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Danny O'Neil covers the Seahawks for The Seattle Times.

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April 18, 2009 2:18 PM

Tackling the left tackle question

President Tim Ruskell said Friday that he's comfortable feeling that left tackle Walter Jones is going to be fine as he recovers from knee surgery, saying that he's hitting the appropriate marks in his recovery.

As for the question of Jones' eventual successor at left tackle, Ruskell said that one of the thoughts when the Seahawks re-signed Sean Locklear on the eve of free agency last year is that he eventually would be able to move to left tackle.

"That was a plan when we paid Sean and said that that was in the back of our heads in terms of when Walter's done, Sean would move over," Ruskell said. "That has been the plan. What hurt us last year a little bit, was he [Locklear] got hurt. He was having a heck of a training camp, heck of a preseason, and he got hurt and he never came back to what he would want to be. He never really got his thing back, his confidence, until it was too late.

"So that's still the plan. That's still the plan that when Walter is done, Sean moves over there and that's the reason we signed him to a long-term deal and it's the reason we signed Ray Willis."

Now, the fact that Seattle has three tackles already on the roster could impact the team's willingness to choose a player at that position. Would he be in position to start? Certainly not at left tackle if Jones is healthy, and it would take a pretty competent rookie to beat out Locklear and Willis at right tackle.

Combine that with the fact that Ruskell has previously said he's never been sold on the need to take a tackle early in the draft, and it's hard to see the Seahawks choosing someone at that position No. 4 overall.

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