Seahawks fill need at guard in third round with UConn’s Christian Haynes

For a while, when NFL free agency began in March, it was tempting to wonder what the Seahawks’ plan was with the interior of their offensive line.

First, starting left guard Damien Lewis signed a four-year contract with Carolina.

Starting center Evan Brown signed with Arizona, and the Seahawks didn’t re-sign Phil Haynes, who began last season as the starting right guard. He remains a free agent.

Throughout, president of football operations John Schneider insisted the team had a plan.

What might be the last significant piece of that plan fell into place Friday when the Seahawks drafted guard Christian Haynes of UConn with the 81^st overall pick of the third round of the NFL draft.

It was the Seahawks’ only pick of the second day of the draft, coming after they selected defensive tackle Byron Murphy II of Texas with the 16^th overall pick in the first round Thursday.

“Really wanted to put an emphasis on it, and the board kind of started going that way for us,’’ Schneider said of using the first two picks on linemen. 

The 24-year-old Christian Haynes started 49 straight games at UConn and 50 overall, all at right guard. 

While Haynes and the team said options are open for where he could play, what is most likely is that Haynes will begin his career at right guard where he will compete with second-year player Anthony Bradford, who started 10 games on the right side last year filling in for the injured Phil Haynes, who was not re-signed as a free agent.

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The Seahawks earlier this month signed veteran Laken Tomlinson to almost certainly play on the left side and replace Lewis, who signed a four-year $53 million deal with the Panthers.

Earlier in free agency, the Seahawks also signed former UW standout Nick Harris — who can also play guard — to compete at center with second-year player Olu Oluwatimi to replace the departed Brown.

And with that, the Seahawks appear to have the pieces of an interior offensive line to go along with a plentiful tackle spot that includes returning third-year starters Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas, on the left and right sides, respectively, along with veteran free agent George Fant, signed to a two-year deal to add experienced depth.

“We’ve gone through it in an efficient manner,’’ Schneider said of the process of restocking the offensive line. “I don’t think we’ve panicked.’’

Indeed, from the start, the thought was the Seahawks would add to the guard spot in the draft with this regarded as a good class of interior offensive linemen in the draft.

Christian Haynes was at the top of the list of those considered as solely guards, rated 60^th overall on the big board of Pro Football Focus.

“Smart, tough, reliable,’’ Schneider called the 6-foot-2, 313-pounder.

The Seahawks had a long wait for Haynes on Friday as they dealt their second-round pick to the Giants last October for defensive lineman Leonard Williams.

Schneider said the team considered moving up Friday but was unsuccessful.

“We had considered going up several times and then things just didn’t work out,’’ Schneider said. “People wanted to pick and people had their players taken.’’

The Seahawks had to wait to make sure no one else took Haynes.

“There was a little run there, a few guys started to go,” he said. “… There was a little panic there.”

The Seahawks are confident the wait will prove worth it to get Haynes, who played at UConn for head coach Jim Mora, the former UW player and Seahawks head coach in 2009.

Schneider said Mora called Haynes “a classy, highly intelligent nasty football player’’ before smiling and adding that’s “a great combination if you like that sort of thing.’’

The only question might be his versatility as Haynes took every snap of the past three seasons at right guard.

Schneider said he was confident Haynes can play elsewhere if needed, and Haynes concurred.

“I can play anything they need me to play,” he said during a conference call with Seattle media shortly after his selection was announced. “I’m going to go out there and dominate, regardless.” 

Schneider and head coach Mike Macdonald cited Haynes’ resiliency to stay and emerge as a leader of UConn teams that didn’t see a lot of success the last three years, going 1-11, 6-7 and 3-9.

“Six-year senior is pretty impressive,’’ Macdonald said of Haynes, who played in two games in 2018 before redshirting, and also got an extra year because of the COVID season of 2020.

Haynes took full advantage of that time off the field, as well, earning an undergrad degree in human development and family sciences and a master’s in sports management. 

He also was a two-time captain as voted by teammates.

“A tough, competitive guy that has a level of maturity that [adjusting to the NFL] not going to be too big for him,’’ Schneider said.

And he answered any questions teams might have had about his level of competition with a strong week at the Senior Bowl.

“I think the Senior Bowl was really impressive,’’ Macdonald said. “That might have sealed the deal.’’

In its scouting report, PFF wrote of him: “Haynes was a four-year starting right guard at UConn. He has the ideal build for an interior offensive lineman: shorter in height for leverage but higher in weight with long arms. His weight is also distributed well, especially in the lower half, which allows him to anchor bull rushes and throw down lighter defenders.’’

Via PFF, Haynes gave up just three sacks the last three seasons in 1,294 pass block snaps. 

So how would Haynes describe himself?

“Somebody that is smart and nasty at the same time,” he said. 

Haynes, a native of Bowie, Md., will receive a slotted four-year contract worth up to $5.8 million that includes a $1.04 million signing bonus and carries a cap hit of $1.055 million in 2024.

Haynes, who watched the draft in Bowie with friends and family, said he had some significant contact with the Seahawks during the draft process, including a recent Zoom call with new offensive line coach Scott Huff.

“We had a great conversation,” Haynes recalled. “I knew I was on their board, and I’m just happy they gave me the call.”

Haynes said he considered himself something of a Seahawks fan as a kid, recalling the Super Bowl win following the 2013 season, also saying, “I’m a big Geno [Smith] fan as well.”

Haynes said he first became a fan of Smith from watching his games in college at West Virginia and has followed him since.

“I used to watch his highlight tape to get hyped for my games,’’ he said.

Now he’ll be part of Seattle’s plan to help keep Smith upright and the Seahawks offense going.

As for the rest of Seattle’s plan in the draft, that will become more evident Saturday as the Seahawks have five more picks in rounds four through seven — 102, 118, 179, 192 and 235.

“Excited for tomorrow,’’ Schneider said. “We have a lot of work to do and there are still some darn good football players on the board.’’