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.
Former Seahawks CB Richard Sherman joins 'Undisputed'
Earlier this week an announcement was made that Richard Sherman would be joining Skip Bayless on the FOX Sports 1 show, "Undisputed." Bayless and Sherman had a well-known kerfuffle when Sherman was a guest on a show Bayless was on when he was still on ESPN. Sherman was a player for the Seahawks at the time. If Sherman's time on "Undisputed" is anything like that and you like arguments, then you'll likely love Sherm with Bayless.
Sherman won't be a full-time member of the show, but he will appear on 50-100 shows a year along with other rotating guests. There could be a few reasons for this. Maybe FOX Sports didn't want to commit a bunch of money to a full-time partner for Bayless. Or maybe no one wanted to commit themselves to having to deal with Bayless every day? That's just a guess, though.
K.J. Wright helps at practice
Under head coach Pete Carroll, Seattle has welcomed back former players to help their former position groups in practice. Sherman has visited camp a lot over the last couple of training camps. Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril have also been recent visitors. This week, linebacker K.J. Wright came back and did about an hour of coaching with the LB group.
Wright would probably make an excellent coach one day if he ever chose to do that full-time. He was a great communicator on the field. He's also a fantastic communicator on his podcast KJ All Day, if you haven't given it a listen yet.
Seahawks get Dre'Mont Jones back quickly
The Seattle Seahawks have had to deal with a number of players miss training camp due to being banged-up. Many of those players, if they were injured in camp, have been able to return. Some players who were hurt last year, such as Jamal Adams and Jordyn Brooks, are still trying to work their way back. But free agent signee Dre'Mont Jones hurt his toe earlier this week in practice and had to leave the field.
Jones is probably one of the players Seattle can least afford to lose. The team should have a better defensive line this season after letting most of the 2022 players leave and Seattle brining in former Seahawk Jarran Reed and also Jones from the Denver Broncos. Jones is good at getting interior pass rush, but he's also athletic against the run so he should be versatile enough to help the team in many ways.
Thankfully, though, after being unsure how long Jones would be out, he was back the next day like nothing had happened. Jones has looked fantastic in camp so far which makes the signing of him as the most expensive free agent general manager John Schneider has done look very good. Now let's hope his training camp performance translates to the regular season.
Running back Zach Charbonnet has also looked good since returning from hurting his shoulder. He is currently fourth on the unofficial depth chart for the Seahawks, but he will be RB2 by Week 1. Let's just hope he, nor anyone else, gets injured.