RENTON — The Seattle Seahawks’ offseason program has gone so well that coach Mike Macdonald moved up mandatory minicamp by one week and slashed the third and final practice as a reward for his players’ hard work.
“Our guys did such a great job this offseason in phases 1 through 3,” Macdonald said Tuesday afternoon during a post-practice news conference. “Felt like it was a good time, good changeup to knock this week out of the park. Rookies get to stick around for a little bit longer. Then give ’em a chance to get a break, get their bodies, get away and then come back better than ever for training camp.”
Tuesday’s practice was the first of two minicamp sessions this week before the veterans break for the summer. Here are three takeaways from the day of action.
Ownership of the operation
Macdonald is the defensive play caller, and he was hired in large part because of his scheme, which keeps offenses guessing with pressure from all over the place and coverage disguises. But Macdonald also knows the scheme is only as effective as the players tasked with executing it. So, the players can take ownership of the defense to be at their best.
“It’s their defense, and you can feel that,” Macdonald said. “When you walk into the defensive meeting room, it’s not just me (saying) blah, blah, blah, blah. It’s (defensive coordinator Aden Durde) kicking butt. All our coaches are getting in front of the room. Our players are getting in front of the rest of the room, talking about all sorts of different things. It’s just a great spirit, so it’s a collective buy-in you’re experiencing, and they’re taking control and taking responsibility for their group.”
Player input isn’t new, to be clear. When I spoke with Macdonald ahead of Week 1 last year, he recalled a moment during training camp when defensive back Devon Witherspoon gave his opinion on the scheme during a walk-through, and then called out Macdonald during practice when the conflict he predicted would happen came to fruition later in the day.
The difference this year, it seems, is that players can take even more ownership over the operation because they’ve been through it and are so much further along than they were at this point last season. We’re seeing this play out in practice between plays as defenders rehash the ways they talked through a problem before the snap to avoid a potential conflict against the offense (there are rules about reporting conversations overheard on the practice field, so I can’t go into specifics). As Durde mentioned during organized team activities last week, the players can make things right even when the play call might create a conflict.
“We began a little bit better with the coverages and the system that coach (Macdonald) might run,” Witherspoon said of the difference between Year 1 and Year 2 in the scheme. “Now we’re just trying to add our own little flavor to it. We can disguise it how we want to now because we already know the calls and how we’re going to adjust.”
Smack talk with Sam
Reporter: “Is Sam (Darnold) a fiery guy?”
Macdonald: “Yeah, he’s got some stuff to him.”
Reporter: “Does that surprise you?”
Macdonald: “No. We went against him. We felt it.”
The Seahawks didn’t sign Darnold solely because of the 246 yards and three touchdowns he threw for against them in Week 16 of last season, but that game showed them a lot about the player they were acquiring, both as a leader and a competitor. Now they’re seeing it every day in the competitive, situational periods Macdonald builds into the practice script.
“There is some s— to him,” Macdonald said. “Like, don’t mess with him. He’s got that edge to him, that competitiveness, and the guys respect that. But he’s him. He’s not trying to be anybody else, and you have to respect that about him.”
Macdonald is correct: Darnold’s teammates do respect that about their starting quarterback. Safety Julian Love said Darnold’s barbs in response to defense are mostly “dad jokes,” but the fact he responds at all shows the defense that “he has some fire to him.”
“He’s used to being around the guys, around the boys,” Love said. “He’s not a square type of guy. He’s cool with dishing it back a bit.”
That’s an important trait to have because Seattle has a very chatty defense. And it isn’t just the defensive backs (though no one talks more than Witherspoon). Tuesday, for example, defensive tackle Mike Morris sniffed out a swing pass to a running back and would have likely delivered a huge tackle for loss in a live game situation. Morris was so fired up afterward that he removed his helmet and scowled at the offense while the sideline erupted in celebration.
But the loudest guys on the field, and the ones most often chirping at Darnold and the offense, are always going to be the defensive backs.
“They talk a lot. A lot of talk,” wide receiver Cooper Kupp said. “But they back it up. I love it.”
The chatter isn’t limited to trash talk, Kupp said. And that’s where both sides can make each other better in practice. Communication is a key part of the chess match between the offense and defense.
“Hearing the communication as the offense is moving, formations and shifts, how they’re getting in and out of their calls, their mastery of what they’re trying to do is really impressive,” Kupp said of the defense. “That’s what you need. You need guys that are doing that and making sure that they’re on their stuff (and) the defense is playing as one. It’s cool to see that and hear that from the defensive side.”
Injury updates
Seattle has perfect attendance at minicamp, but the following players are either limited or not participating due to injury: inside linebacker Ernest Jones IV (knee), outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu (knee), rookie defensive tackle Rylie Mills (knee), rookie wide receiver Tory Horton (hamstring/knee), wide receiver Dareke Young (undisclosed) and Walker, who is limited with an ankle issue.
“But,” Macdonald said when asked about Walker, “he should be fine.”
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