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Injury
The Cart Came Out for Jake Bobo, and Then Macdonald Wouldn’t Talk About Tory Horton
Jake Bobo went up for a leaping catch in Friday’s joint practice with the Titans, came down wrong on his right knee, and left Nashville on a cart. Mike Macdonald did not soften it afterward. “Our heart goes out to Jake Bobo, it seems like it’s going to be a serious knee,” he said. “We’re going to get it imaged, but early returns, it looks like it’s a long-term injury.” When practice ended, the team took a knee and prayed.
Bobo made this roster as an undrafted free agent in 2023 and has spent every August since scratching for a job. This was the first camp he didn’t have to. Seattle matched Jacksonville’s offer sheet in March to keep him, and he told a reporter last week he was having a hard time flipping that switch off anyway. Turns out the switch was fine. It was the knee.
$4.5M
Guaranteed in the two-year deal Seattle gave Bobo in March, matching Jacksonville’s offer sheet.
Then Macdonald got asked about Tory Horton, who hasn’t practiced in days. “He’s going to be out for a period of time.” Asked what’s actually wrong, he reportedly smiled and said he just didn’t want to tell anybody. Fine. That’s his right. It is also not the answer you want about a receiver whose last two seasons both ended early.
So the top of the room is still Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cooper Kupp and Rashid Shaheed, which is a top three most teams would trade a kidney for. Behind them it is now Montorie Foster Jr., Ricky White III, Cody White and Emmanuel Henderson Jr. fighting over whatever is left, three weeks before the banner goes up against New England.
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For the first time in four years Jake Bobo showed up to camp without having to fight for a locker. It took until the third week of August for the league to remind him what it actually is.
Bobo was never going to lead this team in catches. He blocked, he played special teams, he caught a touchdown in the NFC Championship Game, and the locker room genuinely loves him. “He’s a beast, man,” Macdonald said. “He’s just a great, great football player, a great Seahawk.” You don’t replace that with a waiver claim.
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Defense
Ty Okada Read Cam Ward Like a Menu and Took It Back for Six
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He gave the credit to the play call. “It was a really great call by Coach Mike,” he said. Macdonald gave it back: “He’s got a ton of confidence.”
Last August, Okada was competing for a backup role. This August he is the answer at the safety spot Coby Bryant vacated, and the entire Seattle defense sprinted to the end zone with him, which is not something a team does for a guy it’s still deciding on. The Titans, for their part, celebrated their own plays all afternoon like they’d won something. Seattle mostly jogged back to the huddle. One of these teams won a Super Bowl in February.
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AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
Sam Darnold on Jadarian Price after Friday’s work: “He’s a special player. He’s a really special player.” Price missed most of the preseason with a leg issue and has now been back for exactly two padded practices. The quarterback is already talking about him like a finished product. NBC Sports
The only flare-up all day: defensive tackle Byron Murphy II threw Titans running back Tyjae Spears, per Tennessee’s own recap. Two teams, three hours, one mini-skirmish, and it was started by the shortest man on Seattle’s defensive line. Titans.com
Trevon Diggs needed a number. Seven belongs to Uchenna Nwosu, 28 belongs to Nehemiah Pritchett, so he took 16. Last guy to wear it here caught more passes than anybody in franchise history except Steve Largent. No pressure, CB3. SI
Beyond Bobo, Abe Lucas and Montorie Foster Jr. both went down with what appeared to be heat-related issues, and Macdonald mentioned guys cramping in the humidity. Seattle flew 2,000 miles for competitive resistance and got ambushed by the weather instead. Heavy
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
Los Angeles has spent all summer insisting there is no backup quarterback competition. Then in Thursday’s joint practice with the Saints, Stetson Bennett and rookie Ty Simpson split the second-team reps for the first time, 13 to 12. Sean McVay was adamant this was purely a function of there being fewer reps to go around. Sure. Twelve of them just happened to land on the rookie he keeps telling everyone isn’t competing for anything.
NINERS
San Francisco beat the Chargers 41-17 on Thursday, which is the single most meaningless kind of victory available in the sport, and still couldn’t get out of SoFi clean. Cornerback Renardo Green left early with a hamstring and Kyle Shanahan said afterward they don’t yet know how bad it is. They are three weeks from opening the season in Australia. The flight is 7,800 miles and the training room is already full.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
In March 2006, Seattle signed this Seattle-native receiver to a seven-year, $49 million restricted free agent offer sheet containing a clause that would have guaranteed the entire contract if he played five games in the state of Minnesota. Who is he?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
Nate Burleson. It was pure revenge: the Vikings had just used the same $49 million structure and their own poison pill to pry Steve Hutchinson away from Seattle, so the Seahawks wrote one Minnesota couldn’t swallow. The Vikings didn’t match, and the league outlawed poison pills in the 2011 CBA.
Got a Question? Yell It Into the Void.
The mailbag is open and it is currently full of people asking me whether Seattle should trade for a receiver. Send yours anyway. Best question gets answered in front of everybody, name and neighborhood included, so choose your pseudonym carefully.
Tennessee tomorrow at five. Get well, 19. — The Rooster