Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald revealed to the media just how long starting center Jalen Sundell will miss due to a knee injury sustained on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.
While Sundell has been far from Seattle’s strongest performing member of the offensive line, anytime you lose your starting center, it’s a gut punch.
Sundell to miss “multiple weeks"
Macdonald shared with the media that starting center Jalen Sundell would miss “multiple weeks” with his knee injury. While it wasn’t revealed exactly what the injury was, it is severe enough for IR to be considered a possibility.
Luckily for Seattle’s fans, the injury is not expected to be season-ending. By no means has Sundell played like an All-Pro this season, but his solid play in the middle of the line has held together one of the league's strongest collective units.
Recently, Sundell ranked 10th on PFSN’s current list of the top 10 centers across the league.
Can Seattle’s offensive line maintain?
The Seahawks' offensive line play has been one of the surprising bright spots that many of the 12th Man have enjoyed this season. They currently lead the league in fewest sacks allowed, which has allowed Darnold to look like one of the standout quarterbacks in the league.
With a difficult stretch of schedule on the horizon for Seattle, it will be interesting to see if they can continue the offensive firepower we’ve all seen from them this year.
The Seahawks are set to finish the back half of the season against teams including the Rams (x2), Falcons, and Colts. All of whom are currently top-10 in the league in sacks.
The backup plan
In Sundell’s absence, Olu Oluwatimi will be taking the snaps at center. His in-game experience and reps are still severely lacking, and it’s been a bit of an up-and-down roller coaster from him.
The 2022 Outland and Rimington Award winner has struggled with inconsistencies since entering the league in 2023. From false starts and botched snaps to some impressive run blocking, you’re not quite sure what you’ll get. Mike Macdonald even referenced his involvement in some of the Seahawks' larger runs on Sunday.
According to Pro Football Focus, Oluwatimi is all over the map. While he lacked the snaps for comparative ranking, he graded 78.4 in the run game, which is great. Unfortunately, in the pass game, he posted an 11.7 grade.
It will be interesting to see just how much this injury affects one of the highest octane offenses we’ve seen all season.