The Seattle Seahawks’ 2024 training camp gets fully underway next week when veterans show up on July 23. Rookies are already in camp and getting the added time needed so that they can hopefully help the team sooner rather than later. But the coaching staff is still new to everyone.
This should make Seattle's training camp even more interesting this year compared to the previous 13 editions. Head coach Mike Macdonald takes over for Pete Carroll and for the first time in 2011, there are no known schemes that the players worked on the previous season. This makes the Seahawks organization a bit of an unknown to themselves and to other teams.
Preseason games will be the first time 12s get to see someone making the final decisions other than Carroll since 2010. This will be exciting, sure, but could also be dangerous. Seattle has several coaches in important positions that have never held those same positions in the NFL before. Seattle has several riddles to solve ahead of Week 1 of the 2024 season, we just don't yet know if the coaches know how to get the answers.
Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald needs to learn on the job quickly
By all accounts, Macdonald is a very smart guy who knows how to streamline his seemingly complex defensive system so that players understand it more easily and more quickly. A player who is on the field play after play cannot afford to think about what he should do, he needs to just see what is unfolding and react. A half-second can make a massive difference between a takeaway or a touchdown for the other team.
All that said, the defense should be OK by early in the season. Macdonald knows what he is doing on that side of the ball as, even though he is just 37 years old, he has been successful in the NFL for a number of years. What he has never done before at any level of football is be a head coach. He will need to think in ways he has not before.
The truth is that Macdonald will learn as much about himself as he does about his team during this training camp. He has never been the leader on the field before. Whatever happens in camp, he will be in charge. If the team isn't as prepared for the season as they normally might, he would only have himself to blame.
Seahawks running back usage
In the last two seasons, as opposed to how the national media normally thinks of Seattle, the offense has not had an aggressively heavy running attack. In fact, in 2023, Seattle threw the ball the fifth-most times per percentage of their offensive plays. The failure to use running backs Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet more limited the offensive efficiency. Thankfully, Ryan Grubb takes over as the offensive coordinator.
Grubb showed in college that he can develop wide receiver routes that makes it more difficult for defenses to figure out who is getting the ball and where, but Grubb also knows how to use the running game to set up the passing game and maximize the productivity of both aspects. Walker and Charbonnet are both talented, and Charbonnet has the size to be a perfect fit in Grubb's scheme.
The question likely won't be whether Seattle will run the ball a bit more in 2024 - they will because they can hardly run the ball less - but which back gets the most carries. That would seem to be Walker based on his experience. Charbonnet might be a close second, however.
Seahawks wide receiver hierarchy
Since 2019, when DK Metcalf entered the league, there has been little mystery over who Seattle's top two wide receivers would be. It was either Tyler Lockett or Metcalf and many times their numbers were similar. Lockett is getting closer to the end of his career while Metcalf is still only 26 years old and his best season might lie ahead of him.
Last year, of course, the Seahawks drafted Jaxon Smith-Njigba. He was solid, especially in the second half of the year, as a rookie, but he needs more targets this year. He is going to help the team for longer into the future than Lockett will simply based on age.
What Seattle needs to figure out is if this year JSN begins to steal much more of Lockett's targets than Metcalf's. If Smith-Njigba is going to be a star in the league that truly begins this season. If he fails to perform as well as hoped, Seattle might need to address their wide receiver group early in the 2025 NFL draft.
Seahawks cornerback depth chart
Before the 2024 draft, Seattle has some fairly simple decisions to make as far as their cornerback group. Then Seattle chose two CBs in the draft and everything is now a bit crazy. As general manager John Schneider is not one to do things by happenchance, there will be a good reason - with a long-term vision - why Seattle took Nehemiah Pritchett and D.J. James.
There is certainly no room at nickelback as Devon Witherspoon is going to hold down that spot for years to come. This means any opening would come at the outside corner spots. Riq Woolen is only two seasons removed from a Pro Bowl appearance and has bulked up this offseason likely to be better against the run. He should earn one spot.
This should mean that four or five players are trying to get the starting spot for one corner position and stick with the team. Mike Jackson and Tre Brown have both started at times and done decently. Artie Burns is more of a backup. Should James or Pritchett make a run to start, one or two of the veterans has to be let go.
Seahawks return game
Due to the new NFL kickoff rules, receiving teams are going to have more chances to have explosive plays. While kickoff teams start on the receiving team's 40-yard line, they cannot get a running start nor can they move until a receiver touches the ball. John Schneider is obviously attempting to find a player or two who can help the team in kickoff returns.
This is probably why Dee Eskridge is still on the roster. Laviska Shenault was signed this offseason more to be a returner than a receiver. The team also signed UFL star Marcus Simms to see how he might be able to help in the return game too.
Now 12s just need to hope one or two of those players proves worthy of a roster spot. Any advantage Seattle can get could make them into a potential playoff team even if that advantage comes from an unexpected player.