By Mike Vorel / The Seattle Times
RENTON — Tyrone Swoopes has come a long way.
Figuratively, and literally.
On Sunday, Oct. 7, the 23-year-old free-agent tight end watched the Seattle Seahawks’ near-upset of the Los Angeles Rams on television from his family’s house in Whitewright, Texas.
At 4 p.m. on Monday, he got the call he’d been waiting for since the Seahawks released him Sept. 1.
In the wake of rising rookie Will Dissly’s season-ending patellar-tendon injury and Nick Vannett’s nagging back issues, the Seahawks signed Swoopes to their practice squad — a place where the converted quarterback spent 15 games in 2017.
Four hours after the phone call, Swoopes boarded a flight to Seattle.
“I just kind of figured it out on the fly,” Swoopes said last Sunday from a cramped locker room in London. “In the panic and the chaos I forgot a lot of stuff, but I made it work.”
So much so, in fact, that the 6-foot-4, 254-pound tight end made his first career start in the Seahawks’ 27-3 victory over the Raiders, also claiming his first career catch on the offense’s opening drive.
“It was just kind of a whirlwind,” Swoopes said of his 23-yard catch-and-run down the seam, which ended at Oakland’s 2-yard line. “There was a lot of stuff in that moment that I was thinking about. I was sitting home watching last week.
“With everything I’ve learned and gone through up to this point, it was a lot of different things. It was fun, though. It was a great moment.”
He punctuated that moment with an emphatic first-down signal, a fitting cap to his first career catch.
“We knew that he knew what he was doing and we knew that we could rely on him,” said George Fant, a former offensive tackle who transitioned into a blocking tight end in recent weeks. “Obviously we threw him the ball and he made a play. I expect to see more of him, and he’s a really good player.”
So, to summarize:
Swoopes traveled 2,166 miles from Whitewright, Texas, to Seattle on Monday.
He traveled roughly 4,800 miles from Seattle to London on Wednesday.
He was promoted to the active roster Saturday, and he traveled 23 more yards inside Wembley Stadium on Sunday.
How’s that for a week at work?
“It’s been really crazy, going from Texas to Seattle and then here,” Swoopes said after the game. “And going from the practice squad to actually playing, there’s just been a lot going on. But it’s been fun. I enjoyed it.”
But is there more fun to be had?
Swoopes’ status is in question coming out of the bye week, with veteran tight end Ed Dickson likely to be activated from the non-football injury list. On Tuesday, coach Pete Carroll said Vannett has “continuing issues that he’s dealing with” but their expectation is that he’ll play against the Lions next weekend as well.
That leaves little room for a former dual-threat quarterback at the University of Texas.
But if he’s needed, Swoopes will (again) answer the call.
“We know Tyrone. We know how good of a player he is. We knew how good he was before he left,” Fant said. “He knows the offense, so when they called him up nobody was worried.”
Even without their presumed preseason tight-end trio of Dickson, Dissly and Vannett, there was little cause for concern inside Wembley Stadium last weekend. Former Washington Husky and Indianapolis Colt Darrell Daniels — whom the team traded for in September — has stepped in and filled the void. Fant — all 322 pounds of him — has proved a serviceable blocker. Even Swoopes did his part with less than a week of preparation.
This wasn’t the tight-end rotation that anyone expected.
But why should that be an excuse?
“I really wasn’t expecting it,” Swoopes said of his sudden return to the Seahawks. “It’s been a lot of traveling, but I enjoyed it out here (in London). It was different and everybody was pretty polite … and the accents are cool. I’d definitely want to come back on a non-business trip.”
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