Community Conversations: Talking with YOU about Seahawks training camp, preseason
Seaside Joe 1272, 8/29/22: What WE thought about the last month of Seattle Seahawks football
Most writers typically ask for mailbag questions, do Q&As, or hold AskMeAanythings, but I’ve never felt like that was the position of power that I wanted to hold over my audience. I’ve always said that I will never know as much as the collective knowledge that all of you have about the NFL and the Seattle Seahawks. So at Seaside Joe, we don’t do mailbags or Q&As…we do Community Conversations. And today I need you, the community, to start some football conversations with me.
Whether it is our fan surveys, our unique challenges (that need to be updated for other quarterbacks), our appreciation for running backs, or merely the fact that the last day I didn’t send out a Seahawks newsletter was March 3, 2019, we’ve always done things differently at Seaside Joe. That continues today with Seaside Joe Community Conversations….
What does that mean?
That means that I’m going to need you to read this and then I’m going to ask you to start a conversation with me, Seaside Joe. I’ll continue the chat in the comments thread and then move it over to its own post for a longer discussion about what’s on your mind. And for those of you who have never made a comment at Seaside Joe, I encourage you to speak up for the first time; I’ll make it a point to look out for and respond to Seasiders who I’ve never seen or spoken to before.
I hope you will join the community conversation and I will be randomly giving out gift subscriptions to the Seaside Joe “Regular Joes” premium section to commenters. So whether it is today or after the next Seahawks game, add a comment to our community section and you never know, you may win something!
What are we talking about?
Training camp! Preseason! Final cuts! 53-man roster projections! Needs! But mostly what we are talking about is whatever YOU want to talk about. That’s why YOU can take this opportunity to start a conversation and not only will I be here to chat with you, but I encourage everyone in the community to grab a stick, put a mallow on it, toast that sucker over the flames, and let’s all get in on the roundtable.
What do YOU want to ask? Add a prompt or a question below:
Starting things off, let’s talk about where we are at right now as of Monday morning:
The Seahawks went from 80 to 75 on Sunday after releasing TE Cade Brewer, CB Jameson Houston, LB Aaron Donkor, and RB Ronnie Rivers; the team also played CB Tre Brown on PUP, making him unavailable for the first four weeks of the season. None of these moves are surprising, though I may have misunderstood the NFL rules about PUP when I previously wrote that Seattle would need to roster Brown prior to placing him on the inactive list.
My apologies!
From 75 to 53
With 22 players left to be released/waived/placed on an inactive list (maybe more, if the Seahawks want to add somebody), I would be shocked if these players are under consideration for the final roster: WR Kevin Kassis, WR Aaron Fuller, WR Cade Johnson, TE Tyler Mabry, QB Jacob Eason, RB Darwin Thompson, DL Jarrod Hewitt, LB Joel Dublanko, LB Lakeim Williams, S Scott Nelson, S Deontai Williams
That’s half the list right there.
Of the remaining 11, I know I’ve seen a little love for WR J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, RB Josh Johnson, LB Joshua Onujiogu, but at the moment I do not expect them on the final roster. There have to be surprises though.
I’d also be surprised to see WR Bo Melton, OT Liam Ryan, C Dakoda Shepley, S Joey Blount, and maybe LB Vi Jones, but maybe one of these names is excelling on special teams.
The true “bubble” may consist of the remaining WRs who aren’t locks—Penny Hart, Freddie Swain (who isn’t making many final 53 projections that I’ve seen), and Dareke Young (who is)—plus OL Greg Eiland (maybe he doesn’t stand a chance but there’s not much else to consider for depth at guard), Myles Adams vs L.J. Collier, Nick Bellore vs his $2 million salary, Tanner Muse, and the secondary decisions between Marquise Blair, John Reid, Mike Jackson, and Justin Coleman.
Preseason
The Seahawks went 0-3 in the preseason and while final record is rarely a consideration for teams, it has to be at least a little concerning given the number of snaps played by projected offensive starters over those three games, including more than a full game’s worth of Geno Smith.
Geno typically played behind the projected starting offensive line but was sacked/under pressure often. We did not see Rashaad Penny or Marquise Goodwin and only got glimpses of DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, Dee Eskridge, and Ken Walker III, but we did get a regular dose of the starting tight ends and the supposed depth at receiver.
How concerned are you about the offense?
And unfortunately, Seattle’s starting offense regularly faced defensive backups during those preseason first halves but there were not many points scored. It requires faith in Shane Waldron opening up the playbook, faith in the receivers, and sorry—faith in the running backs—to believe that none of that matters.
Defensively, the tackling was horrendous, the coverage was not great, and the pass rush was inconsistent. But we didn’t see Jamal Adams, Quandre Diggs, or Ryan Neal, the cornerbacks may or may not need to start (Tariq Woolen in Week 1?), we didn’t see Jordyn Brooks, and there were not many snaps for Darrell Taylor and Uchenna Nwosu after opening night in Pittsburgh.
Training Camp
The focus was on the quarterback competition throughout. By the end, Geno Smith had spent nearly the entire camp as Seattle’s starter.
There were a lot of players who we really didn’t get to focus on or hear much about during that time, including Penny and Walker, or how the front-seven was gelling, or if the offensive line could either be among the worst in the league given the lack of experience for the tackles OR passably average.
What was your main takeaway from training camp? Start a conversation about it!
Let’s get some Seaside Joe Community Conversations started! It will begin in the comments section, so read that, add to it, and share Joe with a friend so we can hit our next subscriber milestone before Week 1! Then it will continue into another post if the conversations demand further diving.
JIMMY G IS STAYING WITH THE 49ERS! Hallelujah. It's over. Moving ON!!!!
I try to be an optimist, but the sum total of training camp and preseason games has left me mentally preparing for a VERY BAD season. I will admit I was holding out some hope that Drew Lock was at least a league-average quarterback/game manager and combined with the running game, we could skew toward a league-average year. With Lock's performance against the Cowboys, I'm expecting that we will be in the conversation for Bryce Young. Geno is unwatchable; he takes care of the football but the offense has no juice with him at the helm. How many times has Russ marched down the field at the end of the game and won it at the end. Just don't see it with Geno. I will be watching for progress from some of the young guys, especially KW3, but my question for you and the commenters is how do with mentally deal with the losses after being spoiled for so long with all of the wins? I can't not watch!