Jul. 25—RENTON, Wash. — The smart approach, after watching the 2026 Seattle Seahawks for a couple hours of non-contact drills, would be to exercise caution regarding expectations.
Yeah, well, forget that. These guys are obviously loaded. Even in skivvies, playing two-hand touch, it’s pretty obvious they’ll be very serious contenders to defend their Super Bowl title.
In important ways, it’s a matter of numbers: Players involved in almost 90% of last year’s offensive and defensive snaps are still in Seahawks uniforms — and can benefit from that extra season of experience, at a high level, in similar schemes.
But in other ways, it’s more of a matter of balancing the confidence of knowing the path to the Super Bowl with the understanding that the process needs to once again start at the very beginning.
That’s what Saturday’s practice was all about, with this very crucial message being sent: Don’t let the gaudy Super Bowl rings keep you from getting your hands dirty.
More than half of Saturday’s practice, in front of a nice crowd of fans at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center, was spent reviewing the kind of fundamentals most of these guys learned in junior high.
Literally, for linemen, these massive dudes were focused for a full period on taking the first steps out of their stances.
“It’s about taking care of business one step at a time,” coach Mike Macdonald said. “It sounds like cliches a lot of the time.”
Give Macdonald credit for recognizing cliches when he uses them, rare for the cliché addicted in his profession.
But they’re repeated because they so often send important messages. And Macdonald’s have resonated to an extraordinary extent, getting the Hawks to the Super Bowl in just his second season in Seattle.
On a mostly-cloudy afternoon, the resident pair of bald eagles still circled before practice, and extra camera and mic wielders from HBO’s “Hard Knocks” documentary were around to gather footage for their series first show scheduled for Aug. 4.
Macdonald said the baby-steps approach is once again important to help the returning veterans to be reminded how they started their long drive to the Super Bowl win over New England.
Turning the page, he called it.
“Guys have been awesome,” he said. “They’ve done really a great job with their mindset.”
Even if they’re returning, “guys have new perspectives, and we’re all kind of new people in this situation.”
Here’s what jumped out during the almost-two-hour session:
Jadarian Price was only the fourth running back ever taken in the first round by the Seahawks. Although he averaged 6 yards a carry as a backup for Notre Dame, he didn’t get as much action as the typical first-rounder, and provided very little evidence he could be a threat in the passing game.
Saturday, he caught a flair pass toward the sideline that was not on the money, and required a shift of gears to get to. It wasn’t an easy play, and he caught it. Pretty convincing.
Price later bounced outside on a poorly blocked interior run, and showed the speed to outrun linebackers to the corner.
Again, a couple plays in non-contact action, but promising nonetheless.
Will he be able to fill the spot vacated by Kenneth Walker III, the now departed Super Bowl MVP? Probably not right away. But it’s likely the offensive line will operate at a higher level from the start of the season than it has in recent years.
Under coach John Benton, the offensive line turned into one of the better crews in the league, and the two-deep off that team return, with a nice-looking rookie, Beau Stephens, challenging at a guard spot.
Receiver/returner Tory Horton, who impressed early last season but limited down the stretch by injury, was back in action and looking full speed.
Another injured rookie last season, tight end Elijah Arroyo, shook loose for a deep connection on a broken-play pass by quarterback Sam Darnold.
The rookies, Macdonald said, have shown the common thread they demand: respect, hard work, talented.
But they have much to learn.
“You have to have the spirit of always evaluating the process,” he said. “Nothing too big, nothing too small, just try to make it better. The process will be on-going.”
Yes, the process. Never forget the process.
Expect it to continue well into the playoffs this winter.
