Seahawks fill need at guard in deal with Pro Bowl vet Laken Tomlinson; O-line ?’s remain
Laken Tomlinson grew up on soccer and cricket fields in his native Jamaica.
The health-care system in his native country sparked his keen interest in medicine as a grade schooler. He became a pre-med student at Duke, plus a standout college lineman a decade ago and eventual first-round choice in the 2015 NFL draft.
As a young NFL guard with Detroit, Tomlinson had Hall of Famer Jackie Slater tutor him. After that, and a trade to San Francisco in 2017, Tomlinson’s career took off.
Now the veteran who has played no fewer than 97% of his team’s offensive snaps the last seven NFL seasons, a 2021 Pro Bowl left guard for the 49ers, is arriving in Seattle to fill one of its biggest needs.
He is the Seahawks’ new starting, proven, dependable left guard.
If only for one season.
Tomlinson, 32, has agreed with Seattle on a one-year contract. It’s worth up to $4 million, ESPN reported Friday night.
The Seahawks made Tomlinson’s signing official in an announcement Monday.
For weeks, Seahawks general manager John Schneider talked about the interior of the offensive line as his team’s most pressing need. Damien Lewis, Seattle’s starting left guard the previous seasons, left last month in free agency to Carolina on a surprisingly rich, $53 million deal with the Panthers.
Lewis became part of the market for guards that exploded on Schneider and the Seahawks this spring.
“We have a lot to figure out there,” Schneider said of his offensive line a couple weeks ago.
The short-term, low-cost deal for Tomlinson is a better financial and roster fit for Seattle. The team entered this weekend without much space under the league’s salary cap for 2024.
Tomlinson played the last two seasons for the New York Jets and coach Robert Saleh, a former assistant with the 49ers when Tomlinson played for San Francisco. Tomlinson spent the five best seasons of his career with the Niners, from 2017 through his Pro Bowl year of 2021.
The Jets signed him after that season to a contract for up to three years and $40 million. He played two years of that deal before New York released him to save millions against its salary cap for this year. Tomlinson’s wife Rachel and their two daughters remained living in the San Francisco Bay Area year-round while he played for New York.
The Lions drafted Tomlinson in the first round in 2015.
Since his debut for the 49ers in week 2 of the 2017 season, San Francisco’s 12-9 loss to the Seahawks in Seattle, Tomlinson has made 114 consecutive regualar-season starts. That opener to the ‘17 season was the only time in his nine-year NFL career he was inactive for a game.
Questions remain on Seattle’s O-line
Less than two weeks before the draft, the Seahawks, new offensive line coach Scott Huff and new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb still have questions at center, right guard and right tackle.
Last year Seattle drafted Olu Oluwatimi, the Rimington Award winner as college football’s best center at Michigan two years ago. The fifth-round pick started one game at center for the Seahawks as a rookie; the team went with free-agent veteran Evan Brown at center on a one-year deal last season. Oluwatimi worked some as a fill-in guard last fall.
He’s the expected starting center entering 2024, though Seattle signed former University of Washington All-Pac-12 center Nick Harris to a one-year deal in free agency from Cleveland last month. Harris also played guard some in his four seasons with the Browns.
Seattle let the contract of Phil Haynes expire after last season. He was the team’s starting right guard last season when he wasn’t injured, again. Haynes remains an unsigned free agent. The Seahawks drafted Anthony Bradford last year. He started 10 games last season at a rookie fill-in at right guard for the injured Haynes.
Seattle signed former Los Angeles Rams reserve guard and tackle Tremayne Anchrum this offseason. He’s made one start in three NFL seasons.
Seahawks right tackle Abe Lucas had surgery on his chronically aching knee this winter. Coaches aren’t sure when Lucas will be back on the field for preseason work.
Left tackle Charles Cross and now Tomlinson are the only sure starters on Seattle’s offensive line entering offseason workouts. Cross has been the starter there since a week after the Seahawks drafted in him the first-round in the spring of 2022.
This story was originally published April 13, 2024 at 2:20 PM.
