Michael Bowie Getting 1st-Team Reps At Right Tackle

May 10, 2013; Renton, WA, USA; Seattle Seahawks offensive tackle Michael Bowie (73, middle) and guard Ryan Seymour (62) participate in a rookie minicamp practice at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Breno Giacomini missed another OTA with an injured knee. Pete Carroll says it’s nothing serious, but Giacomini wasn’t even present for the workouts. He was in New York getting getting the knee checked out by a specialist.

Rookie Michael Bowie, a 7th round pick, is taking full advantage of the situation. Bowie has been getting all the first team reps in the workouts, and is likely to continue to get them in the team’s mini-camp next week.

This is a situation to keep an eye for a number of reasons.

For starters, if Giacomini continues to have problems with his knee, it could signal that the problem is worse than is currently believed. The Seahawks are already thin at OT, and losing a presumed starter certainly would help that situation.

Plus, Giacomini isn’t exactly entrenched as the starter. His exact value is debated, but there have been multiple reports that the team wanted to draft his replacement in the 2nd round of the draft, but that all their targets were gone before the Seahawks had a chance to pick.

Giacomini is entering the final year of his contract, and is due $3.5 million this season. While the team clearly isn’t dying to get rid of Giacomini, they’d certainly love to save that cap space to be used to re-sign Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas next offseason.

While the team is already thin at the position, it’s much easier to find a backup than it is to find a starter. If Bowie can pass Giacomini on the depth chart, be that through injury or on-field performance, then don’t be surprised if Giacomini is released. The Seahawks would then have to find a new backup, or preferably, re-sign Giacomini to a contract more fitting his talent level.

Of course, all of this matters very little if Bowie can’t show that he’s ready for playing time. So far he’s decently, but he’s also shown he has a way to go. The talent is there, but playing his senior year at a tiny school that no one had heard of before the draft certainly didn’t help things.

This remains a situation that will be interesting to watch. Hopefully things will be much more settled early in training camp.