Seahawks 53-man roster, practice squad projection after first preseason game
Seahawks 53-man roster, practice squad projection after first preseason game
Seahawks snap counts vs Vikings, where depth chart stands, 8/11/2023
The NFL offseason calendar is like peeling off the layers of an onion, as each day is like one more obligation for teams to reveal their plans for how they expect to win games in the regular season. From re-signing players in February to adding free agents in March to making draft picks in April and May to slotting guys in certain places in OTAs and training camp to revealing a depth chart and then playing in preseason games. Try as Pete Carroll might to keep a secret, that gets harder and harder to do as we get closer to final cuts and Week 1.
Which would imply that all a hungry person wants is the center of an onion, but all you’re going to find is more onion…maybe the NFL offseason calendar isn’t exactly like an onion.
But I can promise you that when we finally get to the center that I’m definitely going to cry.
The Seattle Seahawks got through a preseason game on Thursday night and confirmed some of our suspicions on previous layers, beating the Vikings 24-13 (read the instant recap right here) and giving players on the bubble their greatest opportunity yet to build a base of local fanatics. Share your fanatic takes in Friday morning’s Seahawks fan survey.
One of the nicest reveals this week is just how many snaps each player got and that’s the first thing I’ll show you before we get into projections for the 53-man roster — offense, defense, special teams — and then I’ll also go through a potential 14-man practice squad with whoever is left over. Read over the snap counts and then let me know what stands out to you the most.
The first column is offensive snaps, second is defensive snaps, third is special teams snaps. Percentage is the percent of the total snaps that they played in.
Credit where credit’s due: I pulled these from Bob Condotta, which he pulled from an official Seahawks PR source.
Offense
Defense
53-man Roster Projection
Offense
QB - Geno Smith, Drew Lock (2)
RB - Ken Walker III, Zach Charbonnet, DeeJay Dallas, Kenny McIntosh (4)
FB - Nick Bellore (1)
WR - Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Jake Bobo, Dareke Young (5)
TE - Will Dissly, Noah Fant, Colby Parkinson (3)
OL5 - Charles Cross, Damien Lewis, Evan Brown, Phil Haynes, Abe Lucas (5)
OLRes - Stone Forsythe, Jake Curhan, Anthony Bradford, Olu Oluwatimi, Greg Eiland (5)
Total - 25
(sus: Dee Eskridge, IR: Cade Johnson)
(Johnson was not put on IR, I’m just projecting it as a possibility due to his concussion sustained on Thursday)
(If Dareke Young is put on IR, which would require he miss the first four games of the season but could be stashed on the roster, I would be deciding between Bryant Koback and Easop Winston due to added value on special teams.)
Additional notes about offense:
Cody Thompson didn’t play because of a groin issue that happened on Wednesday. His slim odds of making the roster as Eskridge fill-in were not helped by this and Jake Bobo helped his case a ton. Matt Landers played 44 snaps and saw three targets, only catching the one 30-yard touchdown from Holton Ahlers on a strange play that will never be repeated. Landers’ lack of special teams snaps is hurting him more than that.
Keeping five running backs would be unusual, but not unbelievable due to the fact that Walker and McIntosh are out right now. Koback not only played well on offense to start the second half but can contribute on special teams. I don’t want to overrate Winston’s performance (three catches, 29 yards, 1 TD), here’s what he has going for him: This is his fourth year in the NFL, so he doesn’t need to be taught as much, and he could be the team’s primary returner if they don’t want to put DeeJay Dallas at risk.
The 25-year-old Eiland is in his third season and the team seems comfortable putting him in different spots, which at times makes him a 6’8 guard. That’s even taller than most NBA guards.
There are no “tough cuts” at this point on offense. That could change after the next two preseason games. The story is different on defense.
Defense, special teams, and the practice squad I will cover next in the premium section for Regular Joes. Join today for as little as $5 per month or $55 for an entire year, you will get at least 100 more articles like this going into 2024 preseason. The founding member Super Joes level is just if you want to support for a little bit more because you can and I’ll have the final post in the Jaxon Smith-Njigba series coming out this month.