Seahawks 'Growing Comfortable' With Rotating Gabe Jackson, Phil Haynes at Right Guard

With the offensive line exceeding expectations as a whole, after finding great success with the strategy last Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks appear poised to continue utilizing an unconventional approach playing both Gabe Jackson and Phil Haynes at right guard.

RENTON, Wash. – Like most football coaches, Pete Carroll isn’t fond of the idea of playing musical chairs with offensive linemen. Developing chemistry and building communication in the trenches often goes hand in hand with continuity, especially playing against NFL talent on Sundays.

But contrary to popular narrative, Carroll has always been willing to make adjustments based on circumstances. Prior to last season, as he had opined to reporters several times in the past, he stuck with the same two cornerbacks on the outside with the preference of not rotating players at the position. However, in 2021, he partook in mixing-and-matching at times, looking for the right mix in a new-look corner group with few players under contract for the upcoming season.

This season, Carroll appears to be embracing a similar platoon, albeit for somewhat different reasons, along the offensive line. Starting last weekend, Seattle rotated seasoned starter Gabe Jackson and emerging fourth-year blocker Phil Haynes at right guard, giving both players at least 26 offensive snaps in a 27-13 win over the New York Giants.

Considering Jackson had missed the previous two games with knee/hip issues, when he checked out of the lineup multiple times with Haynes replacing him against the Giants, speculation quickly ensued suggesting he had re-aggravated the injury. But according to Carroll, that wasn’t the case at all, as the Seahawks have made keeping the 10th year veteran fresh a top priority moving towards the second half of their schedule.

The platoon worked well with the duo allowing just one quarterback pressure on 41 combined pass blocking reps in the victory. And, as Seattle gears up for an NFC West rematch against Arizona on Sunday, Carroll seemed to insinuate such tactics could be deployed for a more expansive stretch than just one game.

“I’m fine with that. I think it’s good for us,” Carroll said of rotating Jackson and Haynes. “It helps Gabe stay healthy and we’ll take care of him again today in practice. He’s got an old knee that he’s dealing with that we’re managing really well and that’s part of it. We don’t want to take him over the threshold where now he has to sit for a bit because of it.”

Acquired from the Raiders for a fifth-round pick in March 2021, the Seahawks signed Jackson to a new three-year contract with the expectation he would bring an end to the revolving door that the team had dealt with at right guard for several seasons. While he didn’t have the best year of his NFL career and allowed 37 quarterback pressures and three sacks according to Pro Football Focus, he brought stability to the interior offensive line and started 16 out of 17 games, proving to be a quality addition up front.

But after missing the season finale in Arizona, Jackson underwent knee surgery during the offseason and didn’t participate in OTAs or minicamp. While he has started six of the team’s first eight games this year, though he often receives a resting veteran designation, he’s been a regular on the injury report since the season began in September.

If Seattle didn’t have a viable option to step into his stead, Jackson would undoubtedly be logging more snaps on game day while understanding the risks of him wearing down with what appears to be a chronic knee issue. But Carroll has frequently called Haynes a starter-caliber player, sometimes unprompted, and the former fourth-round pick out of Wake Forest looked the part starting one game apiece at both guard positions to close out last season.

Coming off two injury-marred seasons where he only played in one regular season game and one playoff game, Haynes didn’t allow a single sack and only one pressure on 65 pass protection reps. He also played a crucial role in running back Rashaad Penny’s breakout finish, helping spring the explosive runner for 170-plus rushing yards in each of his two starts by manhandling defenders at the point of attack and using his athleticism to reach linebackers and safeties at the second level.

Finally healthy and impressing with his limited opportunities, the Seahawks signed Haynes to an original round tender as a restricted free agent this past spring for a reason. Only 27 years old and set to become an unrestricted free agent in March, the organization may still view him as a potential long-term starter in the interior and nobody could blame Carroll or offensive line coach Andy Dickerson for wanting to see more of him in action.

At the same time, Seattle invested a big contract in Jackson and as long as he stays healthy and isn’t overworked, he will remain the undisputed starter. In time, especially if the Seahawks remain atop the NFC West and push for a playoff spot late into December and January, he should receive the majority of the snaps, if not all of them in the home stretch.

Nonetheless, with Carroll being confident in both players being able to get the job done as pass blockers as well as opening up run lanes for Ken Walker III and the rest of the Seahawks running backs, he’s not only open to the possibility of continuing to alternate them. Based on his comments on Wednesday, while the strategy is anything but conventional and he normally would steer away from such a practice, it sounds like this arrangement will be used for the foreseeable future to manage Jackson’s workload and continue getting extensive looks at Haynes for evaluation.

Any way you slice it, it’s a true win-win proposition that allows the Seahawks to succeed in the present while also building for the future.

“I’m okay with that. We’re going to get comfortable with it. It’s not a comfortable thing to roll lineman like you are presenting, but we are getting over that.”

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