Seahawks' Phil Haynes Taking on Leadership Role For Young O-Line: 'One of the Vets'
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RENTON, Wash. - Though he's now on his second contract with the Seattle Seahawks, Phil Haynes doesn't have much of an experience advantage over his younger peers heading into his fifth season with the organization.
Injuries prevented Haynes from competing for a starting job during his first two seasons, as he missed most of his rookie year on the PUP list recovering from sports hernia surgery and a hip injury derailed his sophomore campaign. Then, once he finally returned to a clean bill of health, Seattle traded for veteran guard Gabe Jackson prior to the 2021 season, leaving him without a clear path to the lineup.
As a result, through four seasons since the Seahawks drafted him in the fourth round out of Wake Forest, Haynes had played a grand total of 622 offensive snaps. That's roughly the equivalent of starting a little more than half of an NFL season. But the majority of those snaps came in 2022, as he logged nearly 500 snaps in a platoon role with Jackson on the right side to keep the veteran fresh while also making a trio of spot starts at both guard spots.
With his play inspiring confidence from offensive line coach Andy Dickerson and the rest of Seattle's staff, Haynes was rewarded with a one-year contract in March and his first legitimate opportunity to be a full-time starter this upcoming season.
“He did a great job, and it was cool the way it ended up with him and Gabe [Jackson] so that they got the rotation," Dickerson told reporters after Thursday's OTA. "Then, when we needed Phil earlier in the year because we were missing D-Lew [Damien Lewis], his confidence and the way he has taken on his approach and watching his drills and his technique and the confidence you get from playing and the success."
In his first extensive action beyond a pair of spot starts late in the 2021 season, the 322-pound Haynes made his mark most in the run game for the Seahawks a year ago. In his three starts filling in for Jackson and Lewis, the team averaged nearly 120 rushing yards per game, including torching the Chargers for 213 yards on the ground in a Week 7 road victory. The team won all three of those contests.
As a pass protector, Haynes wasn't quite as consistent in a rotational role splitting series with Jackson, yielding four sacks and 18 quarterback pressures. Compared to a limited sample size from 2021, per Pro Football Focus, his pass protection efficiency took a significant hit dropping from 99 percent to 96.4 percent, which ranked a dismal 69th out of 84 qualified guards.
But some of that decline can simply be attributed to natural regression receiving more playing time and taking an ugly outing where he allowed five pressures against All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones and the Chiefs out of the equation, Haynes had nine games with one or fewer pressures allowed. This includes two starts filling in for Jackson in wins over the Chargers and Cardinals where he allowed two combined pressures and no quarterback hits on 60 pass blocking snaps.
Looking to build off of his first real taste of success and take the next step, Dickerson has taken notice of the 27-year old Haynes emerging as a more vocal leader for a youthful offensive line during Seattle's offseason program. Tackling a mentor role in a group featuring second-year tackles Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas as well as incoming rookie center Olu Oluwatimi and guard Anthony Bradford, his presence as an established veteran who knows the system has been a major asset.
"I thought he’s done a great job being one of the vets in the room, taking some of the leadership role," Dickerson said. "You can feel the confidence and see how he’s practicing and it’s great to watch. Him, D-Lew, Abe [Lucas], Charles [Cross], the little things they do. People may not know, but you see the techniques and again, we’re teaching a new system and techniques and some things last year for the first time. But’ the second year, the third year, it’s a different thing, so it’s been great to see those guys get better."
With Bradford entering the mix as a fourth-round pick, with Jackson released as a cap casualty earlier in the spring and still a free agent, Haynes will have to fight to keep his starting job over the next couple of months. Staying healthy will be the first key, as injuries have been a persistent problem that have held him back from reaching his full potential to this point.
Beyond availability, Haynes will also have to show marked improvement in pass protection to fend off Bradford, who only allowed 12 pressures at LSU last year and has impressed in his first couple weeks with the Seahawks. The competition between him and his rookie challenger should be fierce in the trenches with those two players duking it out at right guard as well as veteran Evan Brown and Oluwatimi vying for the starting center spot this summer.
But after taking a significant leap forward a year ago, Haynes so far has stepped up to the plate ready to take advantage of the chance presented to him. If injury fortunes prove to be better than earlier in his career and he continues to sharpen up his technique under the coaching of Dickerson, he still has a shot to play himself into a long-term starting gig for the franchise moving forward.
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