Tomorrow I’m going to delve into the defensive line data and on Wednesday it’ll be quarterbacks. Today it’s the turn of the offensive linemen…

Zone blocking free agents

I wanted to identify the best possible scheme fits within the free agent class. However, just looking at zone blocking data for the 2024 season can be deceptive. For example, Evan Neal of the Giants had a 90 grade in zone. He only had 78 zone snaps though. Therefore, I calculated a two-year average in zone for every free agent.

Only eight interior line free agents had a grade above 70:

Drew Dalman — 86.6 (454 snaps)
James Daniels — 79.6 (275 snaps)
Ben Bartch — 79.5 (57 snaps)
Trey Smith — 79.3 (482 snaps)
Kevin Zeitler — 79.2 (462 snaps)
Teven Jenkins — 78.1 (284 snaps)
Will Fries — 76.4 (349 snaps)
Coleman Shelton — 73.0 (309 snaps)

Mekhi Becton (67.3) and Ryan Kelly (66.6) were just on the outside. In case you are wondering, here are the five worst graders in zone:

Daniel Brunskill — 56.4
Ben Bredeson — 54.8
Brandon Scherff — 54.0
Josh Myers — 50.7
Jedrick Wills Jr — 50.4

It’s also possible Garrett Bradbury (74.4) and Trey Pipkins (70.3) could be cap casualties. If the Chiefs were willing to part with Joe Thuney via trade — an unlikely scenario, admittedly — his average grade was a 73.0.

Takeaways

It’s not exactly breaking news but by far the most impactful players the Seahawks could sign in free agency to improve their offensive line are Drew Dalman, Trey Smith and Kevin Zeitler. They all have +400 zone snaps in the last two seasons and have excelled in the scheme.

If only it were as simple as signing a couple of these guys, eh?

Sadly they are likely to be three highly coveted targets, or in the case of Zeitler he might be unprepared at the age of 35 to move to the west coast after a career on the east.

Drew Dalman is the ideal signing in terms of need, scheme fit and age (26). If the Seahawks go all-in on anyone, it probably should be him. With this being such an incredibly thin center class in the draft, most of the league might be interested in Dalman.

The Seahawks would have to pull out all of the stops to acquire him — both financially and in terms of selling the vision of moving to Seattle. This will be extremely difficult. Many expect the 49ers to pursue Dalman. He grew up in California and went to Stanford. You might not be able to compete with geography.

It would be a blow to see him join a division rival, especially if he continues his upward trajectory in his career. I think they have to be prepared to gamble a bit on cost because the fit is so good. Klint Kubiak’s suggestion that they need an elite center for the system to excel underpins the need to be aggressive here. Dalman is a top-five graded center — not just in zone. We’ll see if they can make it happen.

There is something else to note with Dalman. When John Schneider talks about doing a better job identifying and developing players, here is a classic example. Dalman’s overall blocking grade in his final year at Stanford was an 86.9. His grade in zone was a 91.2. He ran a 4.51 short shuttle, which for a center is typically indicative of strong upside potential. Dalman was always going to last to the round four range (it’s where I had him graded on my 2021 horizontal board) due to a lack of size (299lbs) and length (32 inch arms). Yet he had big hands (10.5 inches) — another indicator for future success at his position.

Dalman didn’t start a single game as a rookie, before taking over the job in year two. The Seahawks aren’t alone in this by any stretch — but they haven’t done a good enough job noting who has ‘the right stuff’ to be a potential hit in the kind of range Dalman was taken. He ticked a lot of boxes for a good starting center.

Of course, this was the 2021 draft that the Seahawks pretty much wrote-off because of Covid. They took Dee Eskridge instead of Creed Humphrey. They had only three draft picks after the nonsensical Jamal Adams trade, effectively taking them out of a class that included, aside from Humphrey, Landon Dickerson, Alim McNeill, Milton Williams, Osa Odighizuwa, Quinn Meinerz, Nico Collins, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Trey Smith, Ernest Jones, Chubba Hubbard, Dalman and others. There’s no hindsight thinking here either — I interviewed McNeill, Williams and Meinerz pre-draft (among others) because we rated them highly.

When the Seahawks did take a shot on a center — Olu Oluwatimi in 2023 — his grading was good (80.4 overall, 74.1 in zone, 80.0 in gap) but not close to Dalman’s level. His testing results (4.68 short shuttle) were also far weaker and he has tiny hands (8 5/8 inches). This is a very different profile, one that doesn’t suggest ‘future top center potential’.

There isn’t a single player in the 2024 draft with similar grades to Dalman. We’ll see if anyone can measure up physically in terms of testing. Ultimately, the Seahawks might be best signing a proven player (Kelly) for the next two years and kicking the can down the road, if they can’t sign Dalman. Or they could try to convert a day three prospect (Clay Webb, Connor Colby, Luke Kandra) behind the experienced starter. A better plan is needed here, though, than annually just signing a cheap one-year band-aid.

Trey Smith is going to re-set the guard market and maybe get close to receiver-level money. The teams with major cap space are likely to be the big players for his services, or he might just stay in Kansas City.

Kevin Zeitler played in Detroit for $6m in 2024. What a bargain. If he continues playing, he might just stay with the Lions.

I’m not sure there’s anyone else who can provoke immediate change. It won’t be a surprise if the Bears — boosted by the fact their quarterback is on a rookie contract and clearly in an aggressive mood having appointed Ben Johnson — pull out all the stops to land Dalman and Smith to make a statement. This is the kind of power-play that would elevate the Seahawks in a big way but it just seems absolutely fanciful (and might be for the Bears too).

So what can they do?

Ryan Kelly is a reasonable short-term fallback option for Dalman even if his age and grade are not ideal. Keep an eye on Coleman Shelton as another alternative.

Teven Jenkins could be an option but it depends on his market. If he gets a Damien Lewis level salary, forget about it. He’s too inconsistent. If he’s available on a cheaper prove-it deal, he could interest Seattle.

As discussed last week, San Francisco’s Ben Bartch could be a sneaky target. The 49ers have earmarked him to replace Aaron Banks. Can you steal Bartch from them? He’s also 26 and has a ton of potential within this scheme. Unlike Dalman, Bartch is originally from Oregon — so he might be open-minded about coming back to the PNW. He grades well in zone but he’s taken significantly fewer snaps than the other players listed earlier, so there’s an element of the unknown here.

James Daniels would be an option but it’s unclear when he’ll be healthy after suffering a torn achilles. He might remain a free agent deep into the summer when his rehab concludes. Lucas Patrick (67.7 average grade in zone) could be a good draft hedge after playing for Kubiak in New Orleans.

Overall there aren’t a ton of attractive options. You better prepare yourselves, Seahawks fans.

Zone blocking grades for draftable prospects

Because free agency could be a struggle unless they pull off a major coup, I think the Seahawks are banking on a good offensive lineman being available at #18. If they want to inject quality into their O-line this is possibly the only way to do it. The problem is, they already have a very young offensive line. Relying on the draft will be risky. It might place a greater emphasis on signing someone experienced like Ryan Kelly (if Drew Dalman isn’t available).

I can’t list everyone because it’s unfair to publish PFF’s full in-house grades but here are the key linemen who did well in zone and after tape study, I believe would be fits within the system:

Wyatt Milum — 90.3
Armand Membou — 87.5
Jack Nelson — 86.4
Logan Brown — 85.2
Clay Webb — 84.9
Grey Zabel —- 84.8
Kelvin Banks Jr — 81.5
Connor Colby — 81.3
Jared Wilson — 78.9
Luke Kandra — 76.5
Will Campbell — 74.5
Josh Conerly Jr — 73.7
Donovan Jackson — 73.2

I think Tyler Booker can excel operating in outside zone. His grade (65.5) isn’t good but it was worse in gap (63.0). I think his performance overall in 2024 is indicative of a struggling Alabama unit. In 2023, he had a 71.6 grade in zone. I would happily take him at #18 — although I don’t currently think he will last that far in round one.

Here’s how many pressures the group above conceded in 2024:

Donovan Jackson — 19
Will Campbell — 18
Kelvin Banks Jr — 10
Tyler Booker — 10
Connor Colby — 10
Armand Membou — 9
Jack Nelson — 9
Luke Kandra — 8
Grey Zabel — 7
Clay Webb — 7
Wyatt Milum — 6
Jared Wilson — 5

The following players gave up the most pressures within this draft class:

Cameron Williams 26
Emery Jones — 25
Marcus Mbow — 25
Donovan Jackson — 19
Will Campbell — 18
Jonah Savaiinaea — 15
Jake Majors — 15
Aireontae Ersery — 13
Joshua Gray — 12

Here’s how many sacks the targeted zone group conceded:

Will Campbell — 2
Donovan Jackson — 2
Connor Colby — 2
Kelvin Banks Jr — 1
Jack Nelson — 1
Grey Zabel — 1
Clay Webb — 1
Armand Membou — 0
Tyler Booker — 0
Luke Kandra — 0
Wyatt Milum — 0
Jared Wilson — 0

The following players gave up the most sacks within this draft class:

Cameron Williams — 5
Jonah Savaiinaea — 4
Marcus Mbow — 3
Connor Colby — 2
Donovan Jackson — 2
Will Campbell — 2

Takeaways

I think there are some excellent zone blocking options in this draft and not just in the early rounds. As I mentioned, they might be banking on one of Tyler Booker, Armand Membou, Kelvin Banks Jr and possibly Will Campbell or Donovan Jackson being available. All can play guard, all would add cost-effective talent and upside. Three of the players have positional flexibility.

An ideal scenario for them might be for one of Booker, Membou or Banks Jr to be there.

They might then focus their attention on the defensive line in round two. As we’ll detail in tomorrow’s piece, the 50th pick could be a real D-line sweet-spot.

Then, it could be about taking a quarterback in round three. That will be discussed in Wednesday’s article.

In terms of later round guards, Clay Webb excites me. He might’ve played at Jacksonville State but he was a former five-star recruit who originally attended Georgia. He’s an excellent athlete with a strong wrestling background. His tape and Senior Bowl performance jump off the screen in terms of zone blocking. I think he could be a better option to come in and compete to start at left guard than some of the players being touted for rounds one and two.

Connor Colby at Iowa has played 50 games of college football, has consistently helped establish a strong running game (with no support from the Hawkeyes’ passing game) and he’s a top athlete (said to be able to run a 4.47 short shuttle). His tape shows a gritty blocker willing to do everything you need to establish an outside zone attack.

Cincinnati’s Luke Kandra is someone I only studied at the back end of last week but I was quickly sold on his ability to function at a high level in this scheme. Another terrific athlete (projected 4.90 forty), he has an ideal body-type for zone blocking and plays with aggression and mobility — showing he can pull and move around the line and reach up to the second level.

These three players in particular just struck me as what you need to make this scheme work. And really, that’s what this is about isn’t it? For the first time in a while the Seahawks appear to have a clearly defined blocking plan in place. It’s time to draft and develop for the system and put down some roots.

Some of the names I’ve discussed in this piece are tailor-made zone blockers. You have a very experienced offensive line coach in John Benton, who is extremely well versed in this system. It’d be great to hand him top-end talent, via free agency and the draft, but it might not be possible. You might have to try and find solutions. There are solutions, in my opinion, throughout this draft, not just in round one, but I do think they might be banking on taking an offensive lineman with their top pick.

This will feel underwhelming to many — but signing Bartch as a draft hedge and letting the draft come to you, which could mean drafting zone specialists later on, to me isn’t a crazy idea. The Seahawks need to build around a system, not simply draft big names in the early rounds.

The key is finding a center to anchor everything — and it’s why Dalman is such an important target, with Kelly as a legitimate Plan B.

I’d also say that Jack Nelson is tremendously underrated at Wisconsin and could kick inside to guard or act as a swing tackle, Logan Brown is strictly a tackle but could be a useful backup, Grey Zabel is clearly an option but could go earlier than some of the names mentioned above and Jared Wilson is an intriguing center prospect with all the tools you need — he might just need a bit of time to develop. The question is whether he’ll last to a range where the Seahawks feel like taking a chance on a player who might not start in the first year or two. Not having a fourth round selection until the comp picks could be an issue, if Wilson even lasts that far.