The Seahawks opened their preseason with their starting defense on the field against the Chargers, but after two quick three-and-outs, the No. 1 defense took the rest of the night off. And over the course of the first two preseason games, that was all the playing time the starters on either side of the ball got, aside from a couple of young players competing for first-string roles.
When the Seahawks host the Browns Saturday night at Lumen Field, however, most of the team’s starters on both sides of the ball, including quarterback Geno Smith, will get at least some playing time, head coach Mike Macdonald announced after Thursday’s practice.
“The plan is you’ll see a lot of starters to start the game,” Macdonald said. “How many reps and all that it kind of on a per person type basis. But the plan is to see a good amount of the guys. We got a couple nicks and bruises here. We’ll hold some guys out so there’s some guys you might not see that you might expect. For the most part, most of the starters will start the game. Geno included.”
Different teams around the league are taking varying approaches to how they handle the preseason, with some teams resting starters all together, and some playing them in multiple games. Asked why he is choosing to get most of his starters some action this weekend, Macdonald explained, “Well, different reasons. Offense, we just hadn’t had a chance to get everybody out there and operate, especially at our home field. Go through all those things and there’s something to putting the pads on and actually going out and moving the ball before we do it for real. Defensively, we only got six snaps in the first game so it’s an opportunity to go out there and put some more good film on tape and have some confidence going into the first game.”
As for what Macdonald wants to see from his team in its final preseason game, he pointed the ongoing competition at right guard between Anthony Bradford and rookie Christian Haynes, as well as the battle going on for roster spots at multiple positions.
“We’ve got to make a decision in the interior O-line quickly, specifically right guard,” he said. “There’s a lot of depth questions to be had special teams wise in the defensive backfield, so it may not be that exciting for you guys but for us as coaches it’s an opportunity to go out there and earn yourself a job in this league whether it be with us or another team. We’ll talk about it with the guys over the next couple days, but there are so many examples of people earning a spot in this third preseason game. Everybody’s on their own timeline to earn themselves an opportunity to play professional football, which is an awesome blessing so I’m excited. It’s not easy to have this opportunity to make your dreams come true so it’s going to be a fun night.”