There was not a lot of news to be found in the Seahawks 7th day of training camp that was closed to the public. Mike Macdonald chose to give his players a day of t-shirts and shorts as they walked through a number of drills and situations.
The reasons for Macdonald’s decision are purely speculation at this point given the coach did speak after practice. Some possibilities include:
- Giving the player’s bodies a break after two padded practices
- This is possible but seems a little unlikely given players regularly do 3+ padded practices consecutively in past training camps
- Wanting to spend more time on teaching
- This is my best guess. Jerome Baker and Tyrel Dodson missed all of OTAs and minicamp. There are other guys who were out as well. This could help them catch up. Macdonald has also inferred that the team is not quite where he wants in terms of execution, and this could be the method of choice for helping guys pick up details he feels are missing.
I spoke with Dave Wyman on the sideline and he agreed that walk-throughs can be a helpful tool for having concepts sink in a bit more.
Golfers commonly work on slow-motion swing practice due to the transferability to muscle memory. There were some moments with Aden Durde working with Boye Mafe and Uchenna Nwosu that reminded me of that concept.
They were practicing the exact number of steps to close the gap with the blocker and then initiate a change of direction. It was just the three of them for maybe 15 minutes working on various techniques. It was not all one-sided. Nwosu was explaining to Durde how he approached those situations and Durde listened and nodded.
Small little moment before practice that made me smile
Dee Williams, the undrafted free agent wide receiver who has been moved to defensive back, was playing catch with Easop Winston Jr. and Dareke Young. Winston, who is known for having one of the best sets of hands on the team wound up throwing with Jarran Reed for a bit. They started what seemed to be a version of H-O-R-S-E where Winston would make a catch in a certain way and then Reed would have to replicate it.
Reed was holding his own until Winston caught one across his body backhanded with just one hand. Reed’s eyes widened, “Alright! Alright!” Winston threw the ball to Reed who attempted the impressive catch only to have it bounce off his hand.
Winston is a name to remember as he is likely in competition for punt returner, and has become Sam Howell’s favorite target in recent days. He has the respect of his teammates, and just might be a surprise on the 53-man-roster.
Media shows PNW roots
I got a kick out of a large contingent of the media in attendance huddled in a patch of grass that could not have measured more than 10 square feet. What drew them to these tight quarters? It was the only place anywhere on the field that had some shade.
Sun’s out? PNW folks look for shade. Made me chuckle.
Macdonald involved
Last thing on practice was that Macdonald was very involved in calling out situations and asking guys to run and re-run plays. He would say things like, “Let’s do it again with tighter splits.” His attention to detail and high bar remains encouraging.