Field Gulls
There’s a new Scherff in town?
We’re in the quietest part of the NFL offseason; minicamp is done across the league and
ESPN’s Aaron Schatz suggested a final offseason move for all 32 teams, including signings, extensions, signings, and trades. For the Seattle Seahawks, his proposal is for Seattle to sign former Jacksonville Jaguars guard Brandon Scherff.
The interior offensive line was a major problem for the Seahawks in 2024, and while first-round rookie Grey Zabel should stabilize the left guard position, the other positions are still in flux. Olu Oluwatini is penciled in at center, where he was below average in both pass block win rate (92.4% versus NFL center average of 93.8%) and especially in run block win rate (64.5% versus 72.8%) last season.
The current leader at right guard is 2024 third-round pick Christian Haynes. Why not bring in a former Pro Bowler who can provide some stability and veteran leadership? Scherff is still available and could take the right guard position, kicking Haynes over to battle Oluwatini for the center position at training camp.
One little detail left off regarding Scherff? He’s 33 years old and will be 34 by the end of the regular season.
Scherff has made the Pro Bowl five times and was a first-team All-Pro selection in 2020 with the Washington Commanders. If nothing else, after dealing with some injuries in his final years in Washington, he started all 51 regular season games in this three years with the Jaguars. He also didn’t make any Pro Bowl or All-Pro teams during that span. While Scherff still has generally good PFF pass blocking grades, run blocking was a bit of a nightmare during his time with the Jaguars. Scherff clearly wasn’t as good in Jacksonville as he was in Washington and he’s at an age where the decline could be precipitous.
The right guard competition for the Seahawks is primarily between incumbent starter Anthony Bradford and second-year player Christian Haynes, so I’m not sure about calling Haynes the “current leader” at RG. Nevertheless, Haynes has had some reps at center so it’s not totally off-base to suggest he could move there.
Signing Scherff on the cheap to see if he has anything left during camp and preseason? Not against it. Expecting him to be a serviceable starter through the regular season while Christian Haynes could face being a backup across multiple positions? I’m not sure about that.
