Will the Seahawks play their starters against Browns in preseason Week 3?

The Seattle Seahawks play their last preseason game of 2024 against the Cleveland Browns on Saturday. As per normal, Seattle, like most NFL teams, have not played their starters much in preseason games. There really is little point in doing so for long stretches because that only exposes the players to potential injuries.

Head coach Mike Macdonald surprised many by playing his defensive starters for two series in preseason Week 1 against the Los Angeles Chargers. LA was playing with a backup quarterback and Seattle's defense overwhelmed him. 12s, of course, hope that happens when the real games begin as well.

The only time fans might have seen most of Seattle's starters play is during the joint practices the team held with the Tennessee Titans ahead of preseason Week 2. In the preseason game, few starters appeared. Again, there was no need.

Will the Seahawks play their starters in preseason Week 3 against the Cleveland Browns?

Still, getting some preseason work in could be beneficial for helping starters prepare for the regular season. In the Seahawks first two preseason games, the offense would have faced two defenses that closely resemble Seattle's defensive scheme. In other words, the alignments and looks that Geno Smith and his friends would have faced would not have been much different than what they saw in practice.

The Browns run a completely different defensive scheme so playing the offensive starters might be a smart move. Now, here is the good part. According to Macdonald, most of Seattle's presumed offensive and defensive starters will play against Cleveland. The coach did not give any indication of how long the starters would play other than to say that those decisions would be based on a case-by-case basis.

Even if just for a series or two, the game will appear to be a regular season game as Cleveland will also be playing their starters. Neither team will scheme against the other, and this will still be a contest that mostly features backups, but at least we will get a glimpse of some real situations.

The Seahawks and Browns will play on Saturday, August 27, at 7 pm PT at Lumen Field. After that, 12s only have to wait two more weeks before real games begin.

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