With Grey Zabel injured, Seahawks’ improved offensive line could face a big test – The Athletic

RENTON, Wash. — The Seattle Seahawks’ offensive line has been critical to quarterback Sam Darnold’s success this season. Through the first nine games, Darnold had the same five starters in front of him, and each week, he pointed to their connectivity and growth as catalysts for their steady play.

Now, Seattle must figure out whether that unit will continue its improvement with two backups in the lineup. Center Jalen Sundell is on injured reserve because of a knee injury suffered in Week 10. Rookie left guard Grey Zabel didn’t practice Wednesday and was limited in practice Thursday due to a knee injury sustained during the fourth quarter of the Seahawks’ Week 11 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. It’s unclear how much time Zabel will miss, but a return against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday seems unlikely.

If he can’t play, second-year lineman Christian Haynes would take his place in the lineup. Haynes played nine offensive snaps on the final series of the game against Los Angeles. Those were his first live reps of the season because he spent the first 10 weeks of the season on injured reserve with a pectoral issue. Sunday’s game would be the first career start for the 2024 third-round pick out of Connecticut.

“If somebody can’t go for a certain amount of time, whether in practice or games, the standard stays the same,” Seattle coach Mike Macdonald said of Haynes potentially replacing Zabel. “We expect you to go in and go rip it for us. He did that (against the Rams). He didn’t bat an eye. There’s things he’s going to learn from in the game, and we’re going to need him to play at a high level if he needs to play this week.”

The Seahawks (7-3) are favored by 13.5 points against the Titans (1-9), who are led by a rookie quarterback in Cam Ward and an interim head coach in Mike McCoy (Brian Callahan was fired on Oct. 13). Ward, the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, has been one of the least-efficient quarterbacks in the league. Tennessee has the worst offense in the league by points per drive, and its defense ranks 27th by the same metric (all stats provided by TruMedia).

Seattle is by far the superior team and regardless of the starting five up front, its offense should move the ball against a defense that is allowing 352.5 yards per game. But the theme of this season for Seattle (mostly on defense) has been avoiding a drop-off in production when reserves enter the starting lineup. The offensive line had its first test in Week 11 with Olu Oluwatimi replacing Sundell, and the results were a bit uneven. It must be steadier on Sunday.

“I like how we fought. I like how we stayed together,” Oluwatimi said of the O-line against the Rams. “I like how in some spurts, we were able to run the ball, some spurts we protected Sam pretty well. But then there was leakage in protection, some times that hurried him up; there were some times we didn’t give our backs a clear lane.”

Although the Titans are underwhelming by just about every measure, they have many of the same interior defensive linemen who took it to the Seahawks during joint practice last summer in Nashville. In response to a question about Tennessee’s stud defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, Macdonald brought up his team’s poor performance in those two joint practices.

“We may or may not have watched some of that practice tape over the last couple days, and it was some bad football on our part,” Macdonald said with a laugh. “So, we’ve come a long way, too. We were laughing on the defensive staff like, ‘Holy crap, glad that only exists in our building and their building and nowhere else.’”

Macdonald called Simmons “a great player” and likened the three-time Pro Bowler to Seattle’s interior defensive line trio of Jarran Reed, Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy II because, like them, Simmons can affect the game on all three downs from multiple alignments.

“He’s one of the best,” Macdonald said of Simmons, who leads the Titans with 5.5 sacks.

Said tight end AJ Barner: “Their front seven is just as good as anyone else that we’ve played.”

Macdonald said Oluwatimi “seamlessly” stepped in for Sundell against the Rams. A fifth-round pick in 2023, Oluwatimi started during the second half of the 2024 season following Connor Williams’ sudden retirement, then entered this offseason in a two-man battle with Sundell. He suffered a back injury early in training camp that paved a way for Sundell to take the job.

“Executed at a high level,” Macdonald said of Oluwatimi’s game in L.A. “Snaps were clean. Made the right calls. It’s great to have him ready to go. The way he’s been preparing and the way he practiced throughout the offseason was worthy of playing time.”

Oluwatimi was slightly more critical, saying his first start of the season could have been better and cleaner in certain areas.

“I got better as the game went,” Oluwatimi said. “Got to clean up pad level and just selling out in the run game, things of that nature.”

Oluwatimi was credited with allowing two quarterback pressures in 46 pass-blocking snaps. The first occurred on the first series of the game when defensive tackle Tyler Davis pushed him back into Darnold’s lap, leading to the quarterback’s first interception.

Intercepted by Kamren Kinchens!

SEAvsLAR on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/1HXpay3viT

— NFL (@NFL) November 16, 2025

The second came on third-and-8 from the 12 in the second quarter when a looping Byron Young got by him and forced Darnold to spin out of the pocket and throw the ball away.

The offensive line had an inconsistent day overall in pass protection and on the ground. Ken Walker III, Zach Charbonnet and George Holani combined for 110 yards on 29 carries (3.8 yards per attempt) with six first downs, but Walker’s 25-yard carry in the second quarter — the longest run the Rams have allowed to a running back this season — was the only big play. Seattle settled for field goals on its first three red zone drives in part because of the inability to find success in the run game.

“Great red zone teams run the ball in the red zone, and I felt like we put ourselves in some tough situations to throw it,” Macdonald said.

Haynes allowed one pressure in nine snaps in pass protection on that final drive. On the one obviously bad snap, he was the victim of a bull rush by outside linebacker Jared Verse. Otherwise, Haynes stepped in admirably against one of the best fronts in the league.

“That’s a high-leverage situation,” Oluwatimi said of Haynes’ first snaps of the season. “Not having any live action all season, it’s tough. He stepped in there, he did his job and that’s what we expect, no matter who is in there. That’s something that coach (John Benton) preaches, that’s something that Mike preaches, that’s something that Klint (Kubiak) preaches. From the top down, everybody is ready to go.”

An interior offensive line of Haynes, Oluwatimi and right guard Anthony Bradford is a unit to watch for as long as Zabel is out of the lineup. The line is one of the reasons Darnold has been sacked a league-low 10 times. His sack rate (3.5 percent) is the second-lowest in the league and the lowest of his career (the Titans are eighth in sack rate, one spot below Seattle). But Seattle’s rushing offense is mediocre at best, and that’s been the case with a healthy offensive line.

This should be a bounce-back game for the Seahawks’ offense but making that come to life will require the new-look line passing its test against another talented front.

“Their record is whatever, but they’re a team that’s hungry, they’re a team that’s fighting, so we’ve got to come ready to play,” Oluwatimi said. “We know we’ve got a great challenge up front this week.”