Where’s the pass rush? Plus other questions for Seahawks at Chargers Saturday

It’s the same question the Seahawks had at the start of training camp. And since they are now three weeks from the start of the regular season, that’s not ideal.

From where is the pass rush going to come in 2018?

Seattle abruptly released edge rusher Marcus Smith on Friday days after he was practicing with its first-team defense, for what coach Pete Carroll cited as “personal reasons” without elaborating. That means the team enters Saturday’s second preseason game at the Los Angeles Chargers with the same glaring need it had back on July 26 when camp began.

Smith was supposed to be squarely in the Seahawks’ plans for this season along the defensive front, perhaps as much as another former first-round pick whose career Seattle was trying to revive, Dion Jordan. Jordan has yet to practice this summer because of a stress fracture in his leg. The team hopes to reevaluate him in the last week of August. He’s a candidate to begin the season on an injured list.

Frank Clark is “ready to go” for Saturday night in Carson, Calif., Carroll said following Friday’s walk-through practice. It will be the starting defensive end’s first full action since the 2017 season finale on New Year’s Eve then his wrist surgery in June.

“He’s had a great week,” Carroll said. “He’s been battling with Duane (Brown, the Seahawks’ left tackle) all week, and he’ll play in the game.”

Clark’s return still leaves Seattle with the question of who is going to be his partner at opposite end. Where is the production going to come from to even come close to replacing the sacks and quarterback pressures departed Pro Bowl pass rushers Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril gave this defense for years?

Rasheem Green, come on down.

The Seahawks’ rookie third-round pick had a sack then shared another one with fellow rookie rush end Jacob Martin in last week’s preseason opener against Indianapolis. Green was a defensive tackle at USC the Seahawks have turned into a end outside on base-defense downs and a hybrid tackle to rush inside on passing ones, like Bennett was before Seattle traded him to Philadelphia in March.

Green also impressed with three quarterback hits, a tackle for lost yardage and seven total stops last week against the Colts. Did that validate Seattle taking him with its second pick in April’s draft?

“It really didn’t validate anything,” Green said. “It was more of just taking what coaches coaches in the meeting room and the stuff I do in practice...in the game, because it’s all the same. It’s just practice with more people watching.”

Ah, but Saturday will not be the same for Green. He did his impressive work last week against the Colts’ reserves. Now the Seahawks want to see how productive the rookie can be against starters from the Chargers, and from the Minnesota Vikings six days later in the third preseason game.

“I think we have one sample of one game,” Seahawks defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. said of Green. “Now we need more samples of more games, of more plays, what happens when he gets tired, what happens when he goes up against the best guys.

“So, there’s a lot of things that he’s going to have to learn in the next few weeks.”

That’s not all this team will be learning Saturday night in Carson, Calif.

Here’s what else to watch for from the Seahawks against the Chargers the season preseason game, in which Carroll typically plays his starters for most if not all of the first half.

1. Can C.J. Prosise stay on the field?:

Carroll said Prosise will play Saturday. We should add, that was the plan as of Friday afternoon when the team was flying to Los Angeles.

The tantalizing running back and pass catcher returned to fully practicing Thursday, after he missed a week including the first preseason game with a hip-flexor injury. The Seahawks have a sizable part of their offensive playbook designed specifically for the former Notre Dame wide receiver and 2016 third-round pick’s unique speed, size and catching ability. But he’s played in just 11 of a possible 32 regular-season games, and the hip was his seventh injury in 28 months in the NFL with Seattle.

Rookie running back Rashaad Penny returned to the team Friday after surgery Wednesday in Philadelphia for his broken left index finger.

Penny is going to be out multiple weeks, though the team expects him to be ready for the opener Sept. 9 at Denver. Chris Carson is the clear starter at running back. Prosise has the next two preseason games to solidify a place squarely in Seattle’s and new coordinator Brian Schottenheimer’s plans to return to the running game and use the backs more in the passing offense this season.

If, of course, he can stay healthy.

Carroll acknowledged Saturday’s game is a tad larger for Prosise than a second preseason game normally is for a veteran so much a part of the offense’s plans.

“Every one of these opportunities are big for the guys, and for C.J. because he missed one,” the coach said. “It steps it up a little bit. We’d like to see him play quite a bit in this game.”

2. Does Brandon Marshall even need to be on the field Saturday?

No. But, yes.

No, because the 34-year-old, six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver has already shown in the last half-dozen or so of 14 training-camp practices how unique he can be to the Seahawks’ passing game. With Jimmy Graham gone and signed to Green Bay, Seattle doesn’t have another 6-foot-5, 240-pound receiver as accomplished nor as skilled at using his frame and physicality to manhandle cornerbacks.

Marshall and quarterback Russell Wilson are gaining each other’s trust daily with back-shoulder throws in the red zone.

“You can throw anywhere and he’s going to catch it. It’s a good thing,” Wilson said, laughing. “He makes the quarterback look good, that’s for sure. He makes all the plays, and you just want to give him a chance to make plays. He’s doing that.”

Barring injury, Marshall not only is going to make the team, he’s going to start the opener as Seattle’s second wide receiver. He may be the first, if Doug Baldwin doesn’t come back from his left-knee injury by then.

Baldwin, who hasn’t practiced since the end of July, ran as hard as he had in week on a side field during Friday’s practice. The Seahawks still believe he’ll be ready for the opener.

“Next week will be really important to see how far along he comes. Really, the fourth week will be first chance we really get to work him really hard and press him,” Carroll said of the days before Seattle’s preseason finale Aug. 30 against Oakland. “And then we’ll see how that goes in terms for that week and then heading into the opener.

“We think he’s going to be fine.”

With six 100-catch seasons and coming off toe and ankle surgeries plus a hamstring injury last month, Marshall doesn’t need to prove anything in these preseason games. But expect him to start again, as the Seahawks ramp up his participation—and treat him like ever other veteran.

“Yeah, he needs to play like everybody else,” Carroll said. “He’s a ball player. He doesn’t need to play a lot, like some guys don’t. But we need to get him out there.”

3. Who is going to seize the starting job at right cornerback?

It appears 30-year-old veteran Byron Maxwell may start against the Chargers, three days after he returned from a hip-flexor issue that had him out more than a week.

“We’re hoping so,” Carroll said of Maxwell starting on Saturday. “But we’ve got to get him on the field and see what happens.”

Maxwell’s injury allowed rookie Tre Flowers the opportunity to start. Flowers had a pass-interference penalty, good position over the top on an incomplete pass into the end zone and two tackles playing the first half of the preseason opener against the Colts.

This week, former San Francisco 49ers starter Dontae Johnson entered the competition when he returned from a broken bone in his foot he got in June. Johnson got extended time with the starting defense in each practice this week.

He started all 16 games of last regular season for San Francisco at right cornerback. He’s going to get a long look there Saturday night, and Carroll said he’s curious to see what Johnson brings.

“I really am. He played a lot of football last year and we brought him in here with (the idea) he’s going to compete for the job and see what happens,” Carroll said, “and he’s doing so now. ...He’s got a pitch count in this game but he had a good week and we’re learning.

“The next two weeks will be really big for him. We’re just going to break him in this week, and then the next two, we’ll see how far he can take it. He’s right in the middle. He went with the ones a bunch this week just to make sure we got to see him with those guys.”

This story was originally published August 17, 2018 at 3:59 PM.