On 1st pads day, Bobby Wagner, Dre’Mont Jones, Seahawks defense looks better. But ...
Bobby Wagner crashed unblocked into a running back behind the line. His defensive teammates roared.
Uchenna Nwosu lowered his shoulder and slammed rookie running back Kenny McIntosh to the ground, twice.
“Whooo!” his defensive teammates yelled as they mobbed Nwosu, as they had Wagner.
Dre’Mont Jones and Jarran Reed slashed into the backfield getting tackles for losses. Jones lowered his chest and shoulder and sent runner DeeJay Dallas lawn-darting into the turf immediately following a handoff to him.
The first six plays of the first 11-on-11, shoulder-pads scrimmage of Seahawks training camp was dominated by the unit that must improve this season for Seattle to go father than one-and-done in the playoffs again.
Six plays netted 1 total yard for the offense, on six rushes from a depleted running game against the Seahawks’ worrisome run defense.
It was only the first day in shoulder pads. The truer tests, real games, don’t begin for another six weeks.
The truest tests of all — showdowns against the defending division-champion San Francisco 49ers, the rugged team the Seahawks must beat to win the NFC West — aren’t until Thanksgiving and early December.
For Monday, at least, the emphasis of Seattle’s entire offseason worked. The defense looked and performed better, particularly against the run. This was one of the more physical, spirited first days in pads in recent Seahawks training camps.
“We felt good,” Wagner said. “The energy was there.
“Obviously, that’s a big part of the defense that we want to improve on. I think this was a good first step to coming out first day in practice, setting a tone. Now we’ve just got to build on it.”
Yes, the Seahawks were so bad against the run last season, it’s going to take more than one practice in July against a new offensive line and a running game depleted by injuries to Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet to know if Seattle has fixed its biggest problem from 2022.
“The D-line did such a good job, the ball never really made it up to us, to be honest. They were tackling the ball in the backfield, which I’m OK with,” Wagner, the six-time All-Pro middle linebacker, said following the defense winning Monday.
“They were in the backfield every play. They set the tone for us today. That’s something we are going to look for, you know, all season.”
Red-zone defense
The defense’s dominance continued in a red-zone scrimmage. In seven plays inside the 20-yard line, the first- and second-team offense failed to score.
For the second consecutive day the defense used a dime package in the red zone. The starting cornerbacks remained the same they’ve been all camp: Tre Brown on the left and Michael Jackson on the right. Quandre Diggs and Julian Love were back as safeties, with Jamal Adams still on the physically-unable-to-perform list. The fifth, nickel defensive back was Coby Bryant, in the role he had last season as a rookie. The sixth, dime back was Devon Witherspoon, the rookie fifth-overall pick in this year’s draft.
On the first play of the red-zone scrimmage, DK Metcalf beat Jackson off the line on a physical go route. But Smith’s pass took Metcalf too far left into sideline boundary of the end zone. He caught the pass there incomplete.
Love then sprinted around would-be blockers and blew up a screen pass from Smith to running back Dallas for lost yardage.
On the third play, receiver Dee Eskridge tried a double move on Witherspoon, who was in the right slot. Witherspoon, in his third practice since signing his contract two practices late on Friday, did some hand fighting with Eskridge, knocking him off stride. Eskridge fell as Smith’s pass sailed past incomplete.
Rookie receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Seattle’s other first-round pick, caught a short pass on a quick out in route in front of Jackson for a short gain.
Then Drew Lock and the second offense also failed to score on any of three plays. On the final of those three plays, Boye Mafe broke through the line into the backfield and would have sacked Lock if quarterbacks were permitted to get hit.
The scrimmaging then moved to the center of the field. On the first play, Smith threw a screen pass outside right to Colby Parkinson. Witherspoon came up quickly. The tight end tried to run over the rookie cornerback, but the 6-foot Witherspoon held his ground and shoulder-rolled the 6-foot-7 Parkinson into the sideline.
His defensive teammates loved that. They roared some more, and pounded him on top of the helmet for the tackle.
“Oh, I love that,” Metcalf said. “A guy who is going to go out there and compete, not back down from a challenge.
“I know Colby tried to run into him, and then he bowed up and tackled him.”
Witherspoon is still paying something of a penance for his two-day holdout. For the second straight practice he wasn’t the primary starting left cornerback as he’d been all May into June in organized team activities and minicamps. He got a few plays at left cornerback with the starting defense later in the 11-on-11 scrimmaging Monday. Most of his first-team reps were inside at nickel, and dime with Bryant next to him.
Witherspoon broke up a pass from Smith to Cody Thompson along the defense’s sideline, prompting more cheers from the white shirts.
The best matchup of Witherspoon’s day was during a 1-on-1 coverage drill. Veteran wide receiver Tyler Lockett ran hard at the rookie cornerback, then abruptly cut his route outside. Witherspoon stayed close, but Smith’s pass was perfect onto Lockett’s hands and away from Witherspoon’s.
Witherspoon was so eager to attack the ball — that’s his reputation as a standout at the University of Illinois — he was able to get only fingertips on Lockett after the catch. Lockett sped past him and down the sideline with the ball half the field to the end zone. Witherspoon smacked his hands together after the touchdown, seemingly to be partly in anger and largely in admiration of Lockett’s subtle greatness on the route and run after the catch.
“It was just fun to watch how competitive he is,” Metcalf said of Witherspoon.
“Once we get Jamal back out there, both their competitiveness and their fires will spark all the defense.
“It’s going to be fun.”
Pass rush
Before practice, offensive line coach Andy Dickerson was looking forward to his guys finally being in shoulder pads for the first time since mid-January and Seattle’s playoff loss at San Francisco.
“Yeah, it’s getting closer to real football,” Dickerson said. “Definitely love the pads. Definitely helps maintain the intensity and the evaluation of what we drill all offseason.”
The first must-see drill of camp was the one-on-one pass-rush drill Monday.
Phil Haynes continued solidifying his hold on becoming the starting right guard this season after splitting that job with the since-departed Gabe Jackson last season. Haynes calmly repelled a spin move by undrafted rookie defensive end Jacob Sykes.
Right tackle Abe Lucas held his own keeping 2022 Seahawks sack leader Uchenna Nwosu from getting around him.
Mafe used his speed to get past left tackle Charles Cross for a win to the outside edge.
Evan Brown stopped Sykes at the line. Brown (6-foot-3, 320 pounds) was the starting center Monday. Rookie Olu Oluwatimi was the starter Sunday. Carroll said they are going to alternate days anchoring the first-team line, for now.
The 6-foot-2, 309-pound Oluwatimi plowed his pass rusher chest-first into the ground for a rousing win for the offense.
That was after Jones, Seattle’s $51-million free-agent signing from Denver in March, used a quick inside move to get back reserve offensive tackle Stone Forsythe.
Reinforcing running back
Walker’s groin injury and Charbonnet’s shoulder injury have them out indefinitely.
That’s why Seattle signed undrafted rookie running back SaRodorick Thompson. The three-time All-Big-12 honorable-mention back at Texas Tech initially signed with New Orleans this spring.
The Seahawks are so thin at running back, Thompson was on the starting offense on the first scrimmage drive Monday. He had the best run of the first 10 plays, a quick cut right at the line for an 8-yard gain.
He is the second running back the Seahawks have signed since Friday when Walker missed his first of now four consecutive practices and Charbonnet got hurt. The other new runner is rookie Wayne Taulapapa, last season’s rusher leader at the University of Washington.
Extra points
- Mario Edwards, the former second-round pick of the Raiders, got his first time of camp with the starting defense, at end.
- Tight end Will Dissly watched practice in sneakers and without a helmet.
- Walker is going into the huddle before plays to get the call from Smith and stay up in the playbook. Then he steps back to watch the scrimmaging. During a break, Walker playfully ran about 20 yards to a water cart. So the groin isn’t debilitating last season’s 1,050-yard rusher — or keeping a grin off his face.
- Ben Burr-Kirven got a few plays with the starting defense to give Wagner a rest in 11-on-11 scrimmaging. Burr-Kirven, the former UW middle linebacker, returned to the Seahawks Thursday after missing two years with knee injuries and nerve damage.
- Smith-Njigba was the first returner back to field Michael Dickson’s punt in scrimmaging.
- The team practices Tuesday then has a players’ day off Wednesday.
This story was originally published July 31, 2023 at 5:09 PM.
