Seahawks OL Olu Oluwatimi sneaks onto PFF's list of the NFL's top 32 centers

How do you manage to field a bad offensive line 15 years in a row? The short answer is that a lot goes into it, as it has for the Seattle Seahawks since John Schneider became their general manager. High on that list has to be a few key points, including poor drafting/evaluation, poor development and above all a tendency to rely on their own guys too much and for too long.

Seattle has been particularly neglectful of the interior three positions, where right now this team probably has the worst group in the league. There was a strong case to find three new starters for those spots this offseason between the draft and free agency but the Seahawks only have one so far - with Grey Zabel slotted to play left guard in place of Laken Tomlinson.

That means it'll either be Christian Haynes or Anthony Bradford at right guard and at center Olu Oluwatimi, who has virtually no competition for the starting spot. It would abe one thing if these were high-quality or even average starters at their respective positions, but they're just not.

According to Pro Football Focus, Oluwatimi is only the 31st best starting center in the league going into 2025.

"Connor Williams‘ surprise retirement thrust Oluwatimi into the starting job for the final eight games of the 2024 season, and he struggled a bit to gain his footing. Although pass protection was a challenge, the second-year center enjoyed some success as a run blocker, posting a 65.8 PFF run-blocking grade."

The only center who ranked lower on PFF's list is rookie Tate Ratledge, who hasn't played a snap but is the most logical candidate to replace Frank Ragnow, who just retired.

Ratledge was one of the interior prospects we had our eye on going into Day 2, but instead of targeting him or another offensive lineman the Seahawks went safety and then tight end with their next two picks coming out of the first round.

Nick Emmanwori and Elijah Arroyo may both go on to become stars at their respective positions, but Seattle would be better suited to compete in 2025 if that capital had gone to address the team's greatest weakness, instead.