Seahawks Open Training Camp With Surprise

The Seattle Seahawks opened up training camp on Sunday July 30 with a surprise. Top pick Malik McDowell did not report because of an injury. When he will be back with the Seahawks no one knows at this point. He said that the injury was not life or career threatening. Not even sure when the injury exactly occurred however it may have happened a couple of weeks ago in an accident. Fortunately we don’t know what we have missed. We hope that we will hear more in the next few days.

Also we found that wide receiver Tyler Lockett who I wrote about in my last blog will start training camp on the Physically Unable to Perform list along with cornerback DeShawn Shead and rookie offensive lineman Justin Senior. Though he is on the list doesn’t mean that Lockett won’t be ready for the regular season. There is a good possibility we won’t see him during the pre-season games however the Seahawks can activate him off the list at any time.  So we will likely see his backup at punt and kick-off returns in action.

The good news is that safety Earl Thomas will be taking practice for the Seahawks since he was not put on that list. We know that Thomas is the likely key to the Seahawks defense. The defense did not do as well when he was out. It is not only his skill to play the safety position but his attitude. He and Richard Sherman along with Kam Chancellor make the defensive secondary.

With McDowell out that means we will see Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril playing their usual amount although McDowell is more of a tackle than an end. This means the door will be open for a defensive tackle to show what he can do instead. This means that this could be a blessing in disguise for the Seahawks and not for McDowell.

Other than news there isn’t much else to say about the Seahawk practices. The Seahawks did announce the return of linebacker Michael Morgan. Whether he will start on the outside alongside Bobbie Wagner and KJ Wright we won’t know however we do know that he plays special teams well. Last week though the Seahawks picked up linebacker DJ Alexander in a trade with the Kansas City Chiefs. Though he is a special team’s all-pro he will compete with Morgan for the outside linebacker as well.

 The Seahawks first pre-season game will take place on Sunday August 13 against the Chargers in Los Angeles. Yes it will be interesting to call them the Los Angeles Chargers. It is unusual to have a pre-season game on a Sunday. In fact I don’t remember the last time that happened. Actually two of the Seahawk games will be on Friday nights and the last one against the Oakland Raiders will be on Thursday Night Aug. 31. The Seahawks opening game will be on Sunday afternoon September 10 against the Packers in Green Bay. So our first action to see the Seahawks will be in just under three weeks. Go team!

The University of Washington took to the field for training camp on Monday. They are favored to win the north division of the Pac-12 and lose to USC in the Pac-12 championship. The Trojans are favored to win the south. Both Huskies and Trojans should start the season in the top ten. The big question will be how the Huskies replace the big three defensive backs that are now in the NFL and John Ross at wide receiver. The Huskies season starts on Sept. 1 at Rutgers in a non-league game. I will write more about them when more news comes out. Go Huskies! The same should be about the Washington State Cougars too.