As Seahawks shop for wide receivers, don’t forget about John Ursua. He almost won the West
Are the Seahawks shopping for players again?
Better question: When are they not?
Malik Turner’s concussion and Jaron Brown’s sprained knee in the last two games have coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider contemplating signing a wide receiver for the playoffs. Those begin for Seattle (11-5) on Sunday at Philadelphia (9-7) in the wild-card round.
“We’re talking about it. We’re talking about it,” Carroll said. “It really depends on Malik.
“Malik Turner is a really well-versed player in our system. He can do all kinds of stuff. We miss not having him out there. He’s recovering from concussion syndrome stuff. He’s got to make it make. I can’t tell you that he’s fully back yet.”
That is, for Sunday against the Eagles, who are 19th in the NFL in pass defense.
Tuesday, the Seahawks signed undrafted rookie wide receiver Jaylen Smith to the practice squad, for potential depth.
And one week after signing back Marshawn Lynch and Robert Turbin, the Seahawks tried out another former running back of theirs: Alex Collins. Baltimore released Seattle’s former third-round pick during this season because he got suspended three games by the NFL following his arrest in March on charges of marijuana possession and gun possession in Maryland.
“We’re just making sure we’re doing everything we can,” Carroll said. “We’re just looking to continue to compete to figure out who’s out there and all that. Alex has had some good play. Guys that we wanted to see looked pretty good in the workout.”
At wide receiver, Brown is going to be out multiple weeks, Carroll said. He had become an option for Russell Wilson on third down and short, Brown’s three catches on third down and three or fewer yards to go were tied for fourth-most in the league this season.
Turner got a concussion in the home loss to Arizona Dec. 22. He has 15 catches on 22 targets this season, many of them on third down. Wilson has had unusual trust in Turner, unusual for a Super Bowl-winning quarterback with a second-year undrafted free agent.
Former All-Pro Josh Gordon, signed off waivers in early November, is on indefinite NFL suspension for drugs. The Seahawks have healthy and available: Tyler Lockett, rookie DK Metcalf, David Moore.
And rookie John Ursua.
Even if Seattle signs another wide receiver, Ursua is poised for a larger role in the playoffs.
Heck, he came within 1 yard of winning the NFC West.
Any role would be larger than what Ursua’s had so far in his brief NFL career. The seventh-round draft choice from Hawaii, the nation’s leader last season in touchdown catches as a slot receiver and a fan favorite already in Seattle, got his first career catch Sunday night in the NFC West title game against San Francisco. It was a huge one: on fourth down with 42 seconds left to the 1-yard line.
As Wilson scrambled to extend that fourth-down play, Ursua worked back toward the quarterback and away from tight coverage by San Francisco defensive back K’Waun Williams, from inside the goal line to outside of it. Normally, that’s the taught technique, to help out the QB.
But Sunday night that adjustment cost him a division-winning touchdown.
“Oh yeah, there are coaching points about it. We do try to stay in the end zone there,”: Carroll said. “The play got lengthened because Russ moved. There’s coaching points on that play.”
Of course, no one would have noticed Ursua not staying in the end zone on his route if the Seahawks had scored a touchdown in one of their next four plays, starting from the 1.
“It was a beautiful play by John. Great job getting open, great catch and everything,” Carroll said. “How that happened, as well as that was set up to be the winning opportunities down there, it’s amazing that it didn’t happen.
“You’ve watched us long enough, you’ve watch Russ pull it off and figure it out. It’s just an unusual occurrence that it didn’t, almost, to me.”
Though only 5 feet 9 and 182 pounds, Ursua is more worldly to handle the playoffs than most rookies. The native Hawaiian turns 26 this month. He spent two years on a church mission to France, Belgium and Luxembourg. He was out of football for nearly four years.
Pretty cool for Ursua to begin getting more opportunities in this season’s biggest games, eh?
He laughed at that.
“Yeah, I mean, I guess you can say that,” he said.
“I knew in my head every week I’ve got to prepare like I’m playing. And, regardless if I was active or inactive I’ve always got to prepare like I am playing, like I’m going to take every, single snap. I’ve got to know the ins and outs of slot, the outside, just so that if any opportunity presents itself I was going to be ready and prepared for that opportunity.”
Ursua acknowledges this season has been a huge adjustment, from being featured at Hawaii, every play, to not even being in uniform for 13 of 16 games.
“Yeah, that’s so true,” Ursua said. “I mean, I wouldn’t lie about it. It’s tough. I’ve always been ‘The Guy,’ whether it was middle school, high school and college. But it’s part of growing up. It’s part of learning. It’s part of putting yourself in a new environment. But it’s not always going to be the case that you start with the job you’ve always wanted. I knew that coming into the league. ...
“It’s been such a growing year for me, and such an honor to learn from some of the best players in the game. We’ve had JG (Gordon) here. We have Tyler Lockett. We have ‘D-Mo, JB.’ Those guys have helped me grow so much as a player.”
This story was originally published January 1, 2020 at 10:37 AM.
