entering the preseason at the top of the depth chart, but he is expected to get a major push from rookie third-round pick Christian Haynes.
Inconsistent offensive line play impacted the Seahawks’ offense in a big way in 2023 — especially as it relates to the play of quarterback Geno Smith — and getting somebody like Haynes to step in and immediately improve things would go a long way toward solidifying the entire offense.
How does the running back depth chart shake out?
The Seahawks already know Zach Charbonnet and Kenneth Walker are their top-two running backs going into the season, and they should be one of the league’s better duos, especially if the aforementioned offensive line problems can get ironed out and improved.
They still have some questions to answer in how the running back room shakes out.
Specifically, does Walker still continue to get the bulk of the carries and playing time as he did a year ago, or does Charbonnet, who had a slightly better yard per carry average in his rookie season (4.3 vs. 4.1), start to get more responsibility?
They also have to make some decisions behind those two, as undrafted rookie George Holani is competing with Kenny McIntosh for the third spot on the depth chart.
Do they have enough at linebacker?
The Seahawks completely transformed their middle linebacker depth chart this offseason by letting Bobby Wagner and Jordyn Brooks leave, replacing them in free agency with Tyrel Dodson and Jerome Baker.
The Seahawks are happy with both additions because they both have experience as being the defensive play-caller in the huddle, but there are still some big questions regarding how much of an impact they can make and if they have done enough at the position.
Baker is currently dealing with a hamstring injury, while Dodson has only played more than 500 snaps one time in his career, and that was only because of injuries ahead of him on the depth chart.
How confident are they in that group, especially with Baker dealing with an injury early in the season? If they do not impress in preseason play, could that open the door for another move (scouring the free agent market, other team’s cuts or trades) before the regular season begins?
