Seahawks news: Richard Sherman, KJ Wright, Dre'Mont Jones, and Evan Brown

The Seattle Seahawks kick off their run of preseason games beginning Thursday against the Minnesota Vikings at 7 pm PT at Lumen Field. We might not see many starters play, or if they do play it likely won't be for very long. There's no risk of exposing players to potential injuries.

We still will probably learn about some players against the Vikings, though. Will edge rushers Derick Hall and Boye Mafe continue to shine? Will Drew Lock look OK to backup Geno Smith?

We have learned in the last few days who Seattle might be thinking of as definite starters for Week 1. This is based on the resp players have gotten in recent practices, plus the unofficial depth chart that was released. In fact, let's start there.

Seahawks likely have made Evan Brown the starter at center

My guess, after the Seattle Seahawks chose Olu Oluwatimi in the fifth round, was that he has the smarts, strength, and drive to win the starting center position before Week 1 of the regular season. I am happy to be right about 20 percent of the time (I hope!) and I admit that I was wrong about Oluwatimi starting. He likely will be the starter one day, but if the season were beginning this weekend then Evan Brown would be the guy snapping the ball to Geno Smith.

For much of the last week in practice, and probably in Seattle's first preseason game which happens on Thursday, Brown has taken the first-team reps. The positive side of this doesn't seem to be that Oluwatimi hasn't been good, but that Brown has been better. Brown was good at center in 2001 for the Detroit Lions so maybe Seattle trusts his experience to begin the season, but he's been physically good enough to start.

One would have to assume based on how Seattle's been using Brown lately that the offensive line is pretty much set now heading into the season. Charles Cross will be the left tackle, Abraham Lucas will be at right tackle, Damien Lewis will be the left guard, Brown at center, and then Phil Haynes at right guard. But again, to put another positive spin on this, while that might be the starting group, the depth is very solid with Oluwatimi, Anthony Bradford, and others.