Seahawk Fans Observe Talented Players at Football Fest

After a week and a half at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center, the Seahawks headed back to Lumen Field for the annual pre-season Football Fest. This event allows fans of the team to watch practices and go through a day of game-like preparation in the home stadium in Seattle. “Great to be back at Lumen, great practice, great show out from the 12s.” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald commented. “It was a great atmosphere, music was bumping, guys were into it. We’ve gone the whole week now, so they’re sore, but great spirits, great practice, so day off tomorrow, then we’ll be back at it on Monday morning.”

“I just think that the spirit of the group right now and the intention of what we’re trying to achieve is spot on. It's right where we need it. We’re not perfect by any stretch, and there are a lot of things that we’re chasing right now. We’re kind of done with the install phase, so what we were talking about the other day is, ‘Hey, now we’re circling back, let’s focus on getting good at what we do.” Macdonald had added on in a later statement, but now let’s get into the observations from Saturday night’s practice.

When the Seahawks were in one-on-one drills, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, a standout throughout this year’s camp, used a nifty move to get past fellow Pro-Bowler and 2023 first-round pick Devon Witherspoon for a touchdown catch. A few minutes later, his route ran towards Smith-Njigba to find a hole in the defense for a huge gain. Seemingly every day, and with increasing frequency as he and Sam Darnold continue to build chemistry, Smith-Njigba has been making big plays in practice, and he’s leaving a strong impression on his quarterback. “He’s just one of a kind, just the way he can get in and out of routes, the shiftiness,” Darnold said. “For him, just the way he gets in and out of cuts, his speed, it’s everything.”

Darnold then likened Smith-Njigba's movements to those of a hockey player, a much more complementary description than when Mike Holmgren famously joked that Matt Hasselbeck looked like a giraffe on ice skates when describing his quarterback’s running style. “I described the way that he moves like a hockey player on ice,” Darnold said. “It feels like sometimes he’s just skating out there the way he can get in and out of cuts. Even not being on his team, I always felt like he was one of the best guys, running after the catch, in the NFL, so to see it in person, seeing it every single day during camp has been special.”

At this time last year, Darnold spent his camp practicing against a tough Vikings defense, something that made for some challenging practice, but that ultimately made him and the offense better. This season, Darnold is in a similar situation against Seattle’s defense, which is loaded with lots of talent, running a very challenging team strategy scheme. But it also has the advantage of continuity that the new-look offense does not have currently. So, while the defense might be getting the better of the offense at times in this camp, it will make the offense better in the long run.

“Yeah, very similar to last year,” Darnold added. “A lot of talent up front, a lot of talent in the back end. There's talent everywhere you see, and a good scheme. It’s very similar that way, very similar in a lot of the pressures, a lot of the various fronts that you can bring on second and long and third down. It makes things very challenging in training camp. It’s always nice to go against that in training camp. I learned the hard way last year, going against it. It was very frustrating at times, but when you understand how much it helps when you get out there during the season and you’re playing a team that doesn’t necessarily do all those things on third down, it makes it a lot easier.”

While Kenneth Walker is the Seahawks’ starting running back, they don’t feel like there’s much, if any, drop-off when they turn to Zach Charbonnet, who was very impressive in starting duty last year when Walker was dealing with an injury. The two have different running playstyles, but both are offensive, and both have big-play ability. Charbonnet had several impressive runs, most notably bouncing a run outside before taking off a long touchdown on the right sideline that day.  “Zach is just a stud,” Macdonald said, “Everything you want in a person and a football player, that’s him. He just does it every day, same person, great spirit, strong as an ox, does everything right. What do you want from a football player? Zach Charbonnet.”

NFL teams only carry one long snapper on the roster, and it’s common for one player to serve as the emergency long snapper, though the hope is to never see that player in that role in a game. For the Seahawks, fullback Brady Russell handles that job, and with Chris Stoll dealing with a back injury, Russell was the long snapper on Saturday. Russell had a few solid and a few errant snaps in the early portion of practice, but his snap camp during the team session of practice, which came on a 49-yard field goal in a simulated overtime setting, was on the money, allowing Jason Myers to split the uprights.

Russell, in addition to being a special team standout, has shown his versatility in camp, juggling fullback and tight end duties, and for a day at least, he added another position to his role. “We slowed the rush down a little bit; we can’t afford to lose Brady,” Macdonald said with a laugh. “It’s one of these things, you have to be ready for these things and go through all these possible scenarios, but Brady’s the man, he practices it on his own. He’s awesome.”

Devon Witherspoon and Riq Woolen, who is looking to bounce back this year, are two of the league's elite cornerbacks, having earned three Pro Bowl selections between them, which also makes them two of the team’s more popular players. And it was clear after Saturday’s practice that those two don’t take that for granted, as they were among the many players who spent time signing autographs for fans long after practice. While plenty of players were generous with their time, Woolen and Witherspoon went above and beyond, working their way down opposite sides of the field, signing, still in full uniform, for a full 50 minutes after practice ended.