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Darnold Hung One Up and Let Shaheed Run Under It
On one of the final plays of Monday’s practice, Sam Darnold dropped a deep ball into Rashid Shaheed for a 55-yard gain, and Seahawks.com called it the biggest offensive play of the day. Day 8 was another non-padded session with no fans allowed in. It still ended with fireworks.
Remember what Shaheed actually was last season. He showed up in a midseason trade from New Orleans, won a ring, and did most of his damage without an offensive play call: a kickoff return touchdown, a punt return touchdown, and another kick return score in the playoffs. As a receiver he caught 15 balls for 188 yards. Useful. Also barely a role.
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Catches for Rashid Shaheed after arriving in Seattle at last season’s trade deadline — 188 yards total.
What’s changed is time. A full offseason in the building, work with Darnold during the break before camp, and heavy involvement in the passing game since the pads went on. Field Gulls flagged the growing connection as one of Monday’s real storylines, and I’ll go further: this is the least talked-about thing that could actually change the offense. Nobody needed convincing that Seattle can throw. They needed a reason for a safety to back up fourteen yards.
Which is the fun part. Jaxon Smith-Njigba, the reigning AP Offensive Player of the Year, lives on the other side of the formation. Cooper Kupp works the middle. Brian Fleury has everybody shifting before the snap. Now the fastest man on the roster is a guy the quarterback is looking for on purpose instead of a guy you hand the ball to and hope.
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Last year Shaheed was a weapon you handed the ball to and hoped. This year he’s a weapon you throw it to on purpose.
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Injury
Nobody Will Say What’s Wrong With Robbie Ouzts
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Ouzts missed another practice Monday with an undisclosed injury. He also missed the final two games of last season with a neck injury. Nobody has connected those dots on the record, and I’m not going to pretend to either. But a fullback whose whole job is running into large men, sitting out with something the head coach won’t name, is not a sentence that makes anyone feel better.
Behind him, Brady Russell and Nick Kallerup would inherit the lead-blocking reps. Elsewhere in the backfield, running back Jacardia Wright picked up a leg injury Monday and Macdonald offered nothing on him at all. Zach Charbonnet is still on PUP. The room is not deep enough for a rough week.
Fullback is a luxury position everywhere else in the league. Here it’s a personality trait. Hopefully this turns out to be nothing and Ouzts is back pancaking somebody by Wednesday.
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AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
Nine o’clock tonight, HBO. Roughly 35 NFL Films staff have been living at the VMAC to make this. Worth remembering: Pete Carroll wanted nothing to do with the show and never had to do it. The league changed the rules. Now we’re the subject. TSN
Coby Bryant’s season starts in October. The former Seahawk hyperextended his left knee in Chicago’s first padded practice and will miss eight to 10 weeks. He got a ring here, then $40 million to leave. One padded practice. ESPN
The roster churn found a Yale man. Seattle signed linebacker Joseph Vaughn, five college seasons in the Ivy League before a transfer year at UCLA, where he logged seven defensive snaps and 182 on special teams. Schneider has never met a coverage-unit résumé he didn’t want to read twice. Field Gulls
D-Law’s recruiting pitch was four words long. Dante Fowler on what Lawrence told him: “if you want to be a part of something special, then you should come here.” Fowler also said Lawrence found the fountain of youth. At 33, with six sacks, he may have. Seattle Sports
Renton had guests Monday. Cliff Avril, Duane Brown, Warren Moon and Michael Bennett all turned up to watch practice. Somewhere on that field a rookie fullback’s replacement got blocking advice from Duane Brown and didn’t know how lucky he was. Field Gulls
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
Myles Garrett has now missed four consecutive practices with lower-body soreness Los Angeles will not describe beyond the words “lower-body soreness.” Sean McVay: “Nothing to worry about, so we’re erring on the side of being smart with him.” Sure. They gave up a starting pass rusher and premium picks for a defensive player of the year and he has spent the first week of camp getting managed. Nothing to worry about is the sort of thing you say four times in a row and hope it takes.
NINERS
Three weeks after his July 14 car accident, Kyle Shanahan spent Monday’s practice standing there watching it, still limited in his duties. He joined the post-practice huddle, then handed the floor to a visiting NBA head coach to address the team. San Francisco has spent a decade insisting the system is the star. This week the system is a guest speaker from another sport.
CARDINALS
Arizona kicks off the entire NFL preseason on Thursday, and Mike LaFleur went to the podium with no timeline for the three players still on PUP and no concrete update on an outside linebacker, a tight end or a cornerback. A safety coming off neck surgery took a stinger Friday and needs more testing. The first team on the field this summer, and the health report is a shrug.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
In March 2009, Seattle asked this Pro Bowl linebacker to take a pay cut. He refused, and days later he was traded to Detroit for defensive tackle Cory Redding and a fifth-round pick. Who is he?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
Julian Peterson. He’d made the Pro Bowl in each of his three seasons in Seattle, which meant the front office broke up a linebacking group with Lofa Tatupu and Leroy Hill over a contract disagreement.
Yell At Me About Fullbacks
The mailbag is open and it is currently very light on questions about lead blockers, which feels like an oversight given the week we’re having. Send whatever’s bothering you — contracts, cut candidates, whether we should be worried. Best question gets answered in front of everybody.
Kids Day at the VMAC this afternoon, HBO tonight. Bring water and don't breathe too deep out there. — The Rooster