Seahawks' most important non-QB is exactly who you'd expect

The quarterback is pretty much always the most important position on a football team. Teams can get away with a mediocre running back, wide receiver, linebacker, or anything else, but they can't really get by without a decent quarterback. The Seattle Seahawks are no different, especially after investing over $100 million in Sam Darnold.

He will be their most important player in 2025, but he won't be the only important player. In fact, the next most important "player" is going to have a direct impact on how well the most important player, Darnold, will do, according to CBS Sports insider Jared Dubin.

For Seattle, it's not a single player; it's an entire group. It's five players, all of whom are tasked with keeping Darnold upright. "We know what it can look like when Sam Darnold is playing behind a porous offensive line and constantly under siege. Just look at the difference between how he played for almost the entire season in Minnesota last year, and how he played in the Vikings' final two games of the season," Dubin said.

"Seattle desperately needs to keep pressure out of his face, or the contract it gave him this offseason will end up looking really bad, really fast," he went on. "This is an offensive line that has struggled in its own right over the last few seasons, so there is going to need to be some significant improvement to make good on the investment in Darnold."

Darnold's level of play will determine how good the Seahawks can be, but the offensive line will ultimately determine his level of play. So in that sense, maybe the offensive line, which has been boosted by the first-round draf choice of Grey Zabel, is actually the most important thing for Seattle.