Pete Carroll ‘not holding anything back’ as Seahawks begin Drew Lock vs. Geno Smith derby
Those thinking Drew Lock versus Geno Smith is a bitter, steel-cage match to determine who succeeds Russell Wilson should know...
- It’s only May
- Seahawks coaches have yet to install a ton of the offense
- And, hey, maybe the two quarterbacks don’t hate each other
Monday was the initial full practice day on the field of Seattle’s first QB competition in 11 years. During their 90 minutes or so on the field, Smith, the 31-year old back up to Wilson the last three seasons, and Lock, the 24-year old the Seahawks got in their mega trade of Wilson to Denver in March, looked like fast friends.
Smith slapped Lock’s hand as Lock passed by him during warm-up line drills. Lock stood behind the offensive huddle and clapped for Smith as the veteran completed passes in drills against the defense. Smith applauded for Lock when he connected on his throws.
As coach Pete Carroll said this month and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron said last week, Smith has the early advantage over Lock in familiarity. That’s a large reason Smith was the first quarterback and Lock the second in drills on Monday. Jacob Eason was clearly third with far fewer snaps. That doesn’t mean much toward who will start week one against Wilson’s Broncos in Seattle Sept. 12.
Smith was showing off his familiarity with his teammates, and vice versa, on Monday. That included with his competitor for the starting job.
Lock playing catch-up in getting to know both his teammates and Waldron’s system.
Then again, it’s not as if Smith edge in being familiar with Waldron’s Seahawks offense is insurmountable for Lock: Waldron has only been Seattle’s coordinator in from the Los Angeles Rams for one season, and Lock believes Waldron’s offense is like what he had in Denver as a rookie in 2019.
Lock’s familiarity with Waldron
“I obviously know a little bit about Coach Waldron’s system. It’s similar to the one that I ran my rookie year when I first got into the league,” Lock said in March.
That was with Rich Scangarello as a first-time play caller and NFL offensive coordinator. Scangarello intended to bring the Broncos a system heavy in zone-blocking run plays and play-action passes in 2019. Lock loved it.
But he began his rookie regular season on injured reserve with a badly sprained thumb. He missed Denver’s first 11 games. The Broncos lost eight of those.
Lock made his NFL debut in week 13 of that 2019 season. In five games he completed 64.1% of his passes. He threw for 1,020 yards and seven touchdowns with three interceptions. He won four of those five starts.
Waldron is the former Rams tight ends coach and passing game coordinator. Carroll hired him before the 2021 season to be a first-time play caller. Carroll tasked Waldron to reorient Seattle’s offense to running the ball with an emphasis on zone-blocking schemes, and on using multiple formations including two tight ends and three or four wide receivers, running backs split out as receivers and quick, play-action passes with short routes by receivers off those runs.
Asked about the progress Lock has made in his first week’s in Seattle’s offense, Carroll said: “He’s right with us.
“Geno really has the package nailed, so I have that to gauge him on. He’s hanging with Geno throughout all of this, and we are not holding anything back.
“We really just unloaded the installations. He’s doing well.”
Back to basics
Those installations of the playbook are far more detailed and back to the fundamentals than they’ve been in Seahawks OTAs for most of the last decade. Recent Seahawks teams haven’t gone so far back to so many basics in offseason practices at the sport’s most important position. Wilson knew Seattle’s system and ways better than his Nanobubbles.
“I would say that, consciously, we are making sure that we are covering everything and not assume, for instance, 2-minute situations and stuff like that,” Carroll said. “We are not leaving those aside.
“We want to make sure that we are covering all bases as early as we can, so that we have a backlog of stuff to build from. We have been conscious in the installation format to get that done.”
The rules of this third phase of the NFL offseason training program is no 11-on-11, offense-versus-defense drills. The fullest Smith and Lock got in utilizing the entire offense in a pseudo game setting Monday was in seven-on-seven drills against linebackers and defensive backs.
But the defenders can’t makes plays on the passes in the air, per league OTA rules. So of course Smith completed long passes to Tyler Lockett and Marquise Goodwin, the 31-year-old veteran and former 49ers wide receiver signed Monday. Lock connected often with Penny Hart and Deontez Alexander.
Many of Lock’s throws were smooth, pretty almost. That backed up the Seahawks coaches liking him so much out of Missouri in the 2019 draft, two weeks after the team had re-signed Wilson for a record $140 million. Lock’s OTA debut backed up Waldron saying last week Lock can “make every throw” in the offense, and well.
But this being May and the first semi-extensive practices since last season ended in January, there was rustiness. And clunkiness.
Smith at times threw slightly behind receivers while completing throws. Lock threw way wide of rookie seventh-round pick Dareke Young on a quick, 3-yard out route at the sideline. Young dropped a short, accurate pass over the middle from Lock. Twice with Lock barking pre-snap signals forcefully his offensive teammates jumped into false starts.
How are the coaches evaluating the quarterbacks without being able to do 11-on-11 scrimmaging in these offseason practices?
“We do that in controlled periods before we even come on the field. It’s really situational football,” Carroll said. “This isn’t the real thing, but we try to get as close as we can.
“Using your imagination is a really big tool for us here. That’s for the players and the coaches. You have to picture what it is that we are asking, what the situation calls for, then adapt, make your decisions, and show us what you know. We know that there is a whole another level to come into camp. What we do now in phase three, is preparation for (training) camp, so it’s all staged.
“We are making the progress that you can make, but you can’t tell until you really start playing.”
This story was originally published May 23, 2022 at 9:49 PM.
