Seattle Seahawks: Training camp notes from August 3rd
By Keith Myers
After three excellent days from Douglas McNeil, he didn’t stand out today. That doesn’t mean that he did anything bad, there just wasn’t anything that would make us stand up and take notice.
Instead, it was Chris Matthews who stood out, and not just because he’s so damn tall. Matthews made a number of big catches, using his size to give the DBs fits.
If you’re comparing last year’s camp to this one, Matthew is easily the most improved player on the field. A year ago he was lost and did not look like an NFL receiver. Today he looked like a guy who should be starting at split end.
One last receiver note: I’m not sure how anyone is supposed to cover Tyler Lockett. The defensive backs look like they’ve been asking the same question.
The guy is so quick. Pete Carroll said there’s a “suddenness” to him and compared him to Doug Baldwin. It’s an apt comparison, though Lockett has more straight-line speed. T.Y. Hilton might be a better comparison overall.
I expected the defense to catch up to Lockett a bit now that everyone is wearing pads. He’s one of the smallest guys on the field, and Seattle’s physical defenders should be able to push him around.
That didn’t happen today. Instead, Lockett seemed to always be open. That is an unexpected and very positive development for the Seahawks.
Obligatory O-line battle update:
Lemuel Jean-Pierre got more than half the reps with the 1s today at center. Drew Nowak got the majority yesterday, but then after practice Pete Carroll said LJP would be the starter if the team had a game this week.
Is that meaningful, or is it just making up for LJP getting fewer reps yesterday? I have no idea. We won’t be able to tell that until Wednesday or Thursday.
Alvin Bailey is the starter at LG. That appears obvious at this point, though it was very interesting when this happened:
Sokoli getting a long look at left guard today. Lots of work with first team.
— Bob Condotta (@bcondotta) August 3, 2015
Pete Carroll said yesterday that the team needed to shorten the rotation at center to make sure guys were getting enough reps in before the preseason starts. That Sokoli is the odd man out there isn’t a surprise.
That he jumped in at LG with the 1s ahead of Tyler Poole is a surprise. Again there is no way to tell what, if anything, this means. We won’t have an answer to that until later in the week when we see how the rotations shakes out.