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Offseason
OTAs Are Done, and the Last Image Was Bradford Holding an Ice Bag
Seattle wrapped its six-practice OTA program Wednesday at the VMAC, and the offseason mostly went exactly the way you want a champion’s offseason to go: quietly. The one wrinkle came late, when starting right guard Anthony Bradford left practice early with what was reported as a minor knee injury.
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OTA practices in the books. Mandatory minicamp (June 9-11) is the last required gathering before training camp and the Hard Knocks cameras.
Per ESPN’s Brady Henderson, Bradford got an ice wrap, walked it off, and did not return to his spot. Field Gulls called it the kind of better-safe-than-sorry move you make in June during the non-contact portion of the program. So: probably nothing. Bradford trained with O-line guru Duke Manyweather in Frisco after the Super Bowl and showed up in good shape. A dinged knee in a no-pads practice is not a story you lose sleep over.
Here’s the part that actually raised an eyebrow. The guy who slid into Bradford’s first-team reps wasn’t fourth-round rookie Beau Stephens, the player half the fan base has already mentally penciled in as the right guard of the future. It was third-year pro Christian Haynes, a player who has spent two seasons trying to climb into second-string status.
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It’s June. Nobody’s job is won or lost in June. But reps are reps, and the depth chart was paying attention.
It’s June. Nobody’s job is won or lost in June, and one set of reps in a drizzle doesn’t decide a position battle. But reps are reps, and the depth chart was paying attention. If the staff trusted Haynes to run the ones on the spot, that tells you a little about where Stephens actually sits right now versus where the message boards have placed him.
SOURCES →
Contract Watch
Witherspoon’s Deal Still Isn’t Close. The Calendar Says That’s Fine.
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Don’t panic. This is the other kind of negotiation from the JSN one. Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s record deal came together so fast nobody had time to leak it. Witherspoon’s reads like two parties who know each other’s cards, neither wanting to blink, both waiting for someone else to set the corner market. He shares an agent with Patriots corner Christian Gonzalez, which makes this a slow game of contract chicken.
The timeline hasn’t actually moved. Training camp is the deadline everyone is operating around, and that’s historically when Schneider closes these things. Derick Hall just got his three-year, $42 million extension on June 3, and Witherspoon’s reaction on Instagram — a simple “Yessir hall” — was the sound of a man watching the dominoes fall toward his own payday. He showed up to voluntary work he was told he could skip. The relationship is fine. The money finds him eventually.
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AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
Mandatory minicamp opens Tuesday and runs through the 11th. It’s the last time the veterans are required in the building before training camp. After that, two months of silence and people being confidently wrong on your behalf. SI
Yahoo Sports’ training camp preview called 12 wins “right in the Seahawks’ wheelhouse.” Most of the offensive core returns. That’s a national outlet, not a homer blog, talking up the defending champs going back-to-back. Yahoo Sports
The franchise sale grinds on with multiple bidding groups circling, including Aditya Mittal and Wyc Grousbeck. Whoever wins inherits a Super Bowl roster and a half-renovated VMAC. The chair in the owner’s box stays empty a while longer. Sportico
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
Puka Nacua is still predicted to land a “record-setting” extension, which is a polite way of saying the Rams are about to pay full price for the receiver they currently have on a rookie-deal bargain. With Matthew Stafford’s renegotiation finally done, the one thing standing between Nacua and a check that resets JSN’s market is gone. The bill for all that Garrett-trade pizzazz is coming due, and it’s stacking up fast.
NINERS
San Francisco was so proud of its perfect OTA attendance that it canceled mandatory minicamp as a reward — for everyone except Trent Williams, the one man who didn’t show. Meanwhile Williams told reporters he’s come to a “scary” realization about his most recent contract. Building a back-to-the-Super-Bowl window around a left tackle who turns 38 in July and treats June as theoretical is its own kind of scary.
CARDINALS
Arizona used the third overall pick on running back Jeremiyah Love and then, in the season’s most on-brand decision, lined him up to return kicks at OTAs. You don’t draft a top-three back to field kickoffs. He faces Jadarian Price twice this year. Only one of those backfields belongs to a team that won anything.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
Which 1980s Seahawks running back earned the dual nicknames “Dr. Dan” and “Mr. Third Down,” and what was the medical career that gave him the first one?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
Dan Doornink. He became an actual physician after football, earning “Dr. Dan,” while “Mr. Third Down” honored his knack for moving the chains. Across eight pro seasons he ran for 1,836 yards and added 2,006 receiving yards with 26 total touchdowns.
Got a Question for the Mailbag?
Camp’s coming, the depth chart’s still wet clay, and somebody out there has a take on whether Beau Stephens or Christian Haynes wins right guard. Send it. The Rooster reads everything and answers the ones that make him laugh or yell.
Six practices down, two months of waiting to go. Minicamp Tuesday, then quiet. Go Hawks. — The Rooster