There’s a saying: “Sometimes you have to say no to the good to get the great.” Seattle has aggressively taken on that mindset to wash the offensive line with talent over the last few years.
It was a glorious thing to watch Seattle subvert the storyline, flipping it on its head for the world to see on SNF. All season it’s been: “The Seahawks are missing Kenneth Walker III, that’s why they haven’t looked the same!” A dash of: “they messed up by letting Ken walk.” Seattle shut down a prolific back, and
themselves rushed for over 150 as a team in a bounce back performance at Lumen, slamming the door on all the narratives.
Anthony Bradford came back from injury, and played well, contributing to that rushing performance. Even so, the 2026 Seattle Seahawks are not getting complacent, choosing, rather, to run it forward.
Quenton Nelson is an undeniable game changer and talent. His reputation alone may make defensive squads feel the pressure to line up to respect the run a little more. Seattle got it done to their standard of a ground game against KC… but they didn’t want to take any more chances of the offense devolving again, especially with a rematch against SF, and a double feature on tap against a still dangerous Rams team.
Angling to get better at all positions led to the loss of Bryce Cabeldue to the Raiders.
Christian Haynes is the latest victim of Seattle’s transformation of the blocking unit.
Former Seahawks offensive lineman Ray Roberts appeared on the Wyman & Bob radio show, and said: “Someone had to go, and you still don’t know what you have in Beau Stephens. You may have a better idea of what you have in Christian Haynes. I don’t think that Christian ever fit the mold that they were looking for. I can remember earlier, like his rookie year, I think Coach Macdonald made the comment that like, he can get it done, but it doesn’t look the way you want it to look getting it done. So, he’s a little bit, kind of awkward in his approach and everything. Also, they kind of give the dudes about three years around here, to kind of figure out whether you have staying power, or you don’t.
Having all that been said, it’s still weird to see him in Dolphins colors already.
Matt Hasselbeck also appeared on Wyman & Bob and fleshed out developmental advantages to having Nelson on the squad. He explained that “the young guys on this roster are going to be better for having been his teammate, for having seen his process, seen how he works, seen how he prepares and studies. The most famous #8 in Hawks history went on to drop a gem of a saying: “more is caught than taught.”
Quenton Nelson, for his part, sounds ready to go to battle for Seattle: “It’s great to have all those memories and years spent in Indy, but, like I said: I’m excited for this.” The future gold jacket player went on to say, “I think I can do any kind of scheme.”
Cooper Kupp said that Nelson has, “seen a lot of football.” This falls in line with the Seahawks’ farm system, or, what I saw Seaside Joe calling, “the buddy system.”
Both Jeff Saturday, as well as Nelson’s replacement in Indianapolis, 4th-Round rookie, Jalen Farmer have independently mentioned how Q. has promised to stay in the young gun’s ear, even despite now being on a new team. That may not hold for the whole year, but it shows his dedication and intention as a teammate.
That’s what great players do.
How should we feel about Anthony Bradford? He’s come a long way: from public enemy #1 on offense, at times, to possibly even moving into the realm of good. Seattle’s has sights set on being more than good.
Coach Macdonald on the messaging to Bradford: “It’s not an easy situation. I thought Anthony played really good football for us, and he has. He’s earned a significant role in our team, a starting level role. It’s one of those through, not around type of things with A.B. that is not easy. There’s really no way to sugarcoat it.”
Seahawks GM, John Schneider was catching heat for a while for calling offensive guards “overpaid and over-drafted”, even after the seeming mistakes of getting rid of Max Unger and letting Damien Lewis walk to become a premier OG in Carolina.
Since then, he has been aggressive in reshaping this offensive line. Q. Nelson may be the finishing touch on that agenda. The pain of watching Laken Tomlinson let pressure through may have directly led to Grey Zable being drafted.
How high can this line climb? Will it be the best in recent Seattle memory? Can it get this run game on track and on a dominant pace? All possible, but time will tell.
