Preseason games are meaningless as far as who wins and who loses. Where they matter is helping decide roster battles, though. The Seattle Seahawks might have made up their minds on most roster spots, but a couple could be decided when Seattle plays the Green Bay Packers.
But for 12s, the game just got a lot more interesting. The team announced that starting quarterback Sam Darnold will sit out the game, and so will backup Drew Lock. This means rookie Jalen Milroe will play the entire game. He might not be going up against Green Bay's first-team defense, but reps are reps.
Milroe will make mistakes in the game, and one almost hopes he does. He is still raw in many ways, and needs to show he can make an error and quickly adapt. No matter if it's the first-team Packers or third-team, that previous fact is unchanged.
3 things to watch for Jalen Milroe as the Seahawks close out their preseason against the Packers
Jalen Milroe will do one thing horribly and two things well
In his final season at Alabama, the quarterback was terrific on long throws and designed runs, but on short and intermediate tosses, he was lousy. How much has his technique changed since he came into the NFL? The coaching staff raved about his growth from minicamp to training camp, so his football IQ is high.
The hope is that the Seahawks let Milroe have full run of the offense. That should be the expectation because why limit him? He could throw an interception, but he might make a couple of plays that make one believe, "This guy is a future QB1."
Milroe will have more yards rushing than passing
This is not meant to be disrespectful to the quarterback, but more the design of the offense. We can assume Seattle is going to run the ball a lot more in 2025 under new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, and Milroe should be used to do that quite a bit versus the Packers.
In fact, seeing how he does on designed runs might imply how much he is used in special packages during the season. He came in in preseason Week 2 and was used on a short-yardage run during the series Darnold played, but that was easy and straightforward. Milroe should have chances to be more creative versus Green Bay.
Nehemiah Pritchett will claim his spot on the roster
This one isn't Jalen Milroe-related, of course. Other key roster battles will be aplenty. Pritchett was terrible as a rookie, but he's had a very good training camp and preseason. Maybe he just needed a year in the NFL and in head coach Mike Macdonald's system to learn.
He isn't going to be a starter anytime soon, but he could be a valuable backup. The final corner spot could come down to Pritchett and veteran Shemar Jean-Charles, but Pritchett will get an interception early against the Packers and claim his roster spot.