5 winners and losers from Seattle Seahawks 2023 training camp Week 2
By Lee Vowell
We are now nearly two full weeks into Seattle Seahawks training camp and the first preseason game is on Thursday. We might have learned more from training camp and Seattle's mock game last week than we will from the first preseason game, however. Preseason games are more for the guys trying to make the roster than who will be starters.
For instance, Drew Lock has looked really good this training camp, but he isn't going to be a starter. Geno Smith will be the Seahawks quarterback for at least 2023. But watching Lock in the preseason games will tell us how much he has learned about offensive coordinator's Shane Waldron's system.
But in week two of Seattle's training camp, the players wore pads for the first time, some injury updates were noted, and some key players returned. If nothing else, we are one week closer to real games beginning. But here are some winners and losers for the Seahawks this past week.
Winner No. 1 - Seattle Seahawks edge rusher Boye Mafe
As has been written many times by many different sites, Boye Mafe has been one of the best players in Seahawks training camp so far. I realize that the preseason might be meaningless games, and that the presumed starters aren't going to go long in games, or that teams don't scheme against each other, but Mafe will still be worth watching when he does play.
Does Mafe look simply good or does he dominate? Confidence can be the difference between a player having a breakout season in year two or not and any kind of positive experience can breed confidence.
Mafe got the start opposite Uchenna Nwosu in the mock game for edge rushers, so maybe Seattle is already sold on Mafe being the starter? He came into the league fairly raw - this may be why veteran Bruce Irvin got more reps last year at key moments, plus rookies normally have a tough time acclimating and no one should just how good a player will be based on a player's rookie year - but Mafe seems a lot more polished now. He could even be Seattle's most disruptive player in 2023.