Back before training camp, several people were calling for the Seahawks to move Sean Locklear to left guard and put Tom Ashworth (or Ray Willis) at right tackle. When the Seahawks signed Tom Ashworth, they told Ashworth, according to his agent, that they thought he would be one of their five best linemen and might move Locklear to make room for him in the starting line-up. It is usually best to take what an agent says with a grain of salt, but that makes sense given the Seahawks signed Ashworth to a 5-year, $13 million deal, including $4.5 million in salary and bonuses for 2006.
From an outside perspective, it made sense to move Locklear to keep the injury-prone Floyd Womack out of the starting line-up, and to create a plan that would maximize continuity along the offensive line. Things to this point have played out exactly as one would have expected, and it looks like the Seahawks made some mistakes that could have been avoided. The concern back before the season was the durability of the starting interior lineman with the oft-injured Womack and the ancient Robbie Tobeck and Chris Gray filling the middle.
As it happened, Tobeck and Womack missed time in training camp with injuries. And Womack and Gray have already suffered injuries after only 3 regular season games. Now second-year player Chris Spencer and rookie fourth-rounder Rob Sims will join Tobeck on the interior. What happens if Tobeck gets injured now? It is a little late to move Locklear to guard (who is a little banged up himself) and then plug in Ashworth at right tackle. Continuity is King along the offensive line.
Sean Locklear excelled at run-blocking and mauling oppenents last year at right tackle, and those skills translate nicely to playing guard. Locklear is somewhat short for a tackle at 6'4" and has struggled in pass protection to this point in the season. With Locklear lining up next to Walter Jones, the Seahawks would have still had the dominant run-blocking leftside that worked so well last year. The running game would not have suffered as much as it has through the first three games.
Let's take a look at how things would have worked under the proposed plan. The Seahawks would have started with the following line:
LT Walter Jones - LG Sean Locklear - C Robbie Tobeck - RG Chris Gray - RT Tom Ashworth
It is reasonable to think the only injury would have been to Chris Gray. That would have been easily taken care of by plugging in Chris Spencer at right guard. So, the Seahawks would have made only one change along the offensive line. Womack would have been available to back-up Jones and Locklear on the left side. An injury to Tobeck would mean Spencer slides over to center and Sims comes in at right guard. As things have played out, the Seahawks have already made two changes on the interior of the line, and they are really without a good back-up for any of the offensive line positions except right tackle.
It's an unfortunate situation, and injuries happen, but the Seahawks should have seen this coming and planned accordingly.
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