Exploring Seahawks possible alternatives to Trevone Boykin

If the Seattle Seahawks should choose to search for a veteran QB to back up Russell Wilson, some interesting possibilities could emerge Saturday when teams have to cut their rosters to 53 players.

For all of the exciting upside Trevone Boykin has put on display this preseason, he looked very much the part of inexperienced, undrafted rookie during an uneven performance against Oakland in the team’s final preseason game.

Boykin was indecisive, inaccurate, and struggled with blitz pickups against the Raiders.

To be fair, that’s typical behavior for a rookie, especially a rookie coming from the bare-bones simplicity of the Air Raid system he ran at TCU. Even the Rams Jared Goff, the first pick overall in this year’s draft, has struggled to make the same transition to running an NFL offense.

But we’re talking about a serious Super Bowl contender here. Are Pete Carroll and John Schneider really comfortable letting Boykin serve as the under study to Wilson? Russell has yet to miss a game in his 4 NFL seasons, but what if he suffered a high ankle sprain on one of his madcap scrambles and had to miss 4-6 games? Could Boykin be good enough to win in his absence?

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It’s questionable.

For this exercise, let’s forget about whether or not Boykin would get through waivers so the team could keep him on the practice squad. If the Seahawks want to upgrade their backup QB spot, a number of intriguing possibilities could become available after cutdown day on Saturday:

AARON MURRAY, KANSAS CITY

The Chiefs are loaded with young QB prospects, too many to keep. Behind Alex Smith they have Tyler Bray, Nick Foles, rookie Kevin Hogan and Murray.

Foles was signed to be the primary backup, and they team is reportedly high on the strong-armed Bray. Hogan should get to their practice squad without any resistance. That leaves Murray, who threw for over 3,000 yards all four seasons at the University of Georgia. The 3rd year pro has looked good in preseason action and has reportedly been shopped around this week. “Shopped around” usually means “will be cut if there are no takers.”

BRYCE PETTY, NY JETS

The former Baylor star was considered the Jets proverbial QB Of The Future when he was taken in the 4th round of last year’s draft. But the Jets then took Penn State’s Christian Hackenburg this year in the 2nd round, and still have Geno Smith behind veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Petty is a big, strong, former Air Raid QB who has looked good in preseason action. In fact he was 4-6 passing for 87 yards and a long touchdown pass in the Jets loss to Philly last night before leaving after taking a hard shot to his shoulder.

If the injury is significant, it would take him off this list. The Jets could then use the injury as a way to stash him on IR while they sort their QB situation out. If he is healthy, however, the Jets could choose to shop Smith instead.

Next: Eyeing a former first round pick....