When Pro Bowl guard Josh Sitton was surprisingly released by the Green Bay Packers in the preseason, front-office index fingers across the league began scrambling to punch numbers into their phones. Personnel men wanted to know if the news was true, why the fallout occurred and how long the line would be for Sitton’s services. One source from inside the Seattle Seahawks – who had full assessment of the offensive line going into the season – was particularly hopeful.

“I know [John] Schneider knows him,” the source said of Sitton. “We could use him.”

View photos It’s a good thing for Seattle that Russell Wilson has some scrambling ability. (Getty Images) More

Alas, for the salary cap-strapped Seahawks, it was not to be. They couldn’t get into the Sitton sweepstakes. But the yearning sentiment from that September day is lingering. And it will all season long because the Seahawks have problems that are extremely hard to fix inside an NFL season. And Sunday’s 25-20 loss to a mediocre New Orleans Saints team – while being very poorly officiated – showed how the lack of offensive line investment has manifested itself.

This is going to be a problem in January. Most likely because the Seahawks will likely have to go through the Dallas Cowboys, who are now the biggest offensive bullies in the NFC.

Before that happens, there is plenty to solve in Seattle offensively. Most of it tracing back to the line. Russell Wilson? Beat up. The running game? Lethargic. Big plays downfield? They don’t have the time to develop. And in the middle of it all is an offensive line that lags far behind the rest of the roster in talent and investment. It’ll be interesting if this conference comes down to the Seahawks and Cowboys, because in that offensive trench, the two teams are mirror opposites. Dallas’ line is imposing, while the Seattle group is an imposition. And of all the roster aspects that can be changed or improved during a season, that one is almost impossible to tune-up easily.

As one personnel evaluator texted after seeing the Seahawks on Sunday, “This year is going to be a wash [at offensive line]. Receiver or runner, you can pick up a guy and play with [him]. Not [offensive line], though. Gotta have that [stuff] right before the season.”

The same evaluator was also critical of the Seahawks’ embrace of offensive line coach Tom Cable, suggesting Cable’s zone blocking scheme and “type of player” are usually employed by teams trying to mask poorly (or cheaply) built offensive lines. It’s essentially seen as a way to get around not having the money or significant number of top-end draft picks invested in a line. There is rookie first-round pick Germain Ifedi, who was a must-add piece after the past two offseasons of defections. It’s unclear yet where he lands on the quality spectrum. And there is 2014 second-round center Justin Britt, who has shown the tools to succeed.

But as a group, this unit is mediocre or worse. As Arizona Cardinals defensive back Tyrann Mathieu said of it last week: “Let’s call it what it is. Their offensive line is not that good.”

Cable said such an assessment “doesn’t mean anything.” Well, it should mean something, because it’s coming from an opponent whose defensive meeting room saw the group as a liability. And then Mathieu went a little further and aired it out publicly after the Seattle offensive line lived down to the billing.

At the end of the day, a lack of offensive line investment is overcome only when talent surfaces in unexpected places. Maybe a team hits on some late-round draft picks or undrafted free agents. Maybe they pick up a mediocre or damaged-goods free agent who gets himself together with a change of scenery. Seattle has tried that with a handful of guys and failed.

Sometimes a team can fail to consistently invest significant money or picks and get away with it. Sometimes it can fail to score talent in unexpected places. Sometimes it can let talent go and survive by shifting resources elsewhere. But a franchise can’t do all three on the offensive line and not expect it to create problems. That’s what parlays into a unit that has trouble protecting the quarterback. Or pounding out long possessions that wear down defenses while simultaneously resting a team’s own defensive players. Or allowing skill position players the time to develop big-play routes downfield. Seattle is having problems in all of these areas.

Story continues