Sam Darnold threw two beautiful passes over defenders, right onto his receivers’ hands.
Both were incomplete. The receivers did not get both feet down inside the sideline boundary.
The offensive line had a potpourri of blockers on the first-team line: Jalen Sundell then Olu Oluwatimi at center. Christian Haynes alternating with Anthony Bradford at right guard. Then, Sundell at right guard. Haynes at center.
That starting line is also incomplete, to say the least.
The most encouraging, if not conclusive, aspect of the first day of Seahawks training camp Wednesday: Kenneth Walker.
The lead running back’s prove-it year began with a prove-it day. He proved to be full go.
Walker fully participated, and showed he is fully in the middle of new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak’s plans. This, after Seahawks coaches and the medical staff limited him during offseason practices in May and June. That was to preserve their starter at the sport’s most injured, worn-down position.
Walker missed the final weeks of the 2024 season with an ankle injury he got against Minnesota in December. He played in 11 of 17 games last season.
Wednesday, Darnold completed his first scrimmage pass of his first Seahawks camp to…Walker. It was out of the backfield over the middle.
The first play of run-fit drills with that starting offensive line had Walker in offset I formation. He was behind rookie fullback Robbie Ouzts.
When Sundell was at right guard on the starting offense, the 2024 rookie free agent from North Dakota State ran hard left off one snap. Walker cut right off Sundell’s backside. It was the timing essential to the wide-zone blocking scheme Kubiak is installing for the 2025 Seahawks offense.
The first play of 11-on-11 scrimmaging Wednesday, Walker got the handoff from Darnold as the lone back. He ran behind tight end AJ Barner. Barner is the new number-one tight end after Seattle released Noah Fant last weekend.
Walker also motioned out of the backfield to a wide receiver to catch more passes.
Thirty minutes after practice ended, Walker was still producing. He was at one end of the field, opposite new wide receiver Cooper Kupp and rookie quarterback Jalen Milroe. They were among the last players signing autographs for the season-ticket holders who watched camp’s first drills.
Walker is beginning the final year of his rookie contract, looking primed for what Seattle’s second-round draft choice from 2022 knows is a year that will determine where he plays next year. And for how much.
“Yeah, he looks great. He’s in a great spot, mentally,” coach Mike Macdonald said following the one-hour, 45-minute practice without pads in helmets, jerseys and shorts. “It’s awesome to see him do all the things that we wanted him to do, from the get-go.
“I know he’s really excited about what’s going on.”
Walker should be pumped. For the first time in his four NFL seasons, he has a Seahawks offensive coordinator and play caller his head coach hired with the explicit mandate to run the ball. Run it better than Seattle’s 29th-ranked offense last season.
“First and foremost,” as Darnold said of this remade Seahawks offense running the ball.
Kubiak’s roots in the outside-zone running game span four decades. They come from his father, Gary, the former top assistant for coach Mike Shanahan’s 1990s Super Bowl-champion Denver Broncos. Klint Kubiak has been the offensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints (2024) and Minnesota Vikings (2021).
Kubiak, 38, uses a fullback as much or more than any NFL play caller. The Saints used one 25% of the time last season.
Seattle didn’t even have a true fullback on its roster in 2024.
Walker’s task this training camp: Perfect the new timing of outside zone. The system requires linemen to “run off the ball,” the phrase Kubiak and Macdonald recite like mantra. The blockers don’t block the first man they see but run laterally, to an assigned area. The ball carrier must time his run to and cut off those blockers quickly. The linemen aren’t at the point of attack long before they move on to blocking linebackers down the field.
Walker has often hesitated, waited and changed directions in the backfields that have been full of opponents through Seattle’s porous line the last few seasons. That — the hesitation and Seattle’s porous offensive line — must end for Kubiak’s new offense and thus the Seahawks to succeed in 2025.
“I think Ken could fit in just about any style,” Kubiak said. “He’s a talented player.
“So I’m really excited about him in this zone scheme. But I’ve seen Ken, in all schemes, play really good football. I’ve seen the guy catch the ball well out of the backfield, which I think is really important for our backs that we utilize them.
“Obviously, whatever we can do to get him touches, throwing him routes out of the backfield, throwing him screens, get the ball in their hands…looking forward to him in this scheme.”
Then, Kubiak added: “We’re going to ask a lot out of him.”
Day one of training camp, anyway, Walker had all the answers.
“Yeah,” Macdonald said, “I mean, great first day of camp.”
Robbie Ouzts takes early lead
After offseason practices and the first training-camp day, Ouzts has the lead over veteran Brady Russell to become the new fullback.
Seattle hasn’t used one of those regularly since Mack Strong for coach Mike Holmgren in the early 2000s.
Ouzts was a 275-pound tight end for Kalen DeBoer and the University of Alabama last season. Wednesday, he was the first fullback ahead of Walker and second back Zach Charbonnet on the first-team offense.
Coaches converted Russell, a tight end and special-teams player the last two Seahawks seasons, to the backfield this spring.
But following practice Wednesday Macdonald was talking about Russell as a tight end.
“I think what Brady brings to the table is he can do fullback stuff, and he can do tight end stuff, and that makes you more multiple on offense and how you can formation stuff,” the head coach said.
“Whether or not Noah was here or not, that’s what Brady brings to the table.”
Changes at tight end
It’s a position that changed a lot this past week.
Sunday, the Seahawks released their number-one tight end from the last three seasons, Noah Fant. He arrived in Seattle as part of the trade of Russell Wilson to Denver in the spring of 2022. He had 50, 32 and 48 catches in his three seasons with the since-traded Geno Smith as Seattle’s quarterback.
That wasn’t enough to justify his contract. Cutting Fant saves the Seahawks $8.9 million against the 2025 salary cap.
“It’s just understood that what we’re trying to achieve as a football team. And we love Noah. We wish him the best,” Macdonald said.
“But we also love the guys that are still here.”
The team now has about $34.9 million to spend under the cap, per overthecap.com. It has Barner, Seattle’s fourth-round pick last year from Michigan and Indiana, as the number-one tight end.
Elijah Arroyo was the team’s second pick of the second round this spring. He was in the slot, outside and inline as a tight end all over formations in the first practice of training camp.
Coaches like veteran 31-year-old veteran Eric Saubert for his blocking as a traditional, in-line tight end. The Seahawks signed the eighth-year veteran and former 49er this offseason.
“They know what’s at stake,” Macdonald said of the tight ends remaining in the wake of Fant’s departure. “And it’s going to be a lot of fun watching that competition at tight end.”
Pressed for explanation on why they released Fant, Macdonald said: “We released him a few days ago. I’m not going to tell you exactly why. There’s multiple reasons.”
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