SEATTLE -- Five years ago, the Seattle Seahawks found themselves in a first-round predicament.
They had just traded away defensive end Frank Clark two days before the start of the 2019 NFL draft, leaving them without their top player at a position where they already lacked another viable secondary option.
With six edge rushers off the board within the first 26 selections, the pickings were slim for the Seahawks at No. 29. They did not have a first-round grade on L.J. Collier but took the TCU product anyway, fearing what they viewed as a significant dropoff between him and their potential Day 2 alternatives.
Collier recorded three sacks over four underwhelming seasons with Seattle and wasn't re-signed when his rookie contract expired.
The lesson learned: if you go into a draft with a glaring need, you might be tempted to reach in order to fill it.
That cautionary tale is worth revisiting given the Seahawks' current situation at guard, which remains their biggest roster hole a month into free agency.
Damien Lewis signed a massive four-year deal with the Carolina Panthers while Phil Haynes, their other opening-day starter in 2023, remains unsigned following an injury-plagued season.
The depth chart, such as it is, currently has three players: Anthony Bradford, a 2023 fourth-round pick who made 10 starts as a rookie; McClendon Curtis, an early-season pickup last year who'd previously been listed as a tackle; and Tremayne Anchrum Jr., a former backup with the Los Angeles Rams who joined Seattle on a one-year deal for the minimum salary and $100,000 guaranteed.
Those are the only three guards listed on the Seahawks' roster, though Nick Harris, signed from the Cleveland Browns to compete at center, could also play there.
No wonder why new coach Mike Macdonald called the offensive line "a work in progress" at the league meetings last month and said the Seahawks are "not done by any stretch of the imagination."
The Seahawks plan to add a veteran guard and bolster that spot through the draft as well.
"We're working through that," general manager John Schneider said last week on his Seattle Sports 710-AM radio show when asked about the interior of the team's O-line. "We've had some guys in. We'll continue to do that. We've had some veteran guys, guys that have started games and [we want to] put another veteran in that group and then hope to address things in the draft as much as we possibly can. Again, we're not playing games tomorrow, so we'll continue to work our way through post-draft, trades, the summer, all that kind of stuff. So it's not an area that's being ignored."
Three veteran players the Seahawks have been eyeing are Laken Tomlinson, Cody Whitehair and Greg Van Roten, according to league sources. Here's a look at each of those players as well as three guards Seattle could consider early in the draft.
Veteran options
Tomlinson and Whitehair have similar profiles -- both in their early-30s with over 100 starts and a Pro Bowl on their resumes.
The 32-year-old Tomlinson, released by the New York Jets in February, has played almost exclusively at left guard throughout his career. Durability has been his calling card. He's missed just one game in nine seasons since entering the NFL as the 28th overall pick by the Detroit Lions -- and only nine combined snaps over the past five years.
Tomlinson finished 34th among all guards (left or right) in pass block win rate (91.2%) in 2023 and ranks 27th in PBWR (92.5%) as a guard over the last three seasons. That includes his Pro Bowl season with the San Francisco 49ers in 2021.
The Seahawks brought Tomlinson to the Virginia Mason Athletic Center for a free agent visit before the league meetings at the end of March. They planned to do the same with Whitehair but had to reschedule -- though it is not clear if that visit has taken place yet.
The 31-year-old Whitehair doesn't have the iron-man track record of Tomlinson but does offer more versatility.
Drafted by the Chicago Bears in the second round in 2016 and released in February, Whitehair made the Pro Bowl as a center in 2018 and has mostly played left guard since then (he has almost 200 career snaps on the right side as well).
The defensive-minded Macdonald wants to run the ball, but the Seahawks need to improve in pass protection after finishing 25th in pass block win rate (53%) last season. Whitehair, who started 11 games and appeared in all 17 for the Bears, looks like he could be an upgrade in that regard. He finished sixth among guards in PBWR (94.7%) and ranks ninth (94.2%) over the last three seasons.
Because Tomlinson and Whitehair were both released, neither would count against Seattle's formula for compensatory picks.
Van Roten, meanwhile, was not re-signed after spending last season with the Las Vegas Raiders and starting a career-high 17 games. He ranked 28th among guards in PBWR (92.1%) while playing exclusively on the right side, though he played extensively on the left side earlier in his career and also has some experience at center. Van Roten visited the Seahawks earlier this month.
If the name sounds familiar, it's because the 34-year-old had an offseason stint with Seattle in 2014 before his detour to the CFL.
Potential early-round draft targets
Not counting James Carpenter and Germain Ifedi, who were both selected as tackles, Schneider hasn't taken a true guard earlier than Round 3 in 14 drafts with Seattle. If there's anyone who looks as though he could bust that trend, it's Washington's Troy Fautanu, who's been the most commonly-mocked player to Seattle at pick No. 16.
It's an obvious marriage of upside, need and familiarity, as new Seahawks offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and O-line coach Scott Huff both joined Macdonald's staff from UW.
Fautanu (6-foot-4, 317 pounds) mostly played left tackle for the Huskies, but several draft analysts -- including ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. and Matt Miller -- project him as a guard in the NFL. Both Kiper's and Miller's latest mock drafts send Fautanu to Seattle at 16, and each believes that he has All-Pro potential at guard. Kiper's Big Board ranks Fautanu as the best guard in this year's draft and the ninth-best overall player.
Schneider has a long history of trading back in the first round, and he may be tempted to do so again this year with no second-round pick. But if the Seahawks are as high on Fautanu as some in the draft community are, then he'd have good reason to stay put at 16 -- especially if they aren't sold on the options at guard behind him.
As for Day 2 options, Kansas State's Cooper Beebe (6-foot-3, 322 pounds) has generated some buzz as a potential Seahawks fit. Kiper views him as the sixth-best guard in this year's draft, though Miller's latest mock draft has him going 57th overall. Miller calls Beebe "pro-ready in both the run and pass game." Beebe made 48 starts in college, played every O-line position but center and allowed only three sacks.
Kiper's third-rated guard is UConn's Christian Haynes (6-foot-3, 317 pounds), a four-year college starter and team captain who played extensively at right guard. Miller projects him as an early-third-round pick -- more in line with where Schneider has drafted at this position
Michigan's Zak Zinter (6-foot-6, 322 pounds) is one spot ahead of Haynes in Kiper's view, and the Seahawks would have plenty of insight into his personality and game given the strong ties their new coaching staff has to the UM program.
But he's had to sit out the pre-draft process while recovering from a broken tibia and fibula he suffered in November, and thus he may not make sense for a team like Seattle that needs someone to step into a starting role right away.