5 takeaways from Seahawks’ OTA and minicamp practices

RENTON – The Seattle Seahawks wrapped up their offseason program over the past few weeks with six OTA practices and a two-day mandatory minicamp.

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The final three OTA practices and both of last week’s minicamp practices were open to the media, which offered an early glimpse of the 2025 Seahawks before they return for training camp on July 23.

It’s difficult to glean too much from this stage of the offseason, as players are without pads and no live contact is allowed. But with that in mind, what stood out? Here are five takeaways.

Defense in control

For the most part, the first-team defense held the upper hand over the first-team offense. The defense routinely came up with stops in the red zone, intercepted Sam Darnold three times in the span of two OTA practices and consistently provided sticky coverage in the secondary that left few openings for Seattle’s new quarterback to attack.

One play during the final minicamp practice really encapsulated how things went. Darnold tried to push the ball downfield, lofting a third-down pass toward the right corner of the end zone for wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba. But cornerback Devon Witherspoon remained tethered to Smith-Njigba, blanketing the 2024 breakout star with textbook coverage. Smith-Njigba tried to fight his way around Witherspoon to make a play on the ball, but ended up getting flagged for offensive pass interference.

Of course, it’s no surprise the defense had its way, given the dramatic contrast in continuity between the two sides of the ball.

The offense is breaking in a new quarterback and new wide receivers while installing a new scheme under a new offensive coordinator. It’s the complete opposite on defense, where nearly every key contributor returns from a group that evolved into a top-five unit in the NFL over the second half of last season. The defense also has the benefit of scheme familiarity as it heads into Year 2 of head coach Mike Macdonald’s cutting-edge system.

“I think last year obviously there was so much to figure out, and it takes a while,” Seahawks safety Julian Love said. “We just started on a whole different level (this year). We just know how each other works. The camaraderie and the chemistry is heightened. And so now that standard is high from the jump.”

Offense sputters, but it’s early

It wasn’t the smoothest start for Darnold and the Seahawks’ new-look offense.

Darnold made some nice throws, but also had several interceptions in open-media OTA practices and nearly threw two more picks in the final minicamp practice. And in red-zone drills, the first-team offense came away empty-handed more often than not. That included a sequence in the final minicamp practice when Darnold & Co. couldn’t find the end zone on four straight incompletions or throwaways from the 5-yard line.

However, as mentioned above, the Seahawks are still in the early stages of installing new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak’s scheme, while simultaneously adjusting to new personnel and a brand-new offensive coaching staff. On top of that, the offense is going up against a talented defense that’s light-years ahead in terms of continuity and scheme familiarity. In short, it was always going to be a steep uphill battle for the offense this spring.

Furthermore, non-padded practices aren’t the best environment for Seattle’s new offensive scheme to shine. Kubiak’s Shanahan-style system centers largely on a wide-zone rushing attack and play-action passing, but those aspects are significantly nullified in non-contact settings where there’s not a legitimate threat of the run.

As a result, Macdonald said it’s “tough to assess” where the offense is right now, and that it’ll become much clearer when the pads come on in training camp.

“That’s where it really comes to life – when you are wearing defenses down, and then here comes the (play-)actions and the movements and you have to honor the run game,” Macdonald said. “So I think we’ll have a better feel a couple of weeks into training camp.”

O-line battles taking shape

Given the Seahawks’ long and well-documented history of offensive line woes, there’s once again a lot of focus on the trenches.

As expected, it appears that three of the five starting offensive line spots can essentially be penciled in, barring injuries. Charles Cross is the left tackle, rookie first-round pick Grey Zabel is the left guard and Abraham Lucas is the right tackle.

But as for the other two spots? Both are officially open competitions. At center, Olu Oluwatimi and Jalen Sundell split nearly all of the first-team reps. And at right guard, it was mostly Christian Haynes and Anthony Bradford splitting the first-team reps.

Sataoa Laumea, who started the final six games of last season at right guard after Bradford went down with an injury, primarily worked as the backup left guard. Macdonald said Laumea could also factor into the right guard competition once the pads come on in training camp.

It’ll be particularly interesting to see how much of an impact Seattle’s new offensive scheme and coaching staff have on the O-line battles. Kubiak’s offense features a heavy dose of wide-zone blocking, which places an emphasis on athletic linemen who can move.

“There’s a lot of competition,” Macdonald said. “We haven’t settled some of the spots, and that means we have a lot of guys that are options, so it’s exciting.”

Back-end WR competition could be intense

Smith-Njigba, Cooper Kupp and Marquez Valdes-Scantling figure to be the top three wideouts in Seattle’s new-look receiver room.

But after that, there could be some fierce battles for the final roster spots. The leading contenders include rookie fifth-round pick Tory Horton, Jake Bobo, Cody White and rookie seventh-round pick Ricky White III, along with veteran kick/punt returner Steven Sims Jr.

Horton would seem likely to make the roster given his draft status, but he was limited this spring as he continues to recover from a knee injury that cut short his final season at Colorado State. Bobo and Cody White, meanwhile, both made their presence felt with some impressive catches over the past two weeks.

Special teams often play a major role in back-end receiver battles, and all five of the aforementioned contenders bring a strong case in that area.

Horton had three punt return touchdowns over three seasons at Colorado State. Bobo logged the second-most special teams snaps on the Seahawks last year. Cody White blocked a punt for Seattle last season. Ricky White III had a whopping four blocked punts last year at UNLV, which by himself was more than any other FBS team. And Sims has considerable return experience in the NFL, including a punt-return TD for the Houston Texans in a January 2024 playoff game.

“It’s exciting, and it’s going to come down to a large part of how they play on special teams,” Macdonald said of the back-end receiving competition. “Can you move people? Can you block people? Can you get people on the ground? Who is going to play gunner for us? Who is going to be our punt returner? All those things haven’t been settled yet.

“And then go make plays on offense. Can you dig out a safety and be a force out there and also come alive in the pass game as well? And how does that complement the skill sets of Coop and Jaxon and (Marquez)? Really excited about those guys. It will come to life throughout the preseason.”

The buy-in is noticeable

This stage of the NFL offseason is a bit like spring training in baseball. Optimism, hope and good vibes are the norm. But even so, it was evident how bought in this year’s team appears to be.

The Seahawks notably had every single player on their 90-man roster attend at least one of their six voluntary OTA practices, according to ESPN’s Brady Henderson. Most players were on hand for all six voluntary practices, even if they were sitting out or limited due to injuries. That’s not normal, as many teams often have at least one or two veterans who skip OTAs.

“They don’t have to be here,” Macdonald said of his veteran players. “They could say, ‘Hey, look, I’m a vet. I got my money. I know what’s expected of me. I can show up (for camp) and everything is great.’ You can do that, and there are guys that do that, but our guys really decided to be invested in these young guys, and they care about where this team goes. Man, that fires you up.”

Macdonald also pointed to players like Kupp and rookie safety Nick Emmanwori who frequently stop by his office to discuss both football and life in general. He said it’s reminiscent of the culture at the University of Michigan back in 2021, when he was the Wolverines’ defensive coordinator under Jim Harbaugh.

“I’m proud of the atmosphere that we’re creating where guys are in and out of the offices talking to coaches – not necessarily about football, but just what’s going on,” Macdonald said. “It feels a lot like we had going on at Michigan, to a certain extent.

“That speaks to the guys that are in the building (and) our coaches – the job they’re doing, the relationships they’re building. Any time you’re talking ball, especially with the guys, it doesn’t get much better than that.”

Pro Bowl defensive lineman Leonard Williams, who’s heading into his 11th NFL season, said this year’s team is a particularly well-connected group.

“I feel it a lot,” Williams said. “I’m obviously going into year 11, so I’ve played a lot of football, been on a lot of teams. Not only am I seeing that we have a very talented team right now, but one thing that stands out above the talent is just the connection.

“I’ve been on tons of talented teams that (had) great players in all positions, but we just didn’t have that same connection,” he added. “… Those small things, like having connection and being able to communicate on and off the field, kind of helps you get to that next level.”

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