Seahawks training camp Day 2: Olu Oluwatimi gets starter reps at center
What we learned on Day 2 plus Kyle Shanahan's QB problem, 7/27/2023
Pete Carroll is allowing the competition at center in 2023 to be far more even-handed than Seattle’s quarterback competition of 2022. On Thursday, rookie Olu Oluwatimi got all of the first team reps at center and Evan Brown, who worked with the starters on Wednesday, took his place on the second team. By all accounts so far, the two will keep switching places until Carroll lets it be known that one has the advantage, or if Joey Hunt actually gets a chance too.
It doesn’t seem like Hunt will though, since he’s not working with either the first or second team.
Thursday’s Seahawks practice was “closed” and therefore nobody saw it except for some members of the media and they’re not allowed to divulge much information. So all that we have to go off of in these reports is basically what information trickles out (Thanks to Brady Henderson mostly) and what little is said in the media sessions after, but I didn’t see anything worth sharing there.
Instead, I will give you literally everything I found out on Thursday about the Seahawks that I think you should know. In return and to keep hyping up Seaside Joe to create more posts like this one, become a subscriber. If you’re not even on the mailing list, add your e-mail below, and if you’re a free subscriber, join! I will be posting a little bit extra in the bonus section today but don’t worry I am sharing all the relevant Seahawks information for free.
Seahawks sign Ben Burr-Kirven
The Seahawks are finally at a 90-man roster after bringing back linebacker Ben Burr-Kirven. Apparently his workout on Wednesday went well and the former fifth round pick out of UW has managed to find a way to outlast Cody Barton. Based on the personnel that Pete had going into camp, even including a Jordyn Brooks injury, I wouldn’t have expected him to be this anxious about linebacker depth. Does this signal a lack of confidence in someone in that group?
No Devon Witherspoon yet
Let this be my announcement that Seaside Joe will not have “daily updates” on Witherspoon’s contract status. The only commentary worth hearing until Witherspoon signs would be specific details what the two sides are arguing over and I don’t mean what’s already generally known about wanting more money upfront. I’d be interested for someone to fill in the X and Y in the sentence, “Witherspoon wants $(X) upfront, but the Seahawks are only willing to pay him $(Y)”, but short of that, I’ll just wait until he signs.
Ken Walker didn’t practice?
Amid so much debate and controversy over paying running backs, perhaps Pete is just being cautious with how much of a workload he gives to each player at the position right now. Walker was at practice but on the sidelines and there was nothing reported about an injury. So I would caution against assuming an injury and wait until practice on Friday, at which point maybe Zach Charbonnet is on the sidelines.
The JSN takeover is underway
It’s not like I’m saying that I’m the founder of the Jaxon Smith-Njigba hype machine foundation, but he’s definitely become my “Ken Walker crush” a year after I was confident that Seattle’s running back would challenge for Rookie of the Year. I believe Smith-Njigba has the potential to be one of the best Seahawks rookies we’ve ever seen and that’s based on more than just his draft status as a top-20 pick and the first receiver off the board this year; it’s rooted in that research Seaside Joe has been doing on JSN’s origin story, which I will have part III released for as soon as possible.
Smith-Njigba could even have something like, say, a 600-yard season and still have a monumental impact on the offense based on what his presence on the field does for Geno Smith, Tyler Lockett, and DK Metcalf.
That’s about all there is to report about the Seahawks on Thursday. If you enjoy daily training camp updates, consider bumping to premium for as little as $5 per month. This is essentially the second free post of the day after Thursday morning’s article on Pete Carroll, but for those of you Regular Joes, I’ll add an interesting video I watched about Seattle’s biggest rivals—the 49ers—and why their three-person quarterback competition is actually working against them in training camp. I’ll add in a few other notes from news I saw around the NFL at various training camps.
Why the 49ers might actually be worse off with Brock Purdy…