4 Seattle Seahawks on the roster bubble at the start of 2024 training camp

The Seattle Seahawks have a lot to learn in 2024 training camp. Is Mike Macdonald ready to lead a team for the first time as a head coach? Are Seattle's second-year players ready to make bigger impacts this season?

Devon Witherspoon and Jaxon Smith-Njigba were good as rookies - Witherspoon better than JSN - but both were taken in the first round in 2023 for a reason. They are supposed to be great contributors for several seasons. They need to be better this year than last and likely better in 2025.

There is no question that they will be on the 53-man roster, though. So will players such as DK Metcalf and Geno Smith. Some guys who have played important reps for Seattle over the last couple of seasons might not be, though. Four players who should be worried about making an income this coming football season are as follows.

Four Seattle Seahawks who might not have jobs in Week 1 of the 2024 season

Cornerback Mike Jackson

Jackson is in a weird in-between. He bounced around the league after being taken in the fifth round of the 2019 NFL draft by the Dallas Cowboys. He found a home with Seattle in 2021 and then became a full-time starter in 2022 where he proved he was good in coverage and decent in run support. He did not create turnovers, though. In 915 career coverage snaps, he has just one interception.

If the season were to start tomorrow, Tre Brown would probably be the starter at one cornerback spot with Riq Woolen and Witherspoon at the other two spots. Brown was given the chance to start last year as well, but he struggles against tall receivers. If Jackson were only battling Brown, he might be fine.

The Seahawks, however, chose Nehemiah Pritchett and D.J. James in the 2024 draft, and veteran Artie Burns is still on the team. Seattle might want to go with youth on the roster and keep Pritchett and James. This would mean Jackson probably leaves.

Nose tackle Cam Young

Young has only been with the team a season, but his lack of position flexibility might hurt him. He appears to strictly be a nose tackle. Mike Macdonald likes to move players around to disguise his fronts and Young cannot truly be moved around.

Young is also a bit small for his spot. He is a bit over 300 pounds - big enough for a human being, of course, but not for an interior defensive lineman - and does not have the frame to add a lot more weight. Jarran Reed was the nose tackle last season, and Seattle chose Byron Murphy II in the draft. Young might be the odd-man-out.

Defensive back Coby Bryant

Bryant's issue is that he is a jack-of-all-trades but a master of none. He has spent time starting at nickelback but he isn't going to do that with Witherspoon on the team. Bryant isn't quite good enough to be a starting safety either. He lacks the elite speed to play free safety and doesn't have the girth to play strong.

Seattle tried Bryant out at safety last season in training camp. He appeared in only six games after dealing with a toe injury during the middle of the season, but according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Bryant graded horribly in both coverage and run defense in 147 total snaps. In his career, he has allowed 62 of the 81 passes thrown his way to be completed. Not good.

Edge rusher Darrell Taylor

Taylor probably makes the team, but he has to show the new coaching staff that he can be decent against the run. In his three seasons of playing in the league, he has been inconsistently productive at pressuring quarterbacks but terrible at tackling running backs. The question is whether the $3 million that Seattle would owe him this season is worth it.

Seattle has two solid starters at edge rusher, Boye Mafe and Uchenna Nwosu. Derick Hall was bad as a rookie but the Seahawks are probably not going to give up on him easily. Taylor might have an issue if undrafted free agent Nelson Ceaser balls out in camp. Ceaser was productive in college, many scouts had a draftable grade on him, and he is big enough - 6'3" and 265 pounds - to play in the league.

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