The Seattle Seahawks held their annual mock game at Lumen Field on Saturday afternoon and while the game was not streamed, every key play (and a few clips) were shared on Twitter that help narrate the game well enough. The main focus was how the two quarterbacks embroiled in a camp competition would fair in this mock game and in what should only be described as optimism approached with extreme caution, Drew Lock was the star of the show after replacing Geno Smith in Saturday’s exhibition.
I will go more in-depth with everything that happened on Saturday with Regular Joes subscribers, but I want to make sure that all the key events are covered in the free section of the newsletter so I wouldn’t worry if you just want the big picture takeaways from the mock game.
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Drew Lock made the offense “more dynamic”
Coaches split the reps by letting Geno Smith start the mock game with the 1s going against the 2s on defense, then Smith went with the 2s and against the 1s. The Seahawks had a touchdown on his opening drive, then a field goal on the second.
He started the game 12-of-12 and finished 19-of-26 and while the statistics in this game can’t be trusted (no sacks, lots of penalties, not quite full contact), the Seahawks saw what they needed to see out of Lock—maybe more importantly, what the narrative around Lock needed to be—in order to give him more reps with the starters in practice next week.
My prediction with Lock becoming the starter (which started with this July 19th bonus post) was that Smith would open this game and then Lock would “inject life” into the offense when he came in next. The downfield passing attack is simply possible with Lock and it’s not with Smith and that’s what was mostly on display on Saturday.
Next, I expected that Lock would get more reps with the 1s in practices next week, then that Smith would start the preseason opener against the Steelers. Followed by Lock starting the second preseason game and maybe at that point doing enough for Pete Carroll to name him the starter before the preseason finale.
There were a couple of plays that didn’t go well for Lock that were then called back or overturned because of a penalty. So the story about his day will be: Drew Lock was great. Was he great? A Broncos writer made an interesting point by saying that Lock was also a star at a scrimmage during his competition against Teddy Bridgewater last year.
Reports on Smith started with some positive comments, but the end result of his day was quite bland and he finished 11-of-20. Jacob Eason got maybe a series or two and it sounded more on the disaster side of things. This is all to be expected.
Jake Curhan and Stone Forsythe were right and left tackles on the second team offense, respectively. Between them were Phil Haynes on the right, Greg Eiland on the left, and Kyle Fuller at center.
Does this mean that Lucas would be first on the depth chart now? That must depend on what Andy Dickerson saw on Saturday.
Tariq Woolen “starting” in place of Sidney Jones IV
Jones is dealing with a concussion and it was Tariq Woolen, not Coby Bryant, taking his place with the starters. Not only did Woolen get those reps, he was called the most impactful player on defense in the first half of the game by Gregg Bell.
Woolen is relatively new to playing cornerback so getting this comfortable on defense only a couple of years after switching from receiver, he seems a natural fit. And Woolen even said in the past that he really wanted to go back to receiver at UTSA but that the pandemic sort of forced the change to be permanent because he was studying cornerback that whole time.
I would be surprised if this pushes Woolen into a starting role with the Seahawks anywhere near the beginning of the season. But maybe his chance isn’t as far off as we thought. Artie Burns, Justin Coleman, Jamal Adams, and Quandre Diggs made up the rest of the defense. Adams played quite a bit of linebacker with Josh Jones as a third safety, according to reports.
Michael Jackson and Bryant played on the second team and Jackson drew some positive reports on Saturday.
Ken Walker III is awesome
As we expected. If you’re old to Seaside Joe, you already know this, but if you’re new around here…we actually LIKE, SUPPORT, and BELIEVE IN Walker at Seaside Joe.
He’s the guy we all want to see more of and that will happen on Saturday. Just one highlight home run hit and it’s all over, every Seahawks fan is going to be on board.
There have not been any reports yet on Walker’s statistics in this game but he did score a touchdown and show off his receiving skills (two things that I’ve said he will do a lot of this year) and anyone who is “down” on Walker right now would be shamed off of the internet. That’s why “they’ve” been so quiet about him in the last few weeks.
There will be a lot more tweets, videos, pictures, and reports out of Saturday’s Seahawks mock game in the rest of today’s Regular Joes bonus post: Another new name pops up in the receiver competition, interesting combinations on the second team offensive line and secondary, and more.
And there is only going to be more bonus content moving forward and in the coming years. If you found this article helpful at all up to this point, please consider forwarding this email to a Seahawks friend or sharing on social media.
We’ve said almost nothing about Iyiegbuniwe, but the former Bears linebacker has experience with Sean Desai and appears to be one step away from starting if a game was held today. The second team featured Tanner Muse and rookie Vi Jones.
Muse is a converted safety who was drafted by the Raiders a couple of years ago. Vi Jones is a UDFA out of NC State. The 26-year-old Iyiegbuniwe spent four seasons in Chicago but only played in 49 defensive snaps. This is yet another reason to understand why the Seahawks met with Reuben Foster this week.
This is one of a few times that Tariq Woolen stood out in Saturday’s scrimmage. It would be a lot more helpful if the Seahawks had a starting quarterback who had a bit more of a positive reputation, but as a rookie you take all the confidence you can get.
Taylor may have had multiple sacks on Saturday if sacks were allowed. There was not much said about what this said of Seattle’s two backup tackles, Forsythe and Curhan.
There was something to a “bad exchange” or a fumble by Walker, but then it sounds like Walker did “Ken Walker things” and turned it into a three-yard gain? He’s amazing as an improviser.
It seems like Cody Thompson wants to be in the running as a third receiver and we didn’t hear as much about Marquise Goodwin on Saturday. With Eskridge sitting out, Thompson is building a case.
There were some Dareke Young mentions on Saturday too. It’s going to be a tough numbers game with the receivers group: DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, Eskridge…Goodwin, Thompson, Freddie Swain…Young, Bo Melton, Aaron Fuller, Penny Hart.
Can Swain keep the WR3 position and the punt return position? It doubles his odds of making the roster, but it doesn’t seem like Swain has drawn much interest on offense from either quarterback.
It seems like L.J. Collier may have had a hand or arm injury. I predicted that Collier would not make the team this year. We hope it is not just because of an injury.
We might have to call you Joestradamus.
It’s just silly everything you expect to happen seems to happen. What might happen if you expected the Seahawks to win the super bowl?