The Seattle Seahawks are expected to play many of their presumed starters for the first time this preseason when the team squares off against the Minnesota Vikings at 5:00 p.m. PT on Sunday evening.
Many of Seattle’s positions are already set, or appear to be at least, but coach Pete Carroll’s culture of constant competition means that anything could happen in the rest of August.
That makes nearly everything at least somewhat of a storyline, although there are certainly positions that will be more intriguing than others as we turn our attention to the Vikings game this evening.
Here are three things to watch for.
How does Seattle divide up QB snaps?
The Seahawks now have four quarterbacks on their active roster; starter Russell Wilson and a trio of potential backups – Geno Smith, Paxton Lynch and J.T. Barrett.
Wilson is expected to play a handful of snaps at the beginning of the game, but probably won’t see the field beyond the first drive or two.
Smith is recovering from a minor procedure to remove a cyst from his knee, and as of now it is unclear if he will play in Sunday’s contest.
“Geno did get back on the practice field today,” Carroll commented on Friday. “This is a remarkable recovery already, just to get back on the field today. We’ll see. We are going to do one day at a time, see where he is.”
If Smith plays, expect to see him split time with Lynch after Wilson departs, which may make it tough for the recently signed 24-year-old Barrett to see the field at all.
“That’s not the top priority right now,” Carroll commented about getting Barrett into the game. “He’s just getting started with us.”
The backup QB battle is likely still a two-man race between Smith and Lynch. Lynch may have taken the upper hand with a strong performance in the team’s preseason opener, but Smith still has plenty of time to overtake him – particularly if he gets onto the field on Sunday.
Will anyone step up in the nickel back position battle?
The Seahawks have four players who are competing to be Seattle’s starting nickelback this season, a position vacated by the loss of Justin Coleman in free agency.
Veterans Akeem King and Jamar Taylor are battling rookie Ugo Amadi and Kalan Reed, and so far no one has separated themselves from the pack.
“All of those guys are healthy and playing strong, and competing, they’re all well into our system and technique wise they look good,” Carroll commented on Friday. “They look like our kind of guys. So, we just got to let the play time show, and let the competition play itself out. I’m really excited about the group in general because everybody’s really battling, it’s going to take all four games before we know what’s going on.”
Reed in particular has impressed lately, and could sneak his way onto the roster if he performs well on Sunday and for the rest of the preseason.
Amadi has the safest roster spot thanks to his versatility as a safety, core special teamer and potentially a punt returner.
King played well in a limited role on defense last year and as a special teamer, and Taylor is an experienced veteran who played well in 2017 but had a rough year last year.
Any of the four could win the job outright, or coach could go with a committee approach and play matchups, an idea he brought up earlier in the offseason.
Sunday’s game will go a long way toward determining who has the upper hand at that position.
Who returns kicks and punts?
The Seahawks are hoping to transition star returner Tyler Lockett away from the special teams so he can focus on his new role as the team’s No. 1 receiver.
That is no easy task, as Lockett has been one of the best return men in the entire league, both on kicks and punts.
The Seahawks held Lockett out of the first preseason game, and kick and punt return duties were handled by five different players: David Moore, Keenan Reynolds, Ugo Amadi, Terry Wright and John Ursua.
Moore returned one punt and Amadi returned two. Although neither of them were officially credited with any yards gained, Amadi had two nice returns that were negated by penalties.
In the kick return game, Reynolds returned two for 48 total yards while Wright had one return for 20 yards, Ursua one for 17 and Amadi one for 15.
Those five each have a chance to compete for return duties again on Sunday, but they’ll be joined by running back Rashaad Penny (who returned a few kicks last year) and J.D. McKissic, who Carroll admitted might be the frontrunner to return this season.
“J.D McKissic has always been one of the guys we’ve liked putting back there,” Carroll said during minicamp. “He can catch punts and kickoffs. That’s the first guy we think of so that would be the guy we go to.”
The Seahawks are a long way away from determining who will return kicks and punts – if they don’t just go back to Lockett – but Sunday’s game should provide a clearer picture at that spot going forward.
