Mostly Geno Smith 1, Drew Lock 2 in QB derby likely up to start of Seahawks training camp
Geno Smith was again with the starting offense. He mostly threw to Tyler Lockett and played behind the first-team linemen.
Drew Lock was again with the second unit. But he mixed in more with the ones to throw to Lockett in a red-zone drill.
The competition to succeed the traded Russell Wilson as the Seahawks’ quarterback in 2022 is likely to stay the way it’s been this offseason, at least up to the start of training camp in late July.
Play caller and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron said Thursday he, coach Pete Carroll and the offensive staff will assess how to assign repetitions at quarterback for the preseason, and whether Smith and Lock will eventually alternate on the starting offense. Waldron said those assessments and possible changes from the current Smith one, Lock two will come after offseason workouts are done.
Those practices end in mid-June. Seattle has three practices in a mandatory veteran minicamp Tuesday through next Thursday. The team has a final, 3-day OTA series June 13-15.
“Those are just going to be just constant conversations. And as we move forward here finishing up the offseason and getting into training camp, that’s something we will sit down and discuss exactly how we want to balance out reps or to give reps to different guys with different people around,” Waldron said following the fifth of Seattle’s nine organized team activities (OTAs) practices of the offseason.
Smith, 31, has been the first quarterback in offseason drills because he is more familiar with Waldron’s system and with his Seahawks teammates. He has been Wilson’s backup in Seattle the last three years.
Lock, 24, arrived in March as part of the Seahawks’ massive trade of Wilson to Denver. Thursday was his fifth practice in Waldron’s offense.
Thursday in the latest voluntary workout, Lock got more time than in previous days throwing to Lockett, new tight end Noah Fant (Lock’s former Broncos teammate, also acquired in the Wilson trade) and the starting receivers. Lock did that in a drill with QBs and pass catchers against air near the goal line.
Lock also got some plays with the first-team offensive line of Austin Blythe at center, Damien Lewis at left guard, Phil Haynes (for absent veteran Gabe Jackson) at right guard, rookie ninth-overall pick Charles Cross again at left tackle and rookie third-round pick Abe Lucas at right tackle.
“The good thing about this time of year is, we really try to do a good job of...we’ve had the ones and twos, so to speak, going, but we’ve had a lot of mixing and matching of guys getting their chances — not just at the quarterback position but throughout our offense,” Waldron said.
“So everyone can have that chance to be with that first group, and get a chance to go with the second group and mix and match with different people and different teammates throughout the course of practice.”
Through two weeks of watching OTAs and listening to Waldron and Carroll speak, it seems this quarterback competition may go into September — and perhaps up to Seattle’s opener against Wilson and the Broncos at Lumen Field Sept. 12.
Carroll has stated it’s a wide-open derby. The always-compete coach loves those.
Fant was Lock’s teammate for all three of their years in the NFL with Denver. They came into the NFL together in Denver’s 2019 draft class; Fant was the Broncos’ first-round pick and Lock their second-round choice that year.
Fant watched Lock go 8-13 starting in parts of three seasons in Denver. He saw Lock get sidetracked his rookie season for all but the final five games because of a thumb injury. He saw Lock go 4-1 in his debut games late that rookie season.
He saw Denver change offensive coordinators and systems on Lock after that first year. And Fant watched the Broncos sign veteran Teddy Bridgewater last offseason to effectively end Lock’s chance to start for Denver before the 2021 season began.
How does Fant see his ex-Broncos teammate viewing this second opportunity in Seattle?
“I think he’s approaching it as a chance to do something big,” Fant said of Lock.
This story was originally published June 2, 2022 at 3:59 PM.
