Wilson and Ifedi looked off at Seahawks’ final open practice

Thank goodness the success of this season isn’t predicated on the Seahawks’ final open practice of training camp.

Overall, both sides of the ball looked good. However, Russell Wilson began the first-team drills going 0 for 3 with no real time to pass the ball. The franchise quarterback will have off-days like this, let’s just hope that it’s not during the season.

Even when given reasonable time, Wilson missed high on several passes. He overthrew a few more and still ended the drill with two touchdowns. Partly this was due to a tipped pass by rookie Tedric Thompson and into the hands of TE Tyrone Swoopes. Tyler Lockett also caught a TD pass from Russell Wilson on a sideline pass that could’ve been called an offensive pass interference over rookie CB Shaq Griffin.

Germaine Ifedi. Man, I feel that I’ve picked on him a lot lately, but when I see something, I say something. Ifedi, again, looked out of place at times. Granted, today he held his own against rookie DT Nazair Jones and picked up a blitzing LB Mike Morgan.

Ifedi’s confusion cost his offense a few times when he thought the play was a running play. He made a small block on the D-lineman and went to pick up a linebacker. Ifedi was subsequently called for an illegal block downfield. He also thought that the snap was on ‘one’ not ‘two’ and cost his team more yards. If I could sum up Ifedi’s performance this summer, I would describe it as ‘confused.’

The new guys

Just before practice started, Mike Garafolo tweeted out that the Seahawks agreed to a one-year deal with CB Tramaine Brock.

Just like Ifedi, Brock held his own in limited action on the field. But off the field you could see him asking teammates and coaches questions about the scheme. Brock was used mainly as a safety to acclimate him to the defensive scheme, although he did play right side cornerback as well.

Linebacker Rodney Butler also signed with Seattle today and was on the sidelines almost all of practice.

Schneider is always doing what he can to add talent to this team. Garafolo also tweeted that Brock was on the Seahawks’ radar since April. I wrote about Brock back then as I thought he could develop into Seattle’s number one DB if they had to trade Sherman away before or during this year’s NFL draft.

Butler is an undrafted inside linebacker who, according to nflScout.com, led the nation with 165 tackles (13.8 per game) in 2016. He’s a long shot to make the team. Butler will need to show his stuff on special teams and quickly.

Strong performances

I was able to attend five of the team’s 12 open practices. Here are who I think had strong performances this summer.

Russell Wilson

Besides today, Russell was sharp, razor sharp. The hope is that this translates into the next level of quarterbacks: into elite status.

Ethan Pocic

Especially after today, I see him starting on the OL very soon. Today he did great picking up not only his man, but a few of the blitzing linebackers to protect the right side. You can see him developing very well so far.

Doug Baldwin

All summer camp, Baldwin has shown off his great route running and pass catching (although he dropped the ball today) which will translate onto the field this season.

Jimmy Graham, Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril, Blair Walsh

Walsh was 2 for 2 today, including a 48-yard field goal. All these players have shown consistently strong performances this summer. Avril looks quicker than he did last year, which is also great news.

Not-so-strong performance

Jermaine Kearse

It isn’t the fact that he is doing poorly. For someone who has a ton of talent behind him on the roster, I thought for sure Kearse would have flashed better this summer.

Alex Collins

Although he had a great day today returning kicks and catching out of the backfield (including a TD pass today), I don’t think Collins’ performances thus far have landed him a roster spot in an already crowded backfield.

Weak performances

The often mentioned Ifedi (which I won’t go into more detail).

Jeremy Lane

He has been a huge question mark for me this summer and today he didn’t do himself any favors. He got beat a few times in the one-on-one drills with Lockett shaking him off the route en route to a 40-yard TD pass in the corner of the end zone. Lane himself shouldn’t be looking in the rear view mirror at the new guys that are on the team.

Other Notes

Frank Clark and Jimmy Graham were back on the practice field today after having a day off yesterday. Luke Willson, Justin Senior, KJ Wright and Michael Wilhoite did not practice today.

Bobby Wagner, Richard Sherman, Doug Baldwin and Earl Thomas all warmed up with the defensive line today, doing footwork drills with the big guys.

Cassius Marsh practiced with the defensive line today (as he has most of camp so far) and did not practice with the linebackers. Some have projected him as a candidate to be a hybrid DL and LB.

Boykin had a great day today, showing more of his arm passing skills than his footwork (as he did in Los Angeles). He threw a nice 35-yard back-shoulder TD to Kenny Lawler.

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RB/WR/KR J.D. McKissic continues to make it harder for the team to release him, as he caught a nice sideline catch from Russell Wilson.

Coach Pete Carroll still has the mouthful of gum that he normally gnaws on during the game. Not sure why that was noteworthy but it was in my notes, so I wrote about it.