Whether it has been draft misses, bad (or no) free-agent signings, poor coaching or injuries, Seattle just has not fielded a good offensive line during the majority of John Schneider’s tenure – that’s 15 seasons of mostly bottom-10 rankings.

Despite another whiff in free agency in 2025, Schneider has a chance to turn that around. But he needs to do something he has tried only a couple of times: Create continuity with top talent.

We’d call that living the dream.

Schneider recently pointed out that the Seahawks have drafted more offensive linemen during his time than all but a couple of NFL teams. That number is 27. But just six of those have been drafted in the first and second rounds – Schneider has hit on four of those.

Most of the best NFL lines have three guys drafted in the first two days – eight of the top 13 in 2024 hit that bar, and six of those had three guys drafted in Rounds 1-2.

Schneider has had three high picks on his lines simultaneously just six times in 15 years. He has tried to create consistency on the line maybe twice – otherwise just using one-year vets and undrafted guys to plug holes around his draft picks.

He could have built a solid line with the 2021-23 drafts, but he focused on it only in 2022, when he picked Charles Cross ninth overall and Abe Lucas in the third round. If he had drafted center Creed Humphrey in the second round in 2021 and added a guard in Round 2 in 2023, the Hawks would have a solid quartet of starters right now.

He has another chance to do it this year. But will he?

In his first two years (2010-11), Schneider put a lot of resources into the line. He drafted Russell Okung and James Carpenter in the first round and John Moffitt in the third, and he signed former first-rounder Robert Gallery from the Raiders. The idea was to put all of those guys on a line with Max Unger, a second-round pick in 2009 who ascended to starting center in 2011.

But Gallery retired after just one year, Moffitt was traded amid personal issues, Carpenter ended up at guard and Okung and Unger could not stay healthy consistently.

The other time Schneider tried to set up continuity with top resources was after the 2016 debacle in which he later admitted he had screwed up – going with a bunch of inexperienced and not very talented linemen.

In 2017, Schneider went after veteran guard T.J. Lang and missed (he settled on a one-year deal with former first-rounder Luke Joeckel). Schneider also drafted Ethan Pocic in the second round, extended Justin Britt and traded for Duane Brown at midseason to finally replace Okung (who had left in 2016 after six years in Seattle).

In 2018, Schneider brought back J.R. Sweezy at LG and added D.J. Fluker at RG to play in between Brown, Britt and Germain Ifedi (2016 first-rounder). That was Seattle’s best OL to that point and still the second-best Schneider has put together. And, no coincidence: It featured three 1s (two drafted elsewhere) and a 2 (plus a 7 in Sweezy).

The best line of Schneider’s tenure was the 2020 unit: Brown, Mike Iupati/Jordan Simmons, Pocic, Damien Lewis, Brandon Shell/Cedric Ogbuehi. Almost all of those guys were former high picks.

The line has bottomed out over the past four years amid great turnover – a different center (or centers) every year and no consistency at right guard (Gabe Jackson in 2021-22, then four guys in 2023-24) and right tackle (five starters).

The 2023 unit was the second-youngest of the Schneider era, and the 2024 unit might have been just as young if not for nine-year vet Laken Tomlinson’s (bad) stint at left guard. Part of that youth, of course, was Schneider drafting bookend tackles in 2022.

To think: Schneider could have put together a very solid line over the past four years, if he had drafted Humphrey in the second round over Dee Eskridge in 2021 and then added linemen on Day 2 in 2023 rather than repeating edge rushers and running backs.

Instead of Derick Hall and/or Zach Charbonnet, he could have added a guard such as Matthew Bergeron, Cody Mauch or O’Cyrus Torrence. His line the past two years could have featured Cross, Humphrey, Mauch and Lucas. That’s the kind of draft investment Schneider should be making.

He has yet another chance to do it this year. If he adds a couple of linemen high in this draft (rounds 1-2), the Hawks could have a solid quartet for at least four years – the kind of continuity he has failed to ever create.

On his show on 710 AM, Schneider passed along a stat he was given recently: Since 2010, the Seahawks have drafted more O-linemen than all but a couple of NFL teams. The money spent in free agency on Seattle linemen also was in the top three, he said.

Schneider’s point: “There is a narrative that (the Seahawks) can’t evaluate offensive linemen. But the rest of the league sees it different because they’re signing our guys.”

He added, “Yes, we have missed on some guys – no question.” And he admitted the Hawks have had trouble developing linemen. But he pointed out that Carpenter played a long time after leaving Seattle and perhaps Schneider should have paid him to stay. The same could be said of Lewis, whom the Hawks clearly should have kept.

“Maybe the guys are a little bit better than we give them credit for here in our organization,” the GM said. “Maybe we need to do a better job of (keeping guys). … ‘We shouldn’t let this guy go because he could go be a solid starter somewhere else.’”

The Hawks are surely going to pay Cross – word is they will pick up his fifth-year option (for 2026) before extending him at some point. If Lucas has a great 2025, staying healthy and playing well, they will need to strongly consider paying him next year, too.

If Schneider adds a starting left guard in this draft, that could be the core three Day 1-2 linemen like every team needs in order to have a strong offensive line.

We’d love two offensive linemen in the first two days — a la Cross and Lucas in 2022. If Schneider did that, the draft (and offseason) would look like a winner and Seattle might finally put together a consistent line for a few years.

Hey, nothing wrong with dreaming.