Field Gulls
The 2025 NFL trade deadline has come and gone, and the Seahawks made it a priority to go and get a deep threat receiver. While this makes the offensive unit even more intriguing, there has been a whole subset of Seattle fans pining for a trade to bring in an offensive guard to replace Anthony Bradford. That didn’t happen. Not Wyatt Teller, and not Jackson Powers-Johnson. The latter did pique curiosity because he is a recently highly drafted young player for a struggling Vegas Raiders team. Why didn’t it happen?
Let’s start with this: Anthony Bradford has not been great. In fact, he’s looked like the weak link in Seattle’s offense often, earning a cringe-inducing 46.3 PFF grade. At the same time, he hasn’t been as fatal to offensive success as could’ve been feared.
Sam Darnold is currently the highest graded quarterback in the league by PFF and has the highest big-time throw rate. He is 2nd in the NFL in both of the advanced stats of QB Rating (QBR) as well as Completion Percentage Over Expected (CPOE). Most pertinent to the line discussion: this Seahawks offense has been playing pretty efficiently, showing themselves to be a top 5 team in pressure rate allowed. Darnold has the 2nd-lowest sack percentage of any passer with more than 90 snaps played.
Rather than messing with the chemistry of an offensive line while the unit is playing winning football, John Schneider and Seattle leadership decided to put emphasis on becoming less reliant on JSN for production. The trade for Rashid Shaheed looks more like Schneider, Mike Macdonald and Klint Kubiak all deciding to double down on the system they’ve built and looking towards the top of the standings.
It feels like the ability for Darnold to get the ball out quickly helps mitigate some of Anthony Bradford’s struggles in pass pro.
While J.P.J. does have a significantly higher overall PFF grade (65.3) than A.B., he is of a similar makeup: excelling in run blocking much more than in pass protection. He also recently put a 29.6 PFF grade out into the market against the Kansas City Chiefs… a game in which he was benched by Las Vegas coach, Pete Carroll.
Either Seattle’s general manager did not see Powers-Johnson as an upgrade big enough to make a move for, or the Raiders brass did not see value in losing an able-bodied lineman with some pedigree during a season where their offense already looks underpowered (no pun intended). I think it’s a bit of both. Let’s also not forget that if you trade for a player, you are making somewhat of an investment in them. The Seahawks will need to watch their investments closely next year, with new contracts expected for multiple players and only four draft picks.
Everybody remember Schneider’s infamous quote about offensive guards being “overdrafted” and “overpaid”? Well, he ended up showing that if he thinks a guy is worth it, he’ll pull the trigger. Grey Zabel was selected in the 1st...
