This is a guest article by Curtis Allen covering training camp on the 26th July
The last camp practice before the pads come on and the hitting becomes real was a spirited one. As with most training camp days there were things to like, things to be concerned about and open questions that only time will settle.
The Quarterbacks
There is no shortage of arm talent on the roster. All three quarterbacks had impressive moments today.
One thing to note from my untrained eye: Watching their throws in warmups and in scrimmages it does appear that all three put a similar arc on the ball when they throw. That can be a nice asset if the team ever needs to swap out quarterbacks during a game. Receivers may not have as big an adjustment to make.
They delivered performances today that unfolded exactly as their positions on the depth chart.
Sam Darnold had an impressive day. How he speaks on the podium, with a calm confidence and clarity of purpose? That is how he practices.
He was as expected in warmups and drills — crisply distributing the ball to his receivers and keeping them in-sync. You can see the chemistry building in real time with Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cooper Kupp and the Tight Ends.
The Red Zone drills were a highlight as Darnold was decisive and made connections often. The Seahawks had tremendous struggles in that critical part of the field last season, so it is good to see some progress there.
However, those drills are receivers vs defensive backs only. No pass rush. Darnold really differentiated himself later in the session with 11-on-11 scrimmages. He had several accurate throws that evaded the pass rush. When called on to execute a quick action, he was masterful. Take the snap under center, play-action to the back, plant his foot in the ground and throw a hard slant. Two of his incompletions in this session were drops by Jake Bobo and Smith-Njigba. They were on slants and they were absolutely on the money.
Drew Lock had a similar performance although slightly less effective. He seems to be showing some of his experience in other systems. He had several throws that highlighted his arm strength and accuracy, and was very good in the Red Zone drills as well. Occasionally, he hesitated in the pocket and waited a bit to make his throws.
This became more of an issue in the full scrimmage. With the Offensive Line still a work in progress, Lock had very little time to scan the field. When he was executing his first read quickly or pivoting to his checkdown he was effective. If he hesitated he was in trouble. If the running game is working as we hope, Lock can come in for a stretch and provide effective Quarterback play with an adjusted game plan.
Jalen Milroe is still an exceptionally talented, unpolished project. He had a couple of throws that had the crowd oohing and aahing, including a 35-40 yard beauty to Smith-Njigba in the end zone in drills that he could not quite come down with in-bounds.
The arm talent is absolutely there. The rest of the package still needs developing.
In the scrimmage, Milroe had a simpler playbook than the other two Quarterbacks (they called a run to start of his series each time) and in the passing game struggled to get his reads and progressions worked through before the pass rush closed in. More than once, he made poor, desperate throws to try to make something happen from the pocket.
Here is what I loved about Milroe though – as his offense rotated to the sideline, instead of standing there watching the other offenses work (he can watch the video later), he got right back to throwing the ball on the side. Not a moment of practice time wasted. Little things like that demonstrate the work ethic that Mike Macdonald has talked about.
Other Notes
— The team is using all kinds of interesting combinations along the Offensive Line in practice. John Benton is working hard in the drills to keep his players focused on fundamentals. I saw him stop drills more than once and give instruction. He also has drills with two players lined up next to each other. Seeing how they mesh together and build chemistry.
— When will the Seahawks settle on their starting Offensive Line? Mike Macdonald wants it locked sooner rather than later. My guess would be we will know much more when the pads come on this Monday. That is the true test there.
— The Tight End group is looking very promising. Elijah Arroyo today looked especially good. He spent a bunch of time with the starting offense and had some athletic catches. It would seem they feel very comfortable without Noah Fant. It also appears that trying to convert Brady Russell to a Fullback is over. He worked with the Tight Ends and had several good catches in the Red Zone drills.
— Robbie Ouzts had great lead blocks on a couple of scrimmage runs.
— The defense looks fantastic. Several players made impact plays in scrimmage. Boye Mafe easily got around Charles Cross and chased Darnold until he threw the ball away. Julian Love exploded through the line on a running play and blew it up for a loss. The Offensive Line was regularly overwhelmed and if the Quarterback did not have the ball out in 2.5 seconds, he was in trouble.
— Riq Woolen and Devon Witherspoon regularly traded spots on each side of the defense. Seeing Woolen at Left Cornerback after his entire career on the Right side takes some getting used to.
— Steven Sims took every kick return rep with explosion and purpose. He is out to win a job.
Rob, Robbie & Adam did a live stream discussing a variety of Seahawks topics today. You can watch it below:
