Losing Damien Lewis to the Panthers, the Seahawks have placed guard as a priority. A few veteran starters remain available. One of them is heading to Seattle for a visit.
The Seahawks are meeting with Greg Van Roten Wednesday, Brady Henderson of ESPN.com passes along. While the team has been connected to potential interest in Laken Tomlinson and Cody Whitehair, Van Roten joins this duo in having extensive starting experience. Despite joining the Raiders midway through the 2023 offseason, he worked as a 17-game starter last year in Las Vegas.
Representing the only notable Raiders O-line addition last year, Van Roten commandeered the starting right guard job and played there throughout the season. The veteran offered Las Vegas some stability, logging 1,024 snaps at the position in 2023. Lauding Van Roten’s pass-blocking work, Pro Football Focus rated the journeyman guard seventh at the position last season.
Last year’s Raiders work ran Van Roten’s start count to 71. Prior to his Nevada stay, the former UDFA spent time with the Packers, Panthers, Jets and Bills. Not all of these seasons brought regular starter work, but a few of them did. The Panthers and Jets used Van Roten as a frequent starter from 2018-21. The Bills deployed the veteran as a backup in 2022, but the Raiders demoted Alex Bars ahead of last season and stuck with Van Roten throughout.
Turning 34 earlier this offseason, Van Roten is on the older side and certainly would profile as a rental for the Seahawks. But the team passed on paying Lewis, who signed a four-year Panthers deal worth $52M, and have not re-signed right guard starter Phil Haynes. The team may need to turn to a stopgap blocker in Ryan Grubb‘s first year as OC and Van Roten profiles as one of the top names available on this year’s market.
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