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Camp Report
Bud Clark Got One Ball Thrown Near Him and Made the Whole Afternoon About It
Day 4 of camp, red zone period, and Michael Dansby got a wing on a Jalen Milroe pass in the end zone. The tip hung there long enough for Bud Clark to swoop under it, and then the TCU rookie took off down the sideline, sprinted the length of the field, went up in a Marshawn Lynch tribute leap for six, and punted the football into the crowd. Somebody in Renton is now the owner of a souvenir they did not pay for.
Clark was Seattle’s second-round pick in April, and the reason was the ball skills: 15 interceptions over his last four college seasons. Through three practices nobody had thrown anything catchable in his direction, which is a strange kind of purgatory for a guy whose whole scouting report is what happens when the ball is in the air.
15
Interceptions Bud Clark recorded over his last four college seasons at TCU.
What Tuesday did not do is flip the depth chart. Ty Okada is still working with the first-team defense next to Julian Love and still looks like the man who replaces Coby Bryant. The more interesting wrinkle is that Clark took a few snaps with the No. 1 defense as a third safety. That is not a competition update. That is a coaching staff quietly building a package for a rookie it does not want standing around politely.
And credit where it belongs: Dansby caused the whole thing. He also broke up a pass in an earlier red zone drill, and he ended Monday’s practice with an interception of his own.
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A seventh-round pick has now made the loudest play of two straight practices, which is not how anybody drew up the depth chart.
Two days, two closing arguments from a seventh-round pick out of Arizona. The defense is having a much better week than the offense, and it is not even the starters doing the talking.
SOURCES →
Backfield
They Are Not Teaching Jadarian Price to Run. They Are Teaching Him to Catch.
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Mike Macdonald is not being subtle about why. “You guys have seen it. He’s caught a lot of passes,” he said, adding that there is “some variety to the things he can do out of the backfield.” On Monday, Price ran a route that left Ernest Jones IV genuinely impressed. “He got me today,” Jones said. “He had a hell of a route on me today.” On Tuesday he ran it again and scored.
He also capped Milroe’s afternoon by tracking a deep ball over his shoulder for a touchdown, which is not something running backs are usually asked to do in July.
All of it fits what Leonard Williams says the offense looks like under Brian Fleury. “Yeah, there’s a lot more motion,” Williams said. “Fullback motion, tight end motions.” Everyone moves, including the guy who was supposed to just take the ball and go.
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AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
Jalen Milroe had his best passing day of camp, including touchdown throws to Ricky White III and Cody White. He is also still firmly the No. 3, working with the threes while Drew Lock works with the twos. Great practice, same chair. Seattle Times
Position groups broke off after practice and Leonard Williams wrestled Derick Hall, ending it by picking the newly extended edge rusher up and pinning him. “I always call him nephew, he calls me unc, so I’ve got to put him in his place sometimes.” Forty-two million dollars, still getting bodied by Unc. Seahawks.com
Rookie cornerback Julian Neal was among those not practicing Tuesday. Bad timing for a third-round pick in a wide-open nickel race, and the corners behind him are all having weeks worth writing about. Field Gulls
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
Los Angeles is down an offensive lineman because of a holiday. Sean McVay said Justin Dedich, who opened camp on the non-football injury list, “had a hand accident around the Fourth of July.” That is the entire explanation on offer, and the vagueness is doing a lot of work. A roster built to win a title right now, undone in part by a long weekend in early July.
NINERS
Brock Purdy held his first press conference of camp and admitted the practices feel strange without Kyle Shanahan running them while he recovers from injuries suffered in a car accident this month. “He’s our guy. He’s the one leading all the team meetings,” Purdy said. San Francisco has spent a decade telling everyone the system is the star. One week in and the quarterback is openly missing the guy who operates it.
CARDINALS
Arizona used the third overall pick on a running back, and its new offensive coordinator has already started cooling the room. Asked whether Jeremiyah Love could win the starting job, Nathaniel Hackett offered “I mean, he’s definitely a rookie” and pivoted to praising James Conner. A top-five pick and the public pitch is that he is learning. Nothing says rebuild like talking your best young asset down in July.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
Seattle traded a 2013 first-round pick to Minnesota for this receiver, who then opened the second half of Super Bowl XLVIII with an 87-yard kickoff return touchdown that pushed the lead to 29-0. Who is he?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
Percy Harvin. He barely played that season after the trade and the six-year, $67 million contract that followed, then produced the one play everybody still remembers.
THIS DAY IN SEAHAWKS HISTORY
1995
July 29, 1995
Steve Largent Becomes the First Seahawk in Canton
Largent was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton on this date, the first player in franchise history to get there, presented by longtime Seahawks executive Gary Wright. His class included Jim Finks, Henry Jordan, Lee Roy Selmon and Kellen Winslow. A 5-foot-11 receiver Houston did not want, who spent 14 years turning a young expansion team into something worth watching.
Got a Question? The Mailbag Is Open.
Depth chart arguments, cap math, grievances about a play from 2015 that you have never let go. Send it in and I will answer the good ones in my own voice, which is to say too honestly.
Thursday is when the intensity ramps up. Enjoy the last quiet practice. — The Rooster