Position battles to watch in Seahawks joint practices with Titans

For the first time in decades, the Seattle Seahawks will be participating in joint practices with another team when Seattle travels to Nashville to work with the Tennessee Titans. Both the Titans and Seahawks have new head coaches so the game-like situations will help the head coaches be better prepared for real games.

The practices will also likely be more telling about where each team is as far as implementing new systems than the preseason game will be. The game takes place on Saturday in Nashville. Seattle is not expected to play many starters on Saturday.

This will be completely different than the practices where all the healthy starters are expected to participate in full contact and fully padded practices. The quarterbacks probably will still be off-limits, but no one else will. This could mean a lot of heated arguments between players in the heat of Tennessee.

Three position battles to monitor when the Seahawks hold joint practices with the Titans

Geno Smith versus Quandre Diggs (and maybe Jamal Adams)

For the last several seasons, Diggs and Adams have been playing for the Seahawks, of course. Or, well...Diggs has. Adams has mostly been hurt, of course. While these practices don't matter at all in terms of wins or losses in the standings, one can imagine that Diggs and Adams will play with ferocity against the team that released them ahead of free agency this offseason.

The part that will be interesting is the safeties (this is assuming Adams practices because he has missed a few recently with knee issues) and Seahawks QB1 Geno Smith should know each other's strengths and weaknesses from having practiced against one another in Seattle. This creates a more level playing field that would normally be the case when teams hold joint practices.

Smith did not play at all in preseason Week 1 and will probably not play on Saturday so this is his first real test in new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb's system. He will also have DK Metcalf, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Tyler Lockett to throw to so the practices might be the best preparation for Seattle ahead of Week 1 of the regular season.

Seahawks O-line versus Titans pass rush

In the game between the teams in 2023, Tennessee made life fairly miserable for the Seahawks offense. Tennessee had three sacks and four quarterback hits and limited Seattle to just six points through three quarters. While Denico Autry is no longer with Tennessee and he was a menace in last year's game, Harold Landry and Arden Key still are and each had a sack in Seattle's 20-17 victory.

Seattle won't have two players who could be starters in 2024, center Connor Williams and right tackle Abe Lucas. Plus, right guard is still a work in progress. Left tackle Charles Cross had a good training camp but didn't play in preseason Week 1 versus the Los Angeles Chargers.

In other words, Seattle's offensive line might be under duress from the Titans and limit what the offense does. Or, maybe the O-line holds up well and that might imply Seattle could have a high level of success once real games begin.

Riq Woolen and Devon Witherspoon versus Titans WRs

DeAndre Hopkins won't practice for the Titans, but Tennessee still has a couple of very good receivers, Calvin Ridley and Tyler Boyd. Woolen appears to have overcome his 2023 issues when he struggled with run support and wasn't as good in coverage as he was as a rookie in 2022. Witherspoon was terrific overall in 2023, but he might need to create more turnovers beginning this year.

Beyond the Seahawks' best two cornerbacks, Tennessee's success or failure against Tre Brown and Mike Jackson could decide that position battle once and for all. Brown is expected to start, but if Jackson plays well in game-like situations, he could prove he deserves to not only be on the team but also be a starter.

More Seahawks news and analysis: