Jake Bobo, Easop Winston make roster cases in Seahawks’ preseason finale loss at Packers
More than any recent preseason, maybe more than any of his 13 summers leading the team, Pete Carroll wants to keep almost all of these Seahawks intact.
He loves this team’s togetherness. Their grit. The way they’ve internalized his and his staff’s messaging and coaching.
He doesn’t want the end of the three preseason games Saturday at Lambeau Field and the roster cuts from 90 players to 53 on Tuesday to change that. Not much, anyway.
“The mentality that is in this locker room is special. It’s strong. It’s together. I couldn’t be more pleased with it,” the 71-year-old coach said following Seattle’s rally to the lead then 19-15 loss late to the Packers to end the games that don’t count this year.
“You know, as we get through this weekend, you think about ‘OK, here comes the change to the roster’ and all that. Sixty-nine of these players are going to be with us. That’s a bunch of guys in this locker room that are going to stay with us.”
Each NFL team gets a 16-man practice squad, expanded recently by the NFL. The league also liberalized rules on making practice-squad players eligible for each game.
The result is Carroll thinking about, messaging to and planning for more than just the 53 players on the active roster.
Carroll and general manager John Schneider must drop in various ways — waive, veteran release, injured lists — 37 players by the league’s roster deadline of 1 p.m. Tuesday. If Carroll truly wants all 16 current Seahawks on Seattle’s practice squad to begin the season, they all need to first clear league waivers to get onto the taxi team.
Carroll acknowledged some teams will claim some Seahawks. That is why, for instance, Seattle isn’t going to risk undrafted rookie summer star Jake Bobo to waivers for the practice squad. Not after Bobo’s latest touchdown catch and impressive day, against the Packers.
“But the bulk of these guys are going to be with us,” Carroll said. “And I love that, because these guys are connected. They know how we play, what we expect, how we prepare...and that’s only going to make us better.”
How the preseason ended
The preseason finale wasn’t conclusive. These games rarely are.
But the team’s Saturday in Wisconsin reinforced recent Seattle trends.
Bobo continued his rise from, in his word, zero expectations this spring — “none” — to the most surprising member of the team to begin the season.
Former Washington State Cougar wide receiver Easop Winston Jr. showed he should remain with the Seahawks, whether on the practice squad or, given all the injuries at his position, the 53-man roster.
Michael Jackson’s two-week fall, possibly out of the starting lineup he was in last season and this month, continued.
And only one of the 11 likely starters on defense plus none of the 11 on offense — not Geno Smith, DK Metcalf or Kenneth Walker, or any of the linemen — played Saturday in Seattle’s 19-15 loss to the Green Bay Packers at drizzly, then sunny Lambeau Field.
Not that it matters: The Seahawks lost for the only time in three preseason games.
Backup quarterback Drew Lock played the first 58 minutes of the game, and left with his team leading 15-12. He completed 16 of 25 passes for 150 yards in what the Seahawks plan to be his last extensive play this calendar year.
For the three preseason games, Lock completed 38 of 55 passes. That is even with the 69% completion rate Smith led the NFL with last season starting ahead of Lock, making the Pro Bowl and leading Seattle to the playoffs.
Lock this preseason had 460 yards passing in the three games, with three touchdowns. Most important to gain Carroll’s and the team’s trust: He stayed out of bad plays that caused the Broncos to give up and him, and Carroll to call Lock like “a gunslinger” last year. Lock threw only one interception and took just one sack in three games this month.
In a word, these preseason games for and about Lock were: Reassuring.
“These were huge, huge for me,” Lock, the former Denver starter, said. “I wanted to show not only to the players on the team but also myself that I can go out there and do this.
“I am confident in who I am as a quarterback. ...I feel confident going into the season that if something were to happen (to Smith) I would be ready to roll.”
Carroll agreed.
“The whole idea here was to get him ready to play football (in real games),” Carroll said. “I feel 100% solid that he’s ready to go.
“Now, he has to prepare every day like his day...I’m going to be on him hard about that.”
Lock’s one touchdown Saturday was to the relentless Bobo. The undrafted rookie likely cemented his unlikely place on the initial 53-man roster.
Among the NFL’s leading receivers this preseason entering Saturday, Bobo caught his second touchdown pass in three games. It came on a third down in the second quarter, against a Packers blitz.
Lock lofted a perfect pass over the defensive back. Bobo’s over-the-shoulder catch in the end zone while falling down got Seattle back from a ragged beginning to within 9-7.
The former Duke and UCLA wide receiver from suburban Boston — he was wearing a Celtics basketball T-shirt after Saturday’s game — acknowledged the “Bobo Bandwagon” that is growing across the Pacific Northwest.
He got so valuable, by the second half Saturday Carroll and Seahawks shut him down, veteran-starter style, to eliminate the possibility of losing him to injury.
That alone could signal he’s on the 53.
“It’s been really cool for me, really cool for my family and friends to see some of that,” said Bobo, who added he needs to clean up his run blocking. “I’m very grateful, honored, to have some of the 12s jump on the ‘Bobo Bandwagon.’
“I’m honored that folks think I am worthy of their praise.”
Easop Winston’s bid
Lock and Winston, who threw and caught for a touchdown in the first preseason game two weeks ago, connected three more times to spark Seattle into the lead in the fourth quarter.
Winston was alone for a 30-yard completion to begin a drive from the Seahawks’ 11-yard line. Winston caught an 11-yard pass from Lock. The biggest play was when Lock got the press, man coverage he wanted but Green Bay rarely used Saturday. Winston blew past his cover man off the snap then ran down the right sideline to catch Lock’s perfectly lofted ball for 33 yards to the Green Bay 2.
SaRodorick Thompson ran it in from there and got a two-point conversion catching a pass from Lock. That put Seattle ahead 15-12 with 6 1/2 minutes left.
Walker, the lead runner in sneakers and sweatpants under his jersey watching the game, was the first Seahawk off the sideline to congratulate Thompson for giving their team its first lead.
At the beginning of this week, Winston was coming off injury and a game missed. But with his three catches for 74 yards in the clutch Saturday plus injuries to Dareke Young and Cody Thompson with the suspension of Dee Eskridge for the first six games, Winston may be too valuable to risk through waivers onto Seattle’s practice squad Tuesday.
Winston may be on the active roster.
“I think I put my best foot forward,” he said outside the locker room at Lambeau Field. “That’s all I could do at the end of the day, and live with the results.”
But then former Seahawks draft pick Alex McGough hit Jadakis Bonds for a 52-yard pass around Seattle’s deep reserve cornerback Benjie Franklin. That set up Green Bay’s go-ahead touchdown with just under 2 minutes left.
Third-string rookie quarterback Holton Ahlers completed a pass to Tyjon Lindsey to get the Seahawks to the Packers 12-yard line with a 19 seconds remaining. But Ahlers threw an interception into two Packers on one Seahawk at the goal line to end the preseason.
Carroll said he replaced Lock with Ahlers for the final 2-minute drive because he wanted the rookie to get that experience, to reward him for his effective training camp — and because Ahlers, a native of Greenville, North Carolina, had his dad at Saturday’s game.
All reserve starters
Smith did full warmups pregame in cleats with his helmet on. But immediately after the Seahawks came out of the tunnel to begin the game, Smith was standing in running sneakers without his helmet and a towel over his head shielding him from the Wisconsin rain.
The Seahawks’ starting offense at Green Bay was Lock, running backs DeeJay Dallas and Zach Charbonnet in I formation, Bobo and fellow undrafted rookie Matt Landers at wide receiver, Colby Parkinson the tight end, Stone Forsythe at left tackle, Greg Eiland at left guard, rookie Olu Oluwatimi the center, rookie Anthony Bradford at right guard and Jake Curhan at right tackle.
None of those players are in Seattle’s plans to be starters in the opener against the Los Angeles Rams Sept. 10.
Only perhaps two of the approximately 40 guys who played on defense Saturday are guys the Seahawks will play regularly when the games are real.
The defensive starters included Tre Brown and Mike Jackson at cornerback. One of them may begin the season as the starter opposite Riq Woolen. That is, if top rookie Devon Witherspoon isn’t full healthy from his hamstring injury or is playing nickel.
The other starters on defense Saturday for Seattle: Joey Blount and Coby Bryant at safety, Artie Burns as the fifth, nickel defensive back, rookie Derick Hall, Tyreke Smith, Devin Bush and Patrick O’Connell at linebacker, and Matt Gotel from Lakes High School next to Myles Adams on the interior defensive line.
Bush played deep into the third quarter. If that doesn’t tell you the former first-round pick by Pittsburgh the Seahawks signed to a one-year deal this offseason is not in the coaches’ plans at inside linebacker and it’s going to be Bobby Wagner with the recently returning Jordyn Brooks to begin the season, nothing will.
Bush got hurt making a tackle covering a punt late in the third quarter. Trainers helped him off the field. Carroll said he has a concussion.
Jordan Love vs. Seahawks reserves
Basically, the Packers kept Love in this exhibition long enough for him and the offense to feel good about Green Bay’s new era at quarterback entering the season.
Love, replacing departed Aaron Rodgers as Green Bay’s quarterback this season, went 0 for 3 on Seattle’s reserve defense on the game’s initial drive. But Blount, coming off an injury last week, gifted the Packers a first down when he celebrated his pass break up on the Green Bay sideline.
Seattle’s reserve defense gave the Packers’ starting offense the field position to a field goal on Green Bay’s first possession.
Blount, injured last week, made a great defensive play on the pass break up--then got flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct doing the Rodgers’ StateFarm Insurance Discount DoubleCheck belt move to the Packers sideline where he made the play.
Carroll said he didn’t fault the 24-year-old for the move, since he knows Blount grew up watching Rodgers do it in this stadium during games on television.
“It kind of cracked me up,” Carroll said of Blount’s stunt.
Jackson broke up Love’s third-and-long pass, on a slant pattern, to get the Seahawks’ defense off the field that first drive. The Packers settled for the 43-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead on Seattle’s reserves.
Later in the opening half, Jackson allowed his fourth completion for a first down on a third and fourth down the last two games.
The Packers continually targeted him, with success. On Seattle’s third defensive series late in the first quarter, Jackson got beaten by 5 yards on wide receiver Christian Watson’s shoulder move and go route. Love’s underthrown pass gave Jackson the opportunity to get back into the play for the pass breakup instead of a 40-yard gain--or a Packers touchdown.
All the targets of him is why Jackson had seven tackles with two passes defensed into the fourth quarter.
Asked to assess how Jackson and Brown played Saturday, Carroll said: “I have to watch the film.”
Positives
Rookie sixth-round pick Jerrick Reed had the best day of his first NFL summer. The safety from New Mexico, who was born in K.J. Wright’s hometown of Olive Branch, Mississippi, raced to his right to break up a deep out route on Packers’ third down to get the Seahawks defense off the field early in the third quarter.
Reed ended Green Bay’s next possession by being the only Seahawk along the line of scrimmage not fooled by backup quarterback Sean Clifford’s fake handoff on third and 1. Reed dumped Clifford for a 4-yard loss. That reinforced Reed should make the 53-man roster, for depth and insurance behind starters Quandre Diggs and Julian Love, and Bryant’s recent move from nickel corner to safety. The team is still awaiting safety Jamal Adams’ to-be-determined return from a torn quadriceps tendon.
Burns played nickel because of injuries. The former Steelers first-round pick was all over Lambeau Field. He had a tackle behind the line, a pass breakup, a fourth-down tackle for a turnover on downs in the first half — and multiple post-play celebrations.
He also missed a sack when he blitzed free up the middle in on Love, but leaped instead of tackled the quarterback. Love simply jogged around Burns’ weird jump for a 5-yard gain instead of a 10-yard loss.
Does Burns have a place at the most talented and crowded position on the team, cornerback?
Coaches will point out on film undrafted rookie nose tackle Jacob Sykes running up field hustling to stop the screen pass receiver short of line to gain to get Seahawks’ defense off the field on third down in the third quarter. Sykes has likely earned at least a practice-squad place, particularly because the defensive-tackle position is so thin.
Causes for concern
The causes for concern remain Jackson’s sudden troubles after a strong training camp, the run defense and quality depth on the offensive and defensive lines.
The Packers rushed 44 times for 165 yards.
On offense, reserve Forsythe was again slow at right tackle.
If any starters get hurt on the offensive and defensive lines, the Seahawks appear to be in particular trouble against an NFL that will test what was the league’s 30th-ranked run defense last season.
Expect Seattle to sign a veteran defensive tackle that becomes available among league cuts Tuesday.
This story was originally published August 26, 2023 at 12:59 PM.
