The Seattle Seahawks welcomed fans into Lumen Field for the first time since, well, the Super Bowl parade, as thousands upon thousands packed the lower bowl for a family day out at Football Fest. Marshawn Lynch and Cliff Avril were there and the fans loved it, many footballs and t-shirts were given away, and plenty of kids got to see their favorite players up close and get their autographs.
It’s the Seahawks’ penultimate public training camp for the year, exactly a week out from their preseason opener
against the Dallas Cowboys. Exactly a month from now is when the season starts and Seahawks fans will get to witness their second Lombardi Trophy banner unveiled.
Field Gulls completed its week at Seahawks training camp by watching from the top of Section 136. ‘Hard Knocks’ was filming on the field, while we were not allowed to even have our phones out for any sort of use, filming or otherwise, during the team portion of practice. I’m once again emptying my embarrassingly illegible notebook with my observations (with credited observations to Field Gulls’ Bryce Coutts and Josh Hite).
The running game showed some explosiveness
No Jadarian Price? No problem. Emanuel Wilson, George Holani, and even Velus Jones Jr all had at least one explosive run on the day. Wilson has really stood out for good camp performances this week, and while I’ve been resistant to the idea of Jones having much of a roster chance, there may yet be some hope as a gadget WR/RB hybrid. In our post-game recap video, Josh Hite likened Jones to JD McKissic and I think that’s a decent Seahawks comparison.
While we did see some shotgun and pistol looks in the run game, under center ruled the day. I didn’t really think too much about the Wilson signing as being impactful, but Wilson’s ability to just get north whether he has exceptional speed or not is a plus.
Elijah Arroyo showcased his skills
The second-year tight end wasn’t all that impactful as a rookie, plus the injuries slowed down his progress. Under Brian Fleury, Arroyo could thrive. We’ve seen him split out wide several times like he’s a traditional X receiver, and his blocking has looked noticeably improved. This touchdown grab in the back corner of the end zone against Julian Love was an exquisite play between him and Sam Darnold.
Arroyo’s training camp performances come at a time when A.J. Barner has been practicing but doesn’t seem 100 percent. Mike Macdonald all but indicated that Barner is still recovering from offseason surgeries, and on Saturday Barner did not catch a pass and uncharacteristically lost out on a couple of pass protection blocks.
A.J. Finley had the most feel-good moment of Football Fest
When A.J. Finley tore his ACL at last year’s Seahawks Football Fest, I had full view of the unfortunate end to his season. In the “simulated overtime” session that marked the start of 11-on-11 practice, Finley seized on Sam Darnold’s ill-advised throw to Jaxon Smith-Njigba and picked off the pass. Andre Fuller had coverage underneath and Finley was there over the top to make the grab, which was an awesome moment for someone who’s been with the second-team long enough that he has played his way into the conversation of making the roster.
The defense had the slight edge over the offense
Sam Darnold wasn’t bad but he wasn’t at his complete sharpest. Leaving aside the interception that was against the second-team defense, Darnold was fortunate not to have an out route throw to JSN picked by Josh Jobe, who undercut the route and broke up the pass. He also dropped a snap that resulted in an aborted play and had a pass batted down at the line by Brandon Pili.
During the red zone challenge, Darnold did have a high of that aforementioned TD to Elijah Arroyo, but the right side of the Seahawks offensive line gave up “sacks” on consecutive plays to turn a red zone “possession” unto 4th and 24. Byron Murphy II and Uchenna Nwosu had the sacks that derailed the series.
The defensive twos similarly did well against Drew Lock and company, although I’d say that was a little more even. Rashid Shaheed got some run with the twos in a mix-and-match and feasted on a blown coverage for an easy TD, while Lock stared down Tory Horton on a dig route and threw a bad interception to safety Rodney Thomas II. Bud Clark also blitzed and “sacked” Lock in the red zone, although I believe they never blew the whistle on Clark and Rylie Mills just chased him out of bounds anyway. Jalan Gaines was notably working with the twos as part of his impressive camp, while Tyrice Knight once again had several reps as an edge.
The third-team defense did not produce a turnover, but we did see some positive play from Chazz Surratt in run support and Aidan Hubbard through pressuring Milroe into a goal line throwaway.
Brian Fleury’s offense will not be Klint Kubiak’s offense copy-and-pasted
…And frankly, nor should it be. Fleury is his own OC, he’s calling the plays, he’s designing the offense, and his ties to Kyle Shanahan run a fair bit deeper than Klint Kubiak. Based on what I saw on Saturday and at camp on Wednesday and Friday, we should see more condensed formations (even if it’s 11 personnel), motioning of tight ends, and dual running back sets.
The concepts of this offense will more closely resemble Shanahan, and I still think a fullback will be a part of this offense, whether it’s Robbie Ouzts (no update on him despite us seeing him on the sideline, by the way), Brady Russell (likely too small for a FB role), or Brock Lampe (he did practice and had some nice reps).
Rylie Mills had another big day
It’s hard not to gush about Mills. When you see him winning pass rush reps against Abe Lucas and then getting in on a TFL run stop on the opposite side, you wonder what his ceiling truly is.
Mills is strong as hell and wins with his hands so violently, plus he’s shown off a wicked swim move. It seems inevitable that Mills is going to be a major part of the defensive line rotation this season. We’ve discussed Mills to death but forgive me if I’m buying into the hype that Seattle got a second-round talent at a fifth-round price due to his ACL injury at Notre Dame.
Jalen Milroe got the ‘1-on-1’ work
Milroe had his highlights playing with the third-team offense, including a long, lofted 45+ yard touchdown to Montorie Foster Jr (who continues his excellent camp) in 11-on-11. I cannot say that D’Anthony Bell played that particularly well, but Milroe and Foster made it work. Milroe also flashed his speed on a 25-yard scramble later on in practice.
What is noteworthy from the 1-on-1 battles, which mixed OL vs. DL in a blocking rep, RBs vs. LBs on throws in the flat, and WRs/TEs vs. DBs on downfield passing plays, is how Milroe had most (if not all) of the passing responsibilities. That means seeing Milroe throw to Elijah Arroyo, who got low near the goal line for a catch against rookie Bud Clark, as well as a lovely back-shoulder throw to Emmanuel Henderson Jr against Michael Dansby. Slowly but surely, Milroe is developing.
Keep an eye on Mason Richman, Logan Brown, and Chris Paul Jr
Three Seahawks unfortunately left practice a little banged up. Bryce noted that Mason Richman appeared to tweak something during a 1-on-1 rep, was looked at by trainers on the sideline, and did not return for any 11-on-11 work. He’s been getting some run at center and guard throughout camp and has been typically with either the twos or threes.
Brown was holding his right arm after the final play from scrimmage, while simultaneously Chris Paul Jr appeared to injure the lower part of his leg. I think he got rolled up on but we only got one replay and I couldn’t quite make out what happened. Either way, Paul and Brown were both down for a bit and before leaving I think they eventually got back up. Paul just came back from injury so it’d be a bummer if he’s shelved again.
Richman and Brown both being hurt makes things more interesting in terms of the bottom-end OL depth chart competition.
And on that note, my week in Seattle is over and it’s time to head back to the Beaver State. That’s a wrap for Field Gulls’ on-site training camp coverage for another year, and who knows? Maybe we’ll cover an actual game at some point down the line.
