In looking at the Seattle Seahawks 90-man roster, one can quickly see the logjam in the offensive line room. A potential loser in this logjam could be former third round pick, Christian Haynes. Coming out of UConn, Haynes had big expectations as a rookie. Unfortunately he has yet to live up to those expectations.
In his first two seasons, Haynes struggled to see the field. He played as a backup throughout his rookie 2024 season despite optimism that he would be able to beat out oft-criticized right
guard, Anthony Bradford, for a starting role.
Entering 2025 there was hope that new offensive line coach, John Benton could bring out the best in Haynes. Haynes once again entered 2025 battling Anthony Bradford for the starting right guard position. However, Haynes still never seemed to truly be in contention for that starting spot. The competition became so lopsided that Haynes was even getting snaps at center to see if he could be an option there as well. Haynes ended up missing nine games in 2025 due to a pectoral injury.
At the 2026 NFL Draft, Seattle drafted offensive guard, Beau Stephens. Adding Stephens to the room along with second year interior linemen, Bryce Cabeldue and Mason Richman, has caused the optimism around Haynes to fully fade away. At this point, if one were to look at the roster math, it would not be far-fetched to think that Haynes is in serious danger of not making the 53-man roster. That’s where a recent AFC East trade becomes fascinating.
It was announced that the New England Patriots have traded their own 2024 third round pick, Caedan Wallace, an offensive guard, to the Miami Dolphins. Wallace was selected 68th overall by the Patriots, just 13 spots ahead of Haynes (81st overall).
The Patriots were able to receive a 2028 6th round pick in exchange for Wallace and a 2029 7th round pick to the Miami Dolphins. Could this be a potential framework for a Christian Haynes trade before the start of the season?
Wallace appeared in 10 games in his two seasons with New England, earning a 72.9 overall PFF grade for 2025 (although that is incomplete as he only played eight snaps in 2025). In contrast, Haynes has played in 24 games in his first two seasons (including all 16 his rookie year). In 2025 Haynes earned a 43.9 overall PFF grade (although he also has an incomplete grade with only 32 offensive snaps played).
Overall, Haynes, like Wallace, is a former third round draft pick who has underwhelmed at offensive guard in his first two seasons. Often in cases like these there may be another NFL team who would be interested in trading for the player if they had a high grade on them entering the NFL draft. The Dolphins trading for Wallace is a perfect example of this.
Could Haynes, who was heralded as one of the top guard prospects in the 2024 NFL draft, potentially get some love from other teams? If Wallace could garner a trade package (albeit small), it stands to reason that Haynes could fetch a similar type of day three draft pick swap or conditional draft pick compensation for Seattle as well.
