D’Wayne Eskridge practices, Tyler Lockett doesn’t, plus a sign Russell Wilson might play?
D’Wayne Eskridge and Jamal Adams are finally on the field. Rashaad Penny is back, too.
But now Tyler Lockett and Geno Smith are missing practice. Plus, 2020 starters D.J. Reed and Ethan Pocic remain out.
The training-camp grind, as the kids say, is real.
The start of the fourth week of Seahawks camp Tuesday was the start of Eskridge’s preseason. The top rookie draft choice came off his big-toe injury from June and the physically-unable-to-perform list to practice for the first time.
Eskridge caught passes from Russell Wilson in individual drills. During 11-on-11 scrimmaging, Wilson was directing his new, speedy wide receivers on nuances of route running on the side while the second-team offense ran plays.
“He’s in incredible shape,” coach Pete Carroll said. “We really waited a long time to get him to the point where he would demonstrate that he could really pound it through brakes and bursts, and full-speed efforts and stuff like that. Now it’s all the learning stuff that he hasn’t been able to do by being on the field.
“I don’t know how long it’s going to take putting all that together. Physically it’s like Jamal; they have to get in football shape. That’s the reaction stuff and the musculature that has to take that pounding and incorporate it and not get sore and be affected by it, that takes a while, so we’re helping them adapt to football right now.
“We all think that he should be ready and raring to go by the opener.”
That’s Sept. 12 at Indianapolis. Adams, who signed his four-year, $70 million extension Tuesday, will play against the Colts. He also may not play in preseason games.
Lockett has a groin injury. Carroll said that after the third practice in a row Seattle’s top wide receiver worked with a trainer on a side field half a field away from his offense scrimmaging.
Eskridge did practice through rookie minicamp in May to organized team activities in June. That was enough to entice new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron to devise packages of plays specifically for the rookie’s speed and likely roles as an inside, slot receiver.
“We did see him enough to see what he can do. He teased the heck out of us with his early showing; we’ve been really waiting,” Carroll said. “Shane’s got a real good plan for him and how we’re going to incorporate him.
“Like I said, we’re not going to overload him, but we’re going to try to get him involved. That will happen. We’ll get that done.”
Reed and Pocic haven’t practiced the last two weeks. Carroll said Reed, the starting right cornerback to end last season, isn’t going to practice until next week, at the earliest.
Reed’s injury has put Tre Flowers back where he was in 2018 as a rookie and again in ‘19: the starting right cornerback.
Flowers allowed a 28-yard completion from the Raiders’ Nathan Peterman to Tay Jones because he didn’t turn his head to spot an arriving pass in tight coverage last Saturday night. That set up Las Vegas’ touchdown on the preseason game’s opening possession.
Carroll last week said Flowers has never looked better since Seattle drafted him in 2018. Carroll converted him from a college safety to long, 6-foot-3 cornerback.
Fuller at center for opener seems likely
Pocic, the team’s starting center last season, has worked only a couple days this camp. His hamstring injury is pushing Kyle Fuller closer to winning the center job for the opener.
Fuller has one career start at the position. That was in November when Pocic missed a game at the Los Angeles Rams with a concussion. Fuller last played center full time a half-dozen years ago, in college at Baylor.
Carroll said when the coaches moved Fuller from guard back to center full time this offseason, Fuller’s comfort with the position was obvious.
Increased chance Wilson plays?
Jones is the fourth-year veteran Seattle drafted to perhaps replace Duane Brown someday at left tackle. Jones returned from a couple weeks out injured. He went back to where he was before he got hurt: starting left tackle.
That increases the possibility Wilson plays Saturday night when the Seahawks host the Denver Broncos in preseason game number two of three.
Carroll and Waldron would like to get Wilson at least one preseason game before the opener, particularly with the new offense.
Then again, they would like to have Brown at left tackle right now, too.
Carroll and Waldron wisely kept Wilson out of last weekend’s preseason opener at Las Vegas, when rookie Stone Forsythe and three other reserves started on the offensive line. Forsythe played the first three quarters at left tackle. On the fifth play of the game Forsythe missed what Carroll called a basic blitz read. That gave Raiders cornerback Nate Hobbs a clear, sprinting hit to Smith’s chest and head.
The veteran quarterback left the game a couple series later with a concussion.
Smith is likely to miss the Broncos exhibition game Saturday. He’s in the NFL’s concussion protocol.
“He took a real hit that’s still affecting him a bit. ...We left him at home today,” Carroll said. “He’s still recovering. Unfortunately, he got popped really hard.”
Alex McGough is up to the number-two QB. Former Rams backup and Oregon State quarterback is now number three behind Wilson for Saturday.
Brown, who turns 36 this month, hasn’t practiced at all this camp. He wants a new contract beyond his deal that ends with the 2021 season.
Penny back
Penny ran with the first-offense for the first time since early this month. The number-two running back behind Chris Carson had been sidelined by a thigh injury.
Carroll said he expects Penny to play Saturday night against the Broncos.
It hasn’t been the start the often-injured Penny wanted or needed entering the final year of his contract as Seattle’s first-round pick in 2018.
Good news on Parkinson
Carroll had better news on tight end Colby Parkinson than he did on Friday, when the coach said the 2020 draft choice had fractured the same foot he broke last summer.
“We got a really good report on Colby that he is not in need of surgery at this point,” Carroll said. “They have a couple of things – procedures – that they’ve done to help him. We’re hopeful that he can get back in a couple of weeks. ...
“At one point we thought it might be much longer than that.”
Thompson emerging
Worth repeating from last week: Recent practice-squad receiver Cody Thompson taking full advantage of unexpected, added reps with Wilson and the starting offense while Eskridge and Lockett have been out.
Thompson, the former high school quarterback and kick returner at Huron High School in northwest Ohio, then University of Toledo wide receiver, had two more noticeable catches on throws from Wilson Tuesday during 11-on-11 scrimmaging. One was for a touchdown.
In Las Vegas last weekend Thompson had a long catch and run across the middle deep in Raiders territory on the offense’s first drive. But Forsythe’s holding penalty negated that play and a scoring chance. Seattle remained scoreless into the third quarter of its 20-7 loss.
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It was the 25-year-old Thompson’s first NFL game since the final game of the 2019 preseason, when he started for Kansas City against Green Bay. The Chiefs cut him a few days after that game. He’s spent the last two seasons on the Seahawks’ practice squad.
Blair hurting
Marquise Blair has missed the last few practices. He has a sore knee that Carroll said isn’t serious.
Blair is returning from reconstructive knee surgery he had 11 months ago. He was the primary nickel, fifth defensive back for the first two games of 2020 before his season-ending injury. The team’s plan is for its second-round pick in 2019 to be the primary nickel again this season.
“Yeah, he’s got some soreness that we’re just trying to make our way through,” Carroll said. “It’s a soreness in the knee cap that’s not part of the structure of it. We just don’t want to push him to a point where it gets nagging and it’s a chronic deal, so we’re going to wait him out a bit.”
Ugo Amadi, a smaller, quicker cover man inside, has been the first nickel back while Blair’s been out.
This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 7:33 AM with the headline "D’Wayne Eskridge practices, Tyler Lockett doesn’t, plus a sign Russell Wilson might play?."
