How Jake Bobo celebrated making Seahawks; what’s with Devon Witherspoon, Darrell Taylor?
How did Jake Bobo commemorate making his first NFL roster as a Seahawks undrafted rookie?
By playing in the rain.
About 20 minutes after about 50 of the other players on Seattle’s just-formed, initial roster for the regular season practiced outside, Bobo was still on the field Tuesday. He and tight end Noah Fant were running routes and catching passes from backup quarterback Drew Lock.
“More Bobo,” indeed.
Dried captain Bobby Wagner was having a press conference under a tent on the field’s edge while Bobo worked extra.
“When the whole thing started happening in OTAs (spring practices), guys were like, ‘Oh, wait ‘til the pads come on.’ And then it started happening when the pads came on,” Wagner said of Bobo’s surge from having no expectations this spring — “none,” he told The News Tribune last week — to one of the chosen Seahawks.
“Then we get to the game (in the preseason), each challenge he just stepped up to the plate more and more, and did a really, really good job,” Wagner said.
“I’m happy for him, excited for him. ... It’s pretty awesome. You think you are going to get drafted. You don’t get drafted. You come in here and you have no guarantees, but you work as hard as he does ...”
The free-agent wide receiver from UCLA by way of Duke and his native Massachusetts gets constantly reminded of his 40-yard dash in 4.99 seconds at his UCLA pro day this spring. Whatever. He was one of two undrafted rookies to make Seattle’s initial regular-season roster Tuesday.
The other was already a foregone conclusion. Chris Stoll from Penn State has been the Seahawks’ only long-snapper, unchallenged, since the first organized team activities in May.
On cut day across the league, the Seahawks kept Bobo over waived third-year veteran Easop Winston Jr., who scored a touchdown in the first preseason game and sparked Seattle’s rally into a fourth-quarter lead in the last one Saturday at Green Bay. Bobo also beat out wide receiver Cade Johnson, who played in his first three NFL games last regular season for Seattle, plus undrafted rookie Matt Landers, a 4.37 40 flier, and fellow undrafted rookies John Hall and Justin Marshall.
Quarterback Geno Smith said it was gratifying for him to see his team reward Bobo for his hard work this spring and summer.
“I was so excited for Jake,” Smith said.
“I mean, think about back to OTAs and minicamps when he was making all those plays and everyone was like, ‘OK, what’s he going to do when we put the pads on.’
“Everything we’ve seen from Bobo is what he is. ...He gets separation. He gets open. Catches the ball. He’s just been a great player for us.
“I’m excited for him. I know it was a big moment for him, and I’m looking forward to him growing and getting better.”
Devon Witherspoon not present
Cornerback Devon Witherspoon and safety Jamal Adams were not at the short practice.
Witherspoon, the fifth pick in this year’s draft, has missed weeks with a hamstring injury. Coach Pete Carroll said last week Witherspoon would begin practicing this week. But with the rain and wet grass and the team practicing outside, Tuesday wasn’t the afternoon for Witherspoon’s return.
Witherspoon didn’t make the team’s trip to Green Bay last weekend for the final preseason game. He stayed at the team facility with trainers.
Asked Saturday about whether Witherspoon will play in week one, Carroll said: “That’s what we are shooting for.
“There is the conditioning level that he can maintain and hold up with the workload of practices. We have to figure that out.”
Adams is on a measured pace returning from a torn quadriceps tendon from 11 months ago. He came off the physically-unable-to-perform list last week, which is why he was on the active roster set Tuesday. The plan is for Adams to try morning walk-through practices indoors each day and then eventually progress to full practices in the afternoon. That process is likely to take him past the opener, making it likely his season debut won’t be until weeks two or three, if then.
Jordyn Brooks still on track
Jordyn Brooks was practicing next to Wagner at inside linebacker on the defense.
It was three days after Carroll said he’d be “shocked” if Brooks didn’t play in the opening game against the Los Angeles Rams. Brooks had reconstructive knee surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament seven months ago. The typical recovery for torn ACLs take nine to 12 months.
“He has been running around. He has been practicing all this week and all last week,” Carroll said. “I’ll be shocked if he isn’t ready, but if he isn’t, we aren’t going to play him. If he’s not OK to go and we aren’t confident that he has been able to show everything that he can do, and he feels that as well, we aren’t going to force that at all.
“He just looks so good that I’d be surprised if he is not ready to go.”
Still no Darrell Taylor
Edge rusher Darrell Taylor did not practice. He hasn’t for most of August, since injuring his shoulder. It was in a sling earlier this month.
If the team believes Taylor, who co-led the team with Uchenna Nwosu at 9-1/2 sacks last season, will remained sidelined through September, it could put him on injured reserve with a designation to return. He would then miss a minimum of the first four games.
Only players on the initial 53-man roster are eligible to go on IR and be able to return during the season.
Other injured Seahawks who are candidates for IR now that they’ve made the initial 53: wide receivers Cade Johnson and Cody Thompson and rookie defensive linemen Cameron Young and Mike Morris.
Such moves would come on Wednesday at the earliest. It would clear roster spots for the team to add new players.
This story was originally published August 29, 2023 at 6:11 PM.
