Seahawks Friday Training Camp notes: Drew Lock, Abe Lucas get first reps with 1s
Seahawks Friday Training Camp notes: Drew Lock, Abe Lucas get first reps with 1s
Seaside Bonus: Plus Boye Mafe's "best day," Tariq Woolen with the starting defense, Colby Parkinson's 'ascension', and Pete Carroll is BACK!
The Seattle Seahawks are preparing for Saturday’s mock game (you can prepare for it by reading today’s first bonus post) with a relatively light practice on Friday. There was no pad-popping today, but certainly news about the most important position competitions on the Seahawks this preseason.
And yes, even more reasons to believe that I will go 5-for-5 in my training camp predictions from last month:
Is Colby Parkinson in the best shape his life? You bet he is.
Is Drew Lock ahead of schedule and catching up to Geno Smith? I’d say the gap has been closing. Uchenna Nwosu up, L.J. Collier down? I’ve heard some things about the first, nothing about the second.
And did Ken Walker III ‘steal the show’? They literally called Wednesday ‘The Ken Walker Show.”
I’d say we oughta start taking me seriously about Grayson McCall.
Friday’s training camp brought more good news for Parkinson and starting reps for Drew Lock and Abraham Lucas for the first time. There’s also news of Boye Mafe’s “best camp day yet” plus even more reasons for optimism on Tariq Woolen and Coby Bryant.
In a way that only Seaside Joe gives you, I’ll cover everything in my round-up of training camp reports on Friday and delve into what it could mean for the Seattle Seahawks in the coming weeks and the regular season. If you’re unsure about signing up for Regular Joes, I will say this: It’s safe to think that based on the last 1,248 days, I’m not stopping or even slowing down any time soon.
Continued, consistent, and comprehensive coverage of the Seattle Seahawks and the 2023 NFL Draft will only keep going and growing at Seaside Joe in the coming years.
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Drew Lock gets first rep behind the starting offensive line
We knew that it would happen eventually. Geno Smith may have had “a lead” going into camp, but it didn’t mean Lock had no realistic shot to compete and so his time with the 1s was inevitable. It just took almost two weeks for it to happen, but this doesn’t feel like the “rush things” time of year.
Gregg Bell only counted one single rep for Lock with the 1s, but I expect that Lock will get almost all of the reps with the 1s next week. Maybe it could be pushed back a week though if Smith gets the start against the Steelers?
But Lock did not get many starter reps and I didn’t expect him too. If the team is going to bring him along as slowly as they have, why stop now? That’s why I think that he might start preseason Week 2, not preseason Week 1.
Lock completed one pass up the seam to tight end Noah Fant, a player he has known for his entire NFL career as fellow 2019 draft picks.
Carroll said after practice than Geno leads the race but Saturday is “a really big day” for both.
The Seahawks were doing a lot more situational playing than really “1s vs 1s” however like a live scrimmage. That is to be noted.
It’s not my place to say how either of these quarterbacks performed relative to one another. I would say that there are not as many positive reports about either that you would hope for and Geno has seemed “off” with his throws all camp.
There are a lot of Twitter results for “Geno Smith overthrow.” It wasn’t all bad.
Abe Lucas also “starts”
It’s been a question all camp of when Lucas would see time with the 1s and that happened on Friday. It was also a question all offseason of how realistic his shot would be to start.
I wrote in the previous bonus post that I suspect Lucas can make up ground to become the starting right tackle. Curhan might have a lead, Forsythe might be number two, but Lucas is the prospect who carries the upside to be special. If the Seahawks had drafted Lucas at 40 or 41, it would not have been shocking to most people.
The Seahawks drafted Boye Mafe at 40 and that was good
Gregg Bell wrote that Mafe had his “best day of Seahawks camp yet.” That he would have had two sacks on Drew Lock on back-to-back plays if it wasn’t practice. I think that Mafe can have a really productive rookie season and he’s got a chance to basically split up snaps with Uchenna Nwosu to a significant degree.
Colby Parkinson as a red zone threat
The Seahawks are counting on a Cody, a Coby, and a Colby this season.
Parkinson was a stand out at last year’s mock game. The tight end position deserves more patience than most and I think Parkinson has a valid argument to be Seattle’s best all-around “prospect” at the position.
Tariq Woolen replaces Sidney Jones IV
The Seahawks got their first look at Tariq Woolen “the starter” on Friday, as Jones sat out. In the last practice, it was Coby Bryant replacing Artie Burns, who had a rest day. Now it was Woolen and Burns and it seems that in most cases, the combinations are working out no matter what Pete Carroll does.
Woolen has been able to hang with DK Metcalf all camp it seems, and Bell noted that Bryant went “step for step” with Tyler Lockett.
The cornerback group might be…deep?
Cody Barton watch
I noted in today’s other post that I’m keeping an eye on Barton. Maybe he’s the sleeper I’ve been overlooking. It seems harder to judge most of these defensive players until they face Aaron Rodgers or Russell Wilson or Matthew Stafford.
Josh Jones making a name for himself again, Ugo Amadi back
After missing the past two practices, Amadi returned to the field and starting alongside Jamal Adams and Josh Jones.
It seems like Jones could make the team, so Amadi certainly doesn’t want to miss any more reps.
Ken Walker the Receiver
Not a good time for Darwin Thompson to be dropping passes.
DeeJay Dallas and Travis Homer are very safe.
Inconsistent offensive line play
Not sure who had the false starts, but the Seahawks had at least three of them in total. All with Geno Smith as the quarterback, though we’ve come to find out that was basically all of the reps.
Penalties aren’t something I tend to think about before the season begins, but this offensive line can’t afford to make more mistakes. They’ve got at least three new starters and none of those three will have played many meaningful NFL snaps, at least not recently.
Jamal Adams and the mitt
You gotta be out there, Jamal Adams.
Jordyn Brooks has missed the last two practices
Brooks had a hamstring issue on Tuesday and has been held out of practice. Carroll said that they’re being careful with it but also that Brooks has been one of the true stand outs in camp.
Dee Eskridge did return for some “early work” according to Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times. Carroll said that there’s some hope of Eskridge being ready by the preseason opener.
Also, Pete Carroll returned to coach practice after missing a few days with Covid. Carroll said that he had only ever missed one practice before in his life, when his dad passed away.
Welcome back.
Sure hope Eskridge can get going soon. WR3 is just waiting for someone to grab hold of it, but he needs to be on the field to grab it.
Cody, Coby and Colby. Good line. Although if they are counting on any of them it could spell trouble.