Once a year, every August, I invite a friend or two to take the day off from work and go out to Renton, Washington to watch the Seattle Seahawks practice with me. Since I am the owner of a small landscaping business, this is a pretty easy proposition to win with my co-worker buds.

“Do you want to hedge a bunch of laurels on a orchard ladder in the blistering sun, or would you rather sit on a lush berm close to Lake Washington and watch large millionaires push each other around for a couple hours?”

On Tuesday, we got out there, and saw some pretty cool stuff. Here are my notes from the practice by position groups.

Quarterbacks

Russell Wilson was sharp. Per usual, he was impressive throwing on the move, dropping dimes between defenders to receivers. His deep pass continues to be a thing of absolute beauty.

Paxton Lynch was the sole backup, and looks considerably different, but I thought he moved well and made some nice passes, here and there, for a guy that has been labeled as a first round draft bust. Does he win the backup spot? I don’t know, but there seems to be some interesting tools there.

Running Backs

Chris Carson is the Real Deal. Like, wow. Seriously. On a field full of impressive looking human beings, I thought he impressed the most. He was explosive as a runner, and also caught the ball really well.

Lots of passes were going to the backs. Carson, and Rashaad Penny were catching with ease. This felt like an area of focus during practice between these two players.

Receivers

Rookie receiver DK Metcalf’s hype train is worth jumping on board. I was a wee bit resistant until this camp. Seeing him live, though, it’s really difficult not to get excited about what he eventually might become. He had some “wow” catches against Seattle’s starting corners in tight coverage, and it feels like he is developing a connection with Russell Wilson. If this guy can stay relatively healthy, it feels like Seattle might have landed the steal of the 2019 NFL Draft.

A couple other rookie receivers that caught the eye were Jazz Ferguson, and John Ursua, but for different reasons.

Ferguson is another big receiver, even bigger than Metcalf, and he seems to catch the ball effortlessly. You notice him on the field, whether he runs go patterns or crossing slants. It’s going to be interesting watching him in the preseason. He looks like a guy that could legitimately push for a roster spot. He might not be a guy that will make it to their practice squad should they cut him.

Ursua, on the other hand, is a short, quick slot receiver, I think very much in that sort of Doug Baldwin mode. I’m not saying he’s the next Baldwin, but his suddenness coming out of breaks is evident, and he caught really well. He’s another one that feels like he could push for a roster spot.

On the whole, it feels like Seattle has an interesting collection of receivers. It was interesting seeing the bigger ones like Metcalf, Ferguson, and Jaron Brown catching inside slants over the middle. Could the Seahawks be looking to get bigger inside?

Tyler Lockett was fun to watch, and his chemistry with Russell Wilson was on constant display. Tyler Lockett fully looks like the guy ready to take over this group.

I thought the funnest play, though, was David Moore taking a quick short pass and out-juking the entire defense for what felt like a forty yard score. His athleticism reminds me a lot of Golden Tate.

I’m a lot higher on this receiving group now that I saw this practice. A lot higher.

Tight End

Will Dissly looks completely healthy from his patellar tendon injury suffered last year, and was impressive to watch. He moved and caught the ball with ease, and Wilson found him on a long touchdown pass as he snuck by the safeties with some kind of a Jedi mind trick, I think. If he fully comes back from that injury, I think he’s unquestionably Seattle’s starting tight end, and probably the starting tight end for a long time.

I’m really high on Dissly. I think Wilson is too. You could sense him looking for him, and during team stretches, he was right there next to Wilson. I found that interesting.

Offensive Line

I will be honest, I didn’t spend a ton of time looking long here. I was actually more focused on how the defensive line was taking care of business and their rotations. On the whole, this unit seemed to function smoothly together on run plays, and it seemed like the interior linemen where holding up decent enough in pass protection, giving a few pressures here and there, but also doubling up on guys fairly well, and they seemed assignment sound.

Right tackle Germaine Ifedi still seems like a guy who can have issues with speed rushers. Cassius Marsh, and Barkevious Mingo worked him good a few times. I think Brandon Jackson even got some pressure over there.

Defensive Line

Barkevious Mingo is looking like an interesting option as a rush end. They flipped him from the right and the left side of the line, and he got pressures off Duane Brown and Germaine Ifedi. Going against Ifedi, he instinctively got his long arms up on a quick sideline pass, and batted it down like a power forward. It’s weird to say that Seattle might have a diamond in the rough with a seven year player, but I kinda think that, as a rush end, he might legitimately have something to uncork. I’m marking him as a player I’m kinda excited to see in these first preseason games.

Cassius Marsh was the other starting rush end, and looked solid enough. I’ve always liked him as a player, and am glad he’s back with Seattle. He was the starting LEO in the base defense today.

Poona Ford was active at defensive tackle, and got at least one pretty decent inside rush that I noticed. He’s a player we are going to focus on more in the coming days.

Rasheem Green was back at practice after missing Monday, and was seeing a lot of looks as an inside pass rushing defensive tackle with the second unit. That might be his niche on the team if he doesn’t win one of the starting end spots.

Seattle did some interesting stuff with stand up ends with the second unit. They might have been showing a look that Denver brings for this Thursday’s preseason game, but it possibly had me thinking of new wrinkles they might bring this season with ends that can also play linebacker.

Linebacker

The starters were KJ Wright, Austin Calitro, and Mychal Kendricks in the base defense. Chris Carson and Rashaad Penny broke off some big runs against these guys. It’s tough to really gauge it because there was no tackling, but I’m going to say that if Bobby Wagner were in there, it wouldn’t have looked like that so easily.

It was interesting to see Wright and Kendricks taking part in pass rush drills with the defensive line. I have a sneaking feeling that Seattle might blur the lines a bit more this year between their traditional 4-3 looks and some variations of a 3-4, and be an even more hybrid defense. As mentioned above with the standup ends on rush downs, that’s kind of more of 3-4 look in nickel.

It appeared that rookie linebacker Ben Burr-Kirven was getting mixed in with he starting nickel defense, and that is exciting. I like that guy’s potential a lot.

Secondary

I also didn’t spend a lot of time looking hard here. It seemed like Akeem King made a nice play on a Russell Wilson pass. Second year corner Simeon Thomas looked to have made a nice play breaking up a short pass.

It was interesting seeing rookie second round pick Marquise Blair whenever he was on the field. He was another guy that your eyes kind of went to. Seattle would shift him down towards the line of scrimmage to contain like a linebacker, and he should really good instincts. He also bounced between strong and free safety a few times.

I thought Shaquill Griffin looked strong and instinctive at corner, and had the first impact play by the defense, darting in and breaking up a Wilson pass to tight end Nick Vannett. I’m fully expecting a bounce back season from him this year.

Special Teams

Jason Meyers looks really good kicking the ball.

Closing Thoughts

If I am Pete Carroll I am probably not playing Russell Wilson, Chris Carson, DK Metcalf, or Will Dissly much against these Broncos on Thursday night. I’m resting those guys. It will be compelling to want to play Dissly because he practiced so well, but he is just getting back from his injury he suffered early last year. Save him, I say.

But if I am Pete Carroll, I want to see a lot more of Poona Ford, Jazz Ferguson, Ben Burr-Kirven, Rasheem Green, Jacob Martin, Shaquem Griffin, John Ursua, Barkevous Mingo as a rush end, and Marquise Blair at safety. I want to see some answers with these guys.

Is Mingo going to be valuable as a nickel pass rusher? Is Poona Ford a legitimate option as a pass rushing defensive tackle? Is Ferguson too dynamic of a big target to try to sneak onto the practice squad? Does BBK look like he belongs as a nickel backer?

All of these guys are intriguing, but all carry a degree of question marks. Rest the guys you have no questions about, I say.

Go Hawks.