Just for kicks: On special teams, Seahawks have continuity that other NFL teams covet
In all likelihood, Pete Carroll won’t have to worry much about special teams this season. Having good, consistent kicking and punting can win games in the NFL, and right now, the Seahawks have continuity and specialists that many teams around the league surely envy.
All-Pro punter Michael Dickson recently received a four-year, $14.5 million contact extension. Kicker Jason Myers, who completed a perfect 24-of-24 field goal attempts a season ago for Seattle, enters his third year with the team. And Harvard grad and long snapper Tyler Ott, who made a Pro Bowl last season, has been with the team since 2016.
Needless to say, that trio — which spends the majority of practice time together on the third practice field at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center, isolated from the rest of the team — is plenty comfortable with each other.
“We’re kind of on our own little island, based on our own schedule, whether we like it or not,” Dickson said. “We’re around each other non-stop. It’s really fun, we get to know each other really well. If there’s ever a point in the game where we need to say something, or we don’t need to say something to each other, we know our field. That’s a huge benefit having the three of us for several years.”
The NFL is a business, first and foremost. The vast majority of players don’t have much say when it comes to teammates being traded or released. So having a unit that has been together for several years is something of a luxury.
“It’s great on and off the field,” Ott said. “Coming in with us being together a few years in a row now, it’s been really nice for our operation. You build chemistry off each other, you know cues and timing and rhythm. … Being together for a while now, for us, it’s a huge comfort I guess.
“Coming in, knowing what to expect, and on game day, we know if I’m not snapping my best game, I’ve got Dickson and Jason to make up for it, and the same goes the other way. If someone is not having a great game, we’re just there and we can kind of feed off each other.”
Myers said he feels ‘blessed’ to have the same teammates in his corner for another year.
“We have very similar routines, as far as working out in the morning and stuff like that,” he said. “We have some similarities, some differences. We work well, we gel well. It’s very easy coming back from offseason stuff like that, just to get right back in rhythm. … We spend so much time together, so it’s good to have two guys you like.”
Dickson, who played college ball at Texas, set franchise records last season in punting average (49.64 yards) and net average (44.41). He grew up in Australia and began kicking an American football in 2015.
Myers has now hit 37 consecutive field goals, dating back to the 2019 season. He made two field goals beyond 50 yards last season, and 13 from beyond 40. He said he doesn’t think much about the streak.
“We’re out there trying to make every kick,” he said. “Kicking in the NFL, you’re out there to make every kick. It is what it is and you just try to keep rolling.”
Within the group, there’s not much talk of the streak, either.
“He really just takes it one kick at a time anyways,” Dickson said. “We don’t talk about it much.”
As far as the 2021-22 season is concerned, the special teams players just want to keep things rolling.
“We really just need to continue what was happening last year. In a lot of ways, we kind of just lined up and said, ‘We’re going to do this, and we want you to try to stop us,’” Ott said. “We’ve got a lot of good guys coming back for us in our special teams corps. Having fun doing it together, bringing the energy.”
EXTRA POINTS
- Again, nothing new on safety Jamal Adams and left tackle Duane Brown, who continued to watch practice from the sidelines as they await new deals. ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted on Friday afternoon that Brown, who is in the last year of a contract scheduled to pay him $10 million this season, ‘isn’t pleased’ that he hasn’t gotten a contract extension.
- The Seahawks will play a ‘mock game’ on Sunday at Lumen Field, kicking off at 1:25 p.m. It will be the first chance for fans to watch the Seahawks in person — albeit in a practice/scrimmage setting — since the 2019 season. The Seahawks didn’t allow fans during the 2020 season, following the state’s guidelines stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. General admission seats at $17 each. There will also be music, food trucks, and photo booths located outside the stadium. The Seahawks open the preseason on the road against the Las Vegas Raiders on Aug. 14. The first home preseason game comes a week later, against the Denver Broncos on Aug. 21. Seattle opens the regular season in Indianapolis on Sept. 12.
This story was originally published August 7, 2021 at 7:53 PM.
