If you pull up the depth chart page on the Seattle Seahawks' website, you’ll notice something vaguely alarming. Seattle’s offense is missing four starters. This isn’t all that unusual at this time of year. During the roster juggling that occurs between free agency and the draft, plenty of teams have holes.
A large part of this particular idiosyncrasy is merely a case of bureaucratic ennui. The Seahawks have not updated their website.
That’s why there are no listed starters at the two wide receiver slots and at quarterback. But we know that Cooper Kupp, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and Sam Darnold are, in fact, the de facto starters. The absence of a starter at left guard is somewhat more worrisome.
Christian Haynes might already be turning into a draft bust for the Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks have yet to sign an obvious replacement for Laken Tomlinson. Due to Anthony Bradford’s injury, Sataoa Laumea is currently penciled in as the starter at right guard. But there is no starter at left guard. However, there is a backup. It is 2024, and the third-round draft pick is Christian Haynes.
The fact that Haynes is listed as a backup behind a blank space carries more symbolic than actual weight. It could be that Haynes will flourish in his second season and earn a starting spot. It’s just after last year, that seems like a very Pollyannish view of the situation. As we head into the heat of the 2025 offseason, Christian Haynes has to fight off the perception that he is a major draft bust.
To be clear, Haynes' performance in his rookie season – in a vacuum – is not all that troubling. He didn’t play very well, but that is not unusual for rookies suddenly thrust into the fray against legitimate NFL defensive linemen.
The learning curve for Haynes was bound to be steeper than for most because his college program, Connecticut, didn’t exactly take on elite opponents week in and week out. They closed out Haynes’ final season with wins over Sacred Heart and UMass, not exactly football royalty. His college tape showed a big man who moved well, and when going up against mediocre talent, Haynes looked very promising.
The NFL was a rude awakening, at least in his first season. After Bradford went down with a season-ending injury in week 12, Haynes stepped in. The following week, the coaches turned to Laumea, and Haynes barely saw the field for the rest of the season.
Laumea was selected in the sixth round of the 2024 draft, almost 100 spots after Haynes was chosen. He didn’t play particularly well over the final six weeks of the season. But he was the clear choice over Haynes.
That, more than the quality of Haynes' actual play during his rookie year, is what has Haynes on the verge of becoming a major draft bust. At a position of great need, he was almost immediately bypassed by a much less-acclaimed prospect.
Can Christian Haynes recover from this? Of course, he can. There is some hope that he will function better under a Klint Kubiak offense, which should employ zone blocking schemes more effectively. Haynes was overwhelmed by powerful NFL defensive tackles during his brief audition last season. Allowing him to use his mobility should help him going forward.
But underpowered interior linemen usually don’t find a home in the NFL. Adding to the “bust” impression is the fact that two other guards, selected shortly after Haynes, fared better during their rookie seasons. Dominick Puni became a starter in San Francisco. He made the all-rookie team last year. In Cleveland, Zak Zinter did struggle.
But in Zinter’s case, his progress is partly explainable by his recovery from a serious knee injury late in his final college season. That injury affected his offseason training. Browns fans can be hopeful that his second season will be much better.
There isn’t as much obvious cause for hope with Haynes. Strength training and technique work could help, but until he proves otherwise, the perception will remain that this was simply a case of poor evaluation on the part of John Schneider. Every year, you can look through the draft and find offensive linemen drafted in the first several rounds who didn’t have the physicality to play in the NFL.
In 2023, only one interior lineman was selected in the third round. That player, Ricky Stromberg, was released outright by his team, the Washington Commanders, before the 2024 season.
Haynes is not in that situation. Yet. We can’t proclaim him a bust on the magnitude of D’Wayne Eskridge in 2021. The Seahawks gave Eskridge three seasons to show he was worthy of a second-round pick. He never did.
No, Christian Haynes isn’t D’Wayne Eskridge. But he needs to show a lot more in 2025 if he is to avoid the ignominy of being next in the line of John Schneider draft busts.
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