Seahawks camp: Clark on 1st D; Ouzts issue?

Published 11:15 am Tuesday, August 4, 2026

Bud Clark is getting the Nick Emmanwori treatment from Mike Macdonald.

Clark, the Seahawks’ rookie second-round draft choice that Emmanwori was last year, got his most extensive work yet on Monday in Emmanwori’s job.

Clark was a deep safety next to Julian Love in the starting defense on day eight of training camp. Clark also alternated in with the starting unit in 11-on-11 scrimmaging at the hybrid safety/linebacker Emmanwori was in Seattle’s Super Bowl-winning 2025 season — and will be again whenever Emmanwori returns following his ankle surgery this month.

Clark’s surge into the starting defense Monday came on the next practice after his coach, Macdonald, said the rookie had his best practice yet on Saturday.

Until this past weekend, Clark was almost exclusively practicing with the second-team defense. Ty Okada had been the starting safety deep next to Love. D’Anthony Bell had been in the Emmanwori hybrid spot coach Mike Macdonald uses in extra defensive-back sets, which last season was two-thirds of the time.

Now Clark is alternating with Okada and Bell in both roles on the first unit.

It’s reminiscent of what Macdonald did throwing a ton at Emmanwori this time last year. The 2025 second-round pick kept mastering everything the head coach presented to him, leading him to become a dynamic piece on the league’s best scoring defense last season.

“Bud’s one of those rookies that we are asking a lot of right now. And I’m really impressed with how he’s handling it,” Macdonald said Monday. “It’s not perfect. But how he goes about his business is what we’re looking for. And I think he needs to trust that he’s going to come out of the fog, you know?

“I think it’s important to start building a relationship with those guys and having a feel for the speed of the game with the ‘ones,’ and how we communicate and how we play.

“And he’s doing a good job.”

It’s been a heady week for Clark, the former TCU Horned Frog.

This time last week he was a second-team safety trying to make a splash. He did it in practice last week, intercepting a pass from Sam Darnold over the middle that fellow rookie defensive back Michael Dansby tipped behind him and the intended receiver to Clark, proceeding to pay homage to the legendary Marshawn Lynch on a backward dive into the endzone.

Last week, Clark reconnected with another Seahawks legend, Richard Sherman, on the field at practice. He’d done that during spring practices in May. This time, the NFL Films Hard Knocks cameras caught Sherman dishing advice on coverage techniques to Clark. Hard Knocks had a microphone on Clark for his talk to Sherman.

“He was real about everything I asked,” Clark said of Sherman. “I was on mic, but we talked outside of that.

“He ended up giving me his number.”

Clark flashed a big smile.

“I love it,” he said.

Now Clark is getting his biggest opportunity so far, while Emmanwori makes what Macdonald again said Monday was “positive” progress in rehabilitating from arthroscopic surgery to repair the right ankle he sprained in practice at San Jose State University Feb. 4, four days before Super Bowl 60. Emmanwori rallied to play 70 of Seattle’s 72 defensive snaps as the Seahawks dominated the New England Patriots to win it all.

Emmanwori was signing autographs for fans following practice Saturday with a crutch and a brace over his lower right ankle.

Monday was Clark’s second consecutive practice extensively working on the starting defense in 11-on-11 scrimmaging. It was the first time he’d been used in scrimmages in Emmanwori’s hybrid role.

“It felt amazing,” Clark said of being with the starting unit. “You know, it was moving fast — and I felt like I was moving fast with it.”

Sam Darnold to Rashid Shaheed becoming a staple

The rapidly improving connection between Darnold and wide receiver/kick returner Rashid Shaheed got deeper Monday.

All the way behind Macdonald’s defense.

The speedy Shaheed zipped past Dansby, despite the outside position he had on Shaheed during an 11-on-11 scrimmage, ones versus twos. Dansby appeared to be counting on help inside and deep from Clark at post safety. But Shaheed was too fast for Clark. The veteran ran post the rookie as Shaheed caught Darnold’s perfect pass in stride for a post-route touchdown of about 50 yards.

That speed, on offense and as a kick returner, is why the Seahawks re-signed Shaheed to a three-year, $51 million contract with $34.7 million guaranteed this offseason.

“Yeah, it was good we got it thrown over our head, finally. So that was a good wakeup call for us on defense,” Macdonald said.

“But that’s definitely a point of emphasis after this first week, is trying to get ‘Sheed’ the ball in some of those deeper targets.”

It’s a pass Darnold and Shaheed weren’t connecting on nearly as smoothly last season. Shaheed did not join the team until midseason, in early November in Seattle’s trade with New Orleans. Darnold underthrew Shaheed often late last season, including on a 51-yard connection early in the NFC championship against the Los Angeles Rams in January.

“It’s time on task,” Darnold said. “Getting a guy in midseason, especially the receiver, it can be tough to build chemistry and build that timing.”

Not now.

Darnold and Shaheed have been working together all offseason, including in the six weeks between the Seahawks’ minicamp in June and training camp beginning July 25. They met and worked out at Saddleback Junior College in Mission Viejo, California, not far from Darnold’s hometown of San Clemente and Shaheed’s roots further down Interstate 5 in San Diego.

“It’s great to be able to throw with the guys in the offseason. More than anything, it’s fun to be able to talk with them more,” Darnold said, “because out here we’re in meetings and stuff. We talk all the time. But a lot of it’s football. To be able to spend time with them off the field and chat about what’s been going on this offseason and get to know the person more was awesome.”

It’s hard to not notice the vast improvement in the connection between Darnold and Shaheed.

“There’s way more banked reps underneath (their) belts,” Macdonald said. “I think both guys are in a really good place.”

So what will this mean when the games get real beginning Sept. 9 against New England in the NFL’s kickoff game?

“Again, a challenge of this camp is: How far can we take it?” Macdonald said. “How far can we take that relationship? How far can we take his route tree? How great of timing can we create with those two?”

Rashid Shaheed with Tory Horton

Second-year receiver Tory Horton is healthy again following surgery in February to insert a metal rod to set his broken shin. He practiced for the seventh time in eight camp days Monday, and for the fifth consecutive practice in 11-on-11 scrimmaging. These are his first practices since the injury ended his rookie season last November.

The Seahawks’ plans for this season include Shaheed and Horton on the field together to use their speed to stretch defenses down the field. That in theory will open the rest of the field to NFL Offensive Player of the Year Jaxon Smith-Njigba, two-time Super Bowl-champion receiver Cooper Kupp, emerging star at tight end AJ Barner and even rookie running back Jadarian Price to catch Darnold’s passes in more space.

Macdonald says the challenge for any defense having to combat Shaheed’s and Horton’s speed when they are in the same Seahawks’ spread formation “is a real thing.”

But he also sees it as a challenge for new offensive coordinator Brian Fleury and Seattle’s entire offense.

“But the charge is, whatever personnel group we put out there, you have to be able to be balanced,” Macdonald said. “We’ve gotta have a way to block people and be able to run the ball and have the whole offense at our disposal, no matter who’s out there….so teams don’t pigeonhole us into we’re only going to do one thing when we put a certain personnel group on the field.”

So far, so great for Darnold’s and Fleury’s offense.

Darnold calls Shaheed a “friendly receiver to throw to.”

“He’s fast, so if he’s got a post or a go ball, I know I got to get the ball up and down. We’re up in a hurry,” Darnold said.

“But yeah, he’s very easy guy to throw to, and we’re looking forward. I know he is, but I am, as well. I’m looking forward to him continuing to get more reps and build that chemistry so that we can see him more often getting catches and doing his thing at the receiver position.”

Robbie Ouzts injury news upcoming?

Fullback Robbie Ouzts missed another practice with an undisclosed injury.

Macdonald didn’t offer specifics. But the coach gave an ominous-sounding foreshadowing of news to come on the Seahawks’ fifth-round draft pick in 2025 from Alabama who had issues with his neck late in his rookie season.

“We’re going to try to find some more information with Robbie’s situation. I’ll just leave it at that right now,” Macdonald said.

“But we’ll have an update for you sooner than later.”

Coach Mitch Johnson and his NBA San Antonio Spurs’ coaching staffs, scouts and general manager have been in Seahawks camp the last two days.

Macdonald and Johnson are both 39 years old. They are both in their first head-coaching jobs. They have talked the past couple days here about how each handled replacing legends in their roles. Macdonald succeeded Pete Carroll in Seattle. Johnson took over after Gregg Popovich retired in San Antonio.

Johnson is from Seattle. He graduated from O’Dea High School. So, yes, Johnson is a big Seahawks fan.

Macdonald laughed and said the NBA coach knows way more about the Seahawks than Macdonald knows about Johnson’s Spurs.

“I mean, I only know ‘Wemby,’ Macdonald said of Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama.

“It’s a people business, on how you align people,” Macdonald said of coaching, be it football, basketball or any sport. “There’s a lot of similarities.”

Extra points

*Former Seahawks Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril and Duane Brown were at practice on the sidelines.

Brown was a 6-foot-4, 329-pound giant who looked bigger than that when he was Seattle’s left tackle from 2017-21. He retired following his second season with the New York Jets, at the end of the 2023 season. He looks svelte now.

Current Seahawks left tackle Abe Lucas said he didn’t recognize Brown when he saw him Monday.

*Wide receiver Jake Bobo and rookie cornerback Julian Neal haven’t practiced in about a week. A source told The News Tribune Bobo may have a hamstring issue. Neal, the third-round pick from Arkansas, also has a leg injury.