Anthony Bradford, Laken Tomlinson continue to struggle in pass protection (2024)

Believe it or not, the Seattle Seahawks offensive line is having a terrible time in pass protection. I could’ve copied and pasted this statement from any story regarding the Seahawks OL for somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 years.

Sunday’s 24-3 win over the Miami Dolphins was comfortable and yet hard to watch. Geno Smith was sacked three times, committed an intentional grounding to avoid a fourth sack, and the moments of genuinely clean pockets and good play were overshadowed by the sheer number of pressures allowed.

According to PFF’s charting, Laken Tomlinson (5) and Anthony Bradford (6) combined for 11 of the 18 pressures allowed on 38 pass blocking snaps. Bradford was dinged for two sacks allowed while Charles Cross gave up one to Zach Sieler. In our Winners and Losers column, I noted that it felt like Tomlinson “didn’t seem all that bad” for a change, but my eyes apparently deceived in terms of his pass pro.

Geno Smith was still able to generate effective offense amid all of the chaos and dysfunction up front. This incredible throw to DK Metcalf (who made an even better catch) starts off with Laken Tomlinson getting immediately beaten by Zach Sieler’s swim move on the left side. Stone Forsythe does an excellent job creating an escape lane with his blocking of Jaelan Phillips, allowing Geno to scramble and drop a dime.

The Dolphins run a little game up front with Phillips and ex-Seahawks linebacker Jordyn Brooks on a five-man pressure. Geno gets the ball out on time to Tyler Lockett, but absorbs a hit because Bradford doesn’t pick up Phillips effectively.

But there were just too many negatives. Bradford allowed a sack to Da’Shawn Hand on the opening drive that was made worse by the Seahawks having some sort of route mix-up.

Bradford’s other sack allowed, which I think is a little harsh on him, was to Calais Campbell. The ageless one was able to grab Geno’s legs even after falling to the ground.

While this is neither a sack nor even a pressure against Bradford, the second interception by Geno Smith is more or less caused by Bradford getting tossed aside by Campbell before he could tip the ball up into the air. I do wonder whether or not this was getting picked anyway, but we’ll never know.

Ultimately, there’s no way around how bad the guard play has been in passing situations. Both Tomlinson and Bradford are in the top-10 among all guards in pressures allowed, making the Seahawks the only team with both guards in the rankings. The pass block grade for the guards in true pass sets (which notably excludes play-action, rollouts, and screens) is a nice and tidy 31st. Interestingly enough, Tomlinson grades much, much higher (76.0 vs. 64.0) than Bradford in the run game, which indicates that Bradford is deemed the weakest link on the OL. However, when the Seahawks are passing at a much higher rate than running, their liabilities are exposed far more frequently.

Unless Christian Haynes gets more playing time and immediately turns into a competent player, we’re going to have to live with this. There are no above-average guards just floating out there for a midseason trade, and the Seahawks don’t seem particularly interested in letting rookie Sautoa Laumea even be active, let alone play. Tomlinson/Bradford/Haynes are the guards until further notice, and we’re going to have to hope that (at a minimum) Bradford shows enough improvement as the season progresses.