Seahawks beat reporter, Corbin Smith, owner and head editor of Emerald City Spectrum, and host of Locked On Seahawks, joined the HawksZone Rundown podcast to discuss Seattle Seahawks players and roster battles poised to shape Seattle’s 50th season.
Smith spotlights under-the-radar talents and key competitions that could define the Seahawks’ 2025 campaign under head coach Mike Macdonald and offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. Coming off a 10-7 record in 2024, with Sam Darnold at QB and rookies like
Grey Zabel joining the roster, camp is buzzing with opportunity.
The center battle pits Olu Oluwatimi against Jalen Sundell, while right guard sees Anthony Bradford, Christian Haynes, Sataoa Laumea, and rookie Bryce Cabeldue competing. At wide receiver, Jake Bobo fights to secure the WR3/WR4 role against Marquez Valdes-Scantling, rookie Tory Horton, Cody White, and Ricky White. Smith believes in Oluwatimi having the inside track to retaining his starting role at center.
“I don’t know that center is going to be a competition,” Smith said. “We’ll see. Oluwatimi played really well if you go back and watch the tape. That’s not taking anything away from Jalen Sundell, because he is a really good athlete—he’s played with Gray Zabel, [there’s] that built-in continuity from their days at North Dakota State. But Oluwatimi, I think people are sleeping on how well he played in the second half last year after Connor Williams abruptly retired.”
On defense, sleepers like Drake Thomas and Ty Okada could shine in Macdonald’s versatile scheme, while special teams hopefuls like Kenny McIntosh and George Holani aim for roster spots. As ever, there is great interest in the undrafted rookies, and Smith sees one name to pay attention to at training camp in preseason.
“I think Drake Thomas right now based on everything that I’ve been told from people in the building,” Smith said, “and this is even dating back to last year when he was coming back from the knee injury, there’s a lot of Drake Thomas fans in that building. I think that he is the number three linebacker right now.
“But the name to keep an eye on is D’Eryk Jackson coming out of Kentucky,” Smith continued. “If he would have been healthy, not only does he get drafted, we might be talking a midday three pick. The fact that he did not get signed coming out of the draft, that stunned me.
“You know, it’s weird how linebackers are evaluated now because Seattle signed Jackson Woodard from UNLV, who I loved. I still am very high on him. You don’t see guys that are undrafted rookies get cut in May and then get claimed off waivers very often, but that happened with Jackson Woodard. Houston swept him up immediately. So, he’s a fine football player, but clearly Seattle loved what they saw from D’Eryk Jackson, who was one of the best coverage linebackers in all of college football last year before he went down with a shoulder injury for the last four games. Injuries have been his biggest issue, but he’s a legitimate low 4.5 guy at almost 240 pounds and he can cover. He is a downhill thumper that likes to hit in the run game, can play sideline to sideline. That to me would be a guy that is the player to keep a really close eye on.
“Just hope he can stay healthy because if he can, I think there’s more upside there than what you have with somebody like Josh Ross, who obviously Mike McDonald knows from his time at Michigan,” Smith concluded. “But he’s not going to be a guy that’s going to be playing defensive snaps for you. He might be a great special teams guy, but why not develop somebody that could play defensive snaps for you and also can play special teams? And Jackson’s a guy that can absolutely do that.”
Don’t miss the camp storylines that could spark Seattle’s season! Go Hawks!
Video (Note: This was recorded before Noah Fant was released by the Seahawks)
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