Training camp standouts emphasize that Seahawks had a great offseason

1243: Ken Walker III is off to the start that Seaside Joe expected

Are you biased?

That’s a question that I have to constantly check myself on when reporting on the Seattle Seahawks, because in my opinion the best writers are not biased towards the team that they are covering. Obviously, growing up in Bellevue and knowing the Seahawks as my favorite team once I fell in love with football, it’s impossible to separate that connection from my adoration for the NFL.

But to give Seaside Joe its true Seasidejoeyness, it’s imperative that I stick to the truth—what I would think of the Seahawks even if I grew up in Cowboys country or Raider nation—and to not suffer from any blindness because of an internal desire to want to see Seattle be better than they actually are.

The reason that I bring this up today is that I want to make sure I’m not being biased when I report on the first week of Seahawks training camp…because it sure appears to be going way better than expected, even if that optimism does not extend to the quarterback position.

For some of us, even the negative reports at quarterback give reason for optimism; more reason to believe that the 2023 draft is the avenue towards salvation at the position. To which I say, McCawww.

Of course, not all of you strive to be unbiased with regards to the Seattle Seahawks and that’s how it should be. I’m trying to give a reasoned approach towards evaluating the franchise but there’s nothing about fandom that demands that fans be reasonable. The entertainment is more entertaining, the trash talking is more trashy, the excitement is more exciting, and the pain is more painful when you do give into the emotions attached to a bias.

Therefore, I created a 12-question survey for Seahawks fans that asks: Are you biased?

The questions are super basic and the survey shouldn’t take more than two minutes to finish. Do questions about “predictions” mean that I expect you to know the right answer? No, there are no right answers. I only expect you to give honest answers. The point of these surveys are never to gauge what is going to happen; the point is to gauge what percentage of the fanbase expects is going to happen.

“But I don’t know what to expect!” That’s great. That’s fun, that’s exciting, and that’s real. But it can’t hurt to know what your gut is telling you and whether you are right or wrong, you will find something out about yourself that maybe you did not know before.

Don’t overthink any surveys. Try not to think at all. Just answer! I will post the results later this week, so make sure to be subscribed to Seaside Joe to find out if you’re biased or not.

The offseason of dreams, hopes, and long-term planning

Standout: Ken Walker III

Everything I’ve said about Walker this offseason has been true through the first week of training camp. He’s standing out, which I said would happen: In my five training camp predictions post, I said Walker would be noted as a camp star.

Gregg Bell only noted two veterans and two rookies as the “most impressive” players through four days: Walker and Coby Bryant were the rookies.

Gregg Bell @gbellseattle

Seahawks camp thru 4 days: Most impressive: defense: CB Coby Bryant, DT Al Woods offense: WR Marquise Goodwin, RB Ken Walker Thought they’d alternate Geno Smith, Drew Lock as QB1 more. Won’t be a true comp until they do. imo DBs have largely outplayed them. Sidney Jones✔️

Additionally, I wrote many times this offseason that Walker’s lack of receptions in college would not reflect on how often he would be targeted in the NFL. In fact, I said that Walker could probably see a lot of targets as a rookie, sometimes even lining up as a wide receiver. Walker caught two touchdown passes in camp the other day. Bob Condotta noted a couple of nice catches by Walker on Saturday:

Bob Condotta @bcondotta

Ken Walker III had two nice catches in team periods today. Here he is catching one from Drew Lock in early work.

Matty F. Brown @mattyfbrown

Nice little rub starting Kenneth Walker on the right and releasing him left. Beat man coverage and housed it, looks so fast

If only my old friend Danny Kelly was subscribed to Seaside Joe, he would’ve already known.

Danny Kelly @DannyBKelly

"Kenneth Walker III had a pair of red zone TDs Saturday. On the first, he was on the receiving end of an excellent wheel route from Lock in the red zone. Walker’s second score was a dump-off pass in the red zone from Smith, who eluded pressure and found his RB open in the flat."

Dugar, Michael-Shawn @MikeDugar

#Seahawks training camp. Day 4: • covering Tyler Lockett isn’t easy • another good day for CBs Artie Burns and rookie Coby Bryant • D holds up in 2-minute situations • safety Josh Jones play of the day • Back and forth action in the red zone https://t.co/4Jl2nyIL4A https://t.co/56ETRa1zit

The series on Ken Walker’s entire college career is now 11 or 12 articles deep and we still have four more games left to cover. I have a feeling that Walker is going to have multiple games this season of at least 150 rushing yards and if I’m listening to my gut, he challenges for 200 yards at least once.

Remember, I have sympathy for those who will have to delete and retract their anti-Walker sentiments since the draft and we continue to move towards that as a reality. “Maybe you do draft running backs early sometimes,” is what they will tweet.

Standout: Coby Bryant

Another potential rookie starter is fourth round cornerback Coby Bryant. Almost every report about Bryant in camp is that he’s ready to pick up where he left off as college’s most decorated cornerback in 2021 at Cincinnati. The issue for Bryant may only be that Sidney Jones IV is also having a great camp and is locked into one position, while Artie Burns is a veteran with experience of playing for Seattle’s defensive coaches during his time with the Chicago Bears.

Corbin K. Smith @CorbinSmithNFL

Another outstanding practice for Coby Bryant. Rookie registered three pass breakups on the afternoon, including denying 6-foot-7 Colby Parkinson on a jump ball in the end zone during team period. #Seahawks

If Justin Coleman is locked in as the starting nickel, then Bryant might only get on the field for dime packages, which could be more necessary than usual this season.

Gregg Bell @gbellseattle

Play of Seahawks training camp day 4 is latest gem from shutdown rookie CB Coby Bryant. He leaps in end zone to knock Geno Smith’s pass away from 6-7 TE Colby Parkinson, 6” taller, in back right of end zone. Defensive teammates run over roaring, celebrating. He’s been very good

The common thing to say right now is that “We’ll know a lot more after the pads come on and the real hitting begins.” Which is true, but typically this tends to benefit receivers more than it does cornerbacks. If the Seahawks keep going down this path with the secondary, including Tariq Woolen’s positive play at camp and safety Josh Jones making “the play of the day” on Saturday, Seattle’s defensive backs could be the strength of the defense.

If not the strength of the entire 2022 roster.

Again, statements like that set off red alerts in my head: You’re biased, aren’t you? But reports are reports and those are the reports.

“Worst Offseason”

Bill Barnwell’s “Seahawks had the worst offseason” post for ESPN is all the bulletin board material necessary. Let’s recap some of this terrible offseason again:

• Traded Russell Wilson for a package that included picks used on Charles Cross, Ken Walker III, and two probable veteran starters, in addition to saving themselves from a probable $250 million contract extension

• Rookie class could include five starters, including Cross, Walker (at least in a complementary capacity), Abe Lucas, Boye Mafe (in a rotation), and Coby Bryant. Woolen and Dareke Young have stood out in camp.

• Re-signed Sidney Jones, a standout at cornerback, on a cheap one-year deal.

• Re-signed Quandre Diggs, Will Dissly, didn’t overreact to free agency of Duane Brown and managed to wait for Cross.

• Extended DK Metcalf for market value contract.

• Signed Marquise Goodwin to low free agent deal, and he’s been another standout at training camp, potentially winning the WR3 role if all goes well for him and not so well for Dee Eskridge.

• Re-signed Rashaad Penny to one-year, low-risk contract.

• Added Artie Burns, having a good camp.

• Re-signed Al Woods, camp standout.

• Promoted Clint Hurtt to DC, added Sean Desai and Karl Scott as assistants

I will stop mentioning Barnwell’s evaluation of the Seahawks’ offseason when it stops being hilarious and when the goofballs on Twitter stop acting like everything Seattle does must be “the wrong move” because “Pete Carroll is ‘old’ for wanting to run the football.”

I am not biased.

Seahawks working out Rueben Foster

Ian Rapoport @RapSheet

Free agent LB Reuben Foster, hoping to kick-start his comeback after recovery from a major knee injury, has a workout today with the #Seahawks, source said. Foster hasn’t played since 2018, but the former #49ers and #Commanders LB has had several workouts. Another chance today.

The Seahawks are also talking to former 49ers linebacker Reuben Foster apparently and the reasons are not so obvious. I can’t imagine that this would impact Cody Barton’s chance to start in Week 1, as Foster hasn’t played any football since 2018 and he’s only appeared in 16 career games.

As I mentioned on the podcast the other day, the depth at inside linebacker is rather terrible and it got worse with Jon Rhattigan expected to miss a lot of time with injury.

Tyler Lockett mention

Tyler Lockett mention:

Gregg Bell @gbellseattle

Geno Smith to Tyler Lockett deep, with Pete Carroll watching, day 4 of Seahawks training camp ⁦@thenewstribune⁩

Neither Geno Smith nor Drew Lock has done anything to “win” the starting role at this point. When the Seahawks face the Steelers in two weeks (TWO WEEKS!), we’ll know a little bit more.

In general…Jacob Eason isn’t out of it yet.

Press Conferences that nobody watches

Darrell Taylor (2.9k views)

Clint Hurtt (3.9k views)

Gabe Jackson (.9k views)

The Sound of the Seahawks, episode 3

I had planned to review every episode of this series because I had been waiting YEARS for the Seahawks to finally do one. But I don’t think any Seahawks fans want to hear me complain about it not being good. I think the view count on episode three (15k so far) speaks for itself.

The series on the Jets gets over 100k views, the series on the Lions gets over 200k views, and they are the Jets and Lions!

I know there are many explanations for this, the answers are nuanced, I get that…but the Jets and Lions do offseason series that are about building a football team. Seattle is in the unique position right now to be “rebuilding” or whatever you want to call it…but Sound of the Seahawks is like if you only showed the b-roll segments from Hard Knocks and nothing else.

Tyler Lockett wants to be a real estate agent. There, you just saw the entire third episode of Sound of the Seahawks.

It’s great that fans are getting something, but as a fan of this offseason for the Seahawks, I would have loved to get more insight behind the scenes of that. I love Tyler Lockett, he’s one of the best humans to ever become a Seahawk. But “I also do real estate” should have been a footnote to his offseason, not the whole story.

I created a 12-question survey for Seahawks fans that asks: Are you biased?