Analysis: Who Holds Edge in Seahawks Right Tackle Competition?

With OTAs well underway at the VMAC and training camp drawing closer, Seattle has an intriguing positional battle taking shape at the right tackle spot between Jake Curhan and rookie Abraham Lucas.

After selecting Charles Cross with the ninth overall selection in last month's NFL draft, all signs point towards the former Mississippi State standout being a day one starter protecting the blind side for the Seahawks.

Across from Cross at the other tackle spot, however, as Seattle rebuilds its offensive line in the post-Russell Wilson era, a fierce competition already appears to be underway between second-year blocker Jake Curhan and incoming third-round pick Abraham Lucas. Through the opening stages of OTAs, Curhan has been seeing first-team reps, but the former Washington State standout will soon be chomping at his heels aiming to vault to the top of the depth chart.

With the final phase of offseason workouts underway, who holds the edge to start at right tackle in Week 1 against the Broncos? To help reach a verdict, I broke down their respective games into six categories for comparison, including pass protection, zone and gap run blocking, and athleticism.

**All statistics courtesy of Pro Football Focus unless otherwise noted.

Pass Protection: Abraham Lucas

© Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

With both players coming from pass-happy offensive schemes in the Pac-12 conference, Lucas and Curhan each entered the league with ample experience in pass protection pitted against quality competition.

Logging nearly 2,100 pass blocking snaps at Washington State, Lucas excelled at mirroring against defenders and keeping them away from the quarterback, surrendering only 45 pressures and 4.0 sacks playing in Air Raid and Run N' Shoot offensive schemes. He closed out his impressive college career by yielding no sacks and one lone quarterback hit on 477 pass blocking reps, earning First-Team All-Pac 12 honors for the first time.

At California, Curhan didn't post quite as efficient of numbers protecting the quarterback, though he remained one of the conference's best bookends and enjoyed a quality four-year run as a starter. Moving better than expected at 330 pounds and light on his feet, he surrendered 63 pressures and 7.0 sacks on 1,582 pass blocking snaps for the Golden Bears, earning a stellar 84.6 grade from Pro Football Focus and Honorable Mention All-Pac 12 recognition as a junior in 2019.

Based off of their college numbers, accolades, and film, Lucas should come into the NFL as a more polished pass protector than Curhan, who struggled with consistency as a rookie for the Seahawks. Over his final six games played, including five starts, he allowed 15 pressures and 3.0 sacks, receiving better than a 50.0 grade from Pro Football Focus in only two of those games. He wrapped up the season with a 37.2 pass blocking grade and ranked 84th out of 88 qualified tackles in pass blocking efficiency rate.

Blitz/Stunt Pickup: Abraham Lucas

Quantitatively speaking, statistics simply aren't available to compare Curhan and Lucas blocking against blitzers and stunts. Pro Football Focus doesn't have splits available, so assessing this trait boils down primarily to film study and in that regard, there's very little separation between these two players.

Playing in spread offenses, Curhan and Lucas saw plenty of twist stunts and defensive line games from aggressive Pac-12 defenses. They also had to pick up oncoming blitzers on a regular basis and for the most part, both players excelled at keeping their heads on a swivel, passing off rushers inside to their right guard, and picking up loopers shooting back outside. Technique-wise, each player consistently did a good job of using hand and feet in unison against these stunts for quality pickups.

As evidenced in the video above, Curhan has already shown what he can do against stunts at the next level. While he struggled with fast edge rushers and also got abused regularly with inside power counters both as a right guard and tackle, aside from a few mishaps playing in his first NFL regular season game against the Vikings in Week 3, he didn't have any notable issues picking up stunts or blitzes. Lucas will have to prove he can handle NFL gamesmanship from defensive lines.

With that said, from a projection standpoint, Lucas looks more comfortable in these situations than Curhan on film with better movement skills and hand/feet synchronization. In the long run, this won't be a factor this makes or breaks who wins this starting job since both players have shown themselves capable and effective in this area, but the incoming rookie offers a higher upside picking up stunts against NFL-caliber athletes.

Zone Run Blocking: Jake Curhan

Though both players didn't have many opportunities to run block in college, Curhan benefited from seeing extensive action in a zone-heavy scheme for the entirety of his career at Cal. In each of his first three seasons as a starter, the Golden Bears ran zone concepts on at least 64 percent of their run plays, and that may explain why he looked so comfortable on similar concepts as a rookie last year.

Playing a key role in running back Rashaad Penny's explosive finish in December and January, Curhan received a respectable 73.4 zone blocking grade for the season, ranking 33rd out of 75 tackles with at least 175 run blocking snaps. While it isn't always pretty, he succeeds more often than not as a zone blocker by winning the positioning battle, getting the job done consistently on reach blocks and cutting off backside defenders.

As for Lucas, he won't arrive in the league with near as extensive of a background in the zone run blocking department. Compared to Curhan, he logged more than 300 fewer snaps with zone concepts and his performance on those plays was erratic. While he did receive a 77.0 grade in 2019, he never had another season receiving above a 69.3. On film, his athleticism didn't always show up moving laterally to execute zone blocks and he struggled mightily making backside blocks.

Due to Lucas' athletic traits, it's a strong possibility he will take a major leap forward as a zone blocker as he gains experience in the NFL. Down the line, he could surpass Curhan in this area, but he will be far behind his tackle counterpart when camp kicks off in August and will be playing catchup.

Gap Run Blocking: Jake Curhan

AP Photo/John Froschauer

In a 180-degree turn from blocking twists and stunts, debating who has the advantage in the gap blocking department presents a challenge because neither player did these types of concepts much in college playing out of a two-point stance.

Combing through data, Curhan (298) and Lucas (258) saw roughly the same number of zone concept snaps at California and Washington State respectively. Grade-wise via PFF, Lucas scored a significantly higher grade in 2020, but Curhan also played less than 100 total snaps due to COVID. In 2019, the two players had near identical grades, while Curhan finished with a 69.9 grade compared to Lucas' 59.9 in 2018.

On film, neither Lucas nor Curhan consistently dominated opponents as physical drive blockers, though both displayed heavy, violent hands in spurts. Lucas plays faster out of his stance and engages his hands quicker, while Curhan seems to sustain blocks a bit longer when he gets his hands locked onto opponents, but mauling in the run game isn't necessarily a strength for either player. Surprisingly, Curhan has better tape as a puller than Lucas and seems more fluid on counter, sweep, and trap assignments.

Despite receiving a poor gap blocking grade (50.2) from PFF, Curhan did display some potential as a drive blocker down the stretch last season when he played with adequate leverage and given his big frame, he may be a bit better suited for these types of concepts as a road grader. With that said, Lucas has all of the physical traits and does play with a mean streak, so he could take a substantial step forward with adequate coaching, so this one feels like a bit of a toss up from a long-term perspective.

Athleticism: Abraham Lucas

Though Curhan and Lucas are neck-and-neck at this point in most blocking-related categories, they don't belong in the same zip code athletically. It's not even remotely close to being a contest.

As part of the 2021 draft class, Curhan didn't get to participate in the NFL combine and his numbers at Cal's pro day weren't impressive at all. In fact, according to Kent Platte's All Time Relative Athletic Score tool, he scored a dismal 1.74 compared to Lucas' 9.73, receiving red marks on every athletic test, including bench press.

Head-to-head, Lucas ran the 40-yard dash in 4.92 seconds (95th percentile) and ran the 3-cone in 7.25 seconds (98th percentile) compared to Curhan running the 40-yard dash in 5.42 seconds and posting a slow 8.07-second 3-cone time. He also posted nine more reps of 225 pounds on the bench press and his short shuttle time (4.40) ranked in the 98th percentile.

On the field, Curhan plays with better quickness and mobility than his testing numbers would indicate, particularly in pass protection. But in terms of athletic gifts, there's a wide chasm between him and Lucas, which is one of the biggest reasons one went undrafted and the other went in the third round.

Second Level Blocking: Jake Curhan

Considering the stark differences between Curhan and Lucas athletically, it may come as a bit of a shock that the former has been a better second level blocker than the latter on film. But at least up to this point, that's been the case.

Getting to linebackers and safeties downfield doesn't just boil down to speed. The best blockers in the business understand how to work off of combo blocks and take quality angles, allowing themselves to get hands onto faster, smaller defenders and at minimum turn them to create running creases. While he hasn't mastered that aspect, Curhan did help spring Penny on several runs late last season where he disengaged from combo blocks and climbed to the next level to make a key block.

At Washington State, Lucas didn't have a ton of opportunities for second level blocking in the run game, but he didn't move as well as anticipated in those situations and consistently took poor routes to defenders, failing to land a quality strike with his hands. There almost seemed to be a hesitancy on his part and he will have to grow out of that quickly playing in a scheme that is expected to be zone-blocking heavy and potentially feature more screens moving forward.

When Lucas did reach defenders downfield, he effectively hooked them out of the play, so the potential remains for him to develop into a quality second level blocker in time. Much like other aspects of his game though, coming from a Run N' Shoot system, coaching up technique will be key and for now, Curhan is the more refined prospect moving off combos and getting to linebackers and safeties.

Final Verdict

With training camp now just two months away, the Seahawks would love to see Lucas win this job outright and give them two promising young offensive tackles to build their offensive line around. In terms of upside, his prototypical tackle frame and plus-athletic skills give him the far higher ceiling in this matchup.

But Curhan performed admirably in five starts a year ago for Seattle and he isn't going to let go of the starting gig without a fight. After making the team as an undrafted rookie last year and emerging as a catalyst for a revived run game down the stretch, he has enough refined skills and nastiness in the trenches to push this competition deep into training camp and the preseason before a decision is made.

Aside from Drew Lock and Geno Smith duking it out at quarterback, there may not be a tighter positional battle to watch with a starting job on the line on the Seahawks entire roster. If Lucas adapts quickly to a pro-style offense and shows he's comfortable working out of a two-point stance in the run game, he has a great chance to join Cross as a day one starter. But if Curhan makes strides in pass protection to go with his run blocking savvy, it's not out of the question he could delay the rookie's ascent to the lineup for a short while.