Marshawn Lynch? He wasn\u2019t there. Because he couldn\u2019t get fined(!)<\/p>\n
The NFL players who miss voluntary OTAs may have contract issues and want to send a not-so-subtle message to their team. Or they just want to spend more time at home with family. Or on vacation. Anywhere but in practices they aren\u2019t required to be at in June, three-plus months before the season begins.<\/p>\n
Some of the most accomplished show up in the offseason only when they absolutely have to, such as the lone mandatory minicamp Seattle has over three days the middle of next week.<\/p>\n
But these 2025 Seahawks are different.<\/p>\n
Kicker Jason Myers (34) and nose tackle Johnathan Hankins (33) are the oldest players on this team. They have played in the NFL a combined 22 seasons. They are here.<\/p>\n
Myers was kicking away, as usual, Thursday, while Hankins was on the field in his helmet and 97 jersey going through drills.<\/p>\n
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Byron Murphy (obscured, second helmet from the bottom left) and Brandon Pili (center left) charge off the snap into fellow defensive linemen during drills at the sixth practice of Seattle Seahawks organized team activities (OTAs) June 5, 2025, in Renton. Gregg Bell\/The News Tribune<\/p>\n
DeMarcus Lawrence, also 33 years old, is entering his 12th NFL season. His first 11 years were with with the Dallas Cowboys. He spent Wednesday in one of his first practices with Seattle doing pass-rush drills on the side field. He was working with fellow edge rushers Boye Mafe and Derick Hall, who are seven and nine years Lawrence\u2019s junior.<\/p>\n
A few yards away, Jarran Reed was working on his footwork and hands charging into fellow defensive linemen. Reed is 32. The Seahawks drafted him three U.S. presidents ago, in 2016.<\/p>\n
Leonard Williams, the Seahawks\u2019 $64.5 million, Pro Bowl defensive end<\/a>? Yep, he\u2019s been here, too. The 30-year-old veteran heartily jogged onto the field to begin yet another OTA practice of his 11-year career this week.<\/p>\n The last two weeks, the 2025 Seahawks have had every player on their roster, 100% of 90 guys, veterans, rookies, starters and reserves, at these voluntary workouts. That\u2019s for one of the only times in recent memory around here.<\/p>\n It speaks to what Mike Macdonald has built in 16 months with one season leading the remade Seahawks.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a sign the league\u2019s youngest head coach when Seattle hired him last year at age 36 is getting the buy-in from veteran players every young leader must have to succeed.<\/p>\n Coach Mike Macdonald talks with 2023 Pro Bowl safety Julian Love at the start of the fifth practice of Seahawks organized team activities June 4, 2025, at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center in Renton. Gregg Bell\/The News Tribune<\/p>\n One of the most important \u2014 and most recently paid \u2014 players on the team thinks the perfect attendance, including from new starting quarterback Sam Darnold plus former Super Bowl MVP wide receiver Cooper Kupp on the remodeling offense<\/a>, is a sign of what\u2019s to come for Seattle in 2025. And beyond.<\/p>\n \u201cI think for this team, I think we\u2019re bought into the goal and the mission,\u201d middle linebacker Ernest Jones IV said after practice Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the goal is to put another banner up in here. And I think everyone believes in that.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones is the defensive signal-caller and thudding tackler who transformed Macdonald\u2019s defense after Seattle traded with Tennessee for him<\/a> in the middle of last season. The Seahawks just gave him a $33 million contract<\/a> in March. He doesn\u2019t need to be here for these OTAs, either.<\/p>\n But he is.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to show up to work,\u201d Jones said, \u201cand do we have to do to make sure we get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n The News Tribune asked Jones if the players talked internally about making sure they showed up for these voluntary weeks.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t something that we just sat there and say, \u2018Hey, make sure you\u2019re here,\u2019\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut if we want to be who we say we\u2019re going to be, if we want to do what we want to do, and as when the best teams I\u2019ve been around (including as a Super Bowl champion with the Los Angeles Rams), OTAs were really good.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I think that\u2019s just a direct reflection of what the work you get in here and what carries you into the season.\u201d<\/p>\n Middle linebacker and defensive signal caller Ernest Jones IV at the start of the fifth organized team activities practice of the Seattle Seahawks offseason, June 4, 2025, at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center in Renton. Gregg Bell\/The News Tribune<\/p>\n Jarran Reed\u2019s reason to be at OTAs<\/p>\n Seattle\u2019s defense has all 11 starters from last season returning off a 10-win team. That defense is the strength of this team, by defensive-guru Macdonald\u2019s design.<\/p>\n Reed\u2019s a central part of it. He\u2019s the veteran tackle in the middle of the defensive line.<\/p>\n His daughter Jacey was born the spring the Seahawks drafted him in the second round out of Alabama. She just turned nine.<\/p>\n The defensive tackle could have been home with her. But he\u2019s here with all the other Seahawks, voluntarily.<\/p>\n He said the players know this is the time to bond, with each other and their coaches. He says the players are truly \u201cjelling\u201d with the coaches.<\/p>\n \u201cJust to build a chemistry,\u201d Reed said this week, \u201cand for one, just to be around the teammates.<\/p>\n \u201cI like being here. It was actually fun. When you\u2019re away and you\u2019re watching film (by yourself remotely), you\u2019re just missing a lot and missing the camaraderie, that togetherness, building that connection with your teammates. That\u2019s the time that we use for right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Potential Seahawks payoff?<\/p>\n Jones thinks having all of the returning defensive starters practicing together when they don\u2019t have to in May and June is going to pay massive dividends in December, January into, yes, perhaps February.<\/p>\n That\u2019s when the Super Bowl is.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be special,\u201d Jones said of his Seahawks defense.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited. I don\u2019t want to give too much because we\u2019ve got to go put the work in. But, if the vision lives up to what I think, yeah, it\u2019s going to be something crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n After seeing them in these OTAs, what does Jones think about his defensive teammates already, a month and half before training camp begins?<\/p>\n \u201cHoopers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI like us, man. I like us versus anything and anybody.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s how I\u2019ll leave it.\u201d<\/p>\n Quarterbacks Sam Darnold (14), Drew Lock (2) and Jalen Milroe (6, right) stretch for the fourth practice of Seahawks voluntary organized team activities (OTAs) June 2, 2025, at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center in Renton. Gregg Bell\/The News Tribune<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Even when they were going at their very best \u2014 back-to-back Super Bowl best \u2014 the Seahawks had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107877,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2081],"tags":[14163,27316,27315,18452,1081,257,7834,5735,14161,2868,12844,7,753,8487,27314,7016,1329,21543,58,311,2860,6,8405,9735,27313,1878,238,237,261,2635,526,9885],"class_list":{"0":"post-107876","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-seattle-seahawks","8":"tag-boye-mafe","9":"tag-brandon-pili","10":"tag-bruce-irvin","11":"tag-byron-murphy","12":"tag-cooper-kupp","13":"tag-dallas-cowboys","14":"tag-defensive-linemen","15":"tag-demarcus-lawrence","16":"tag-derick-hall","17":"tag-drew-lock","18":"tag-ernest-jones","19":"tag-football","20":"tag-jalen-milroe","21":"tag-jarran-reed","22":"tag-jason-myers","23":"tag-johnathan-hankins","24":"tag-julian-love","25":"tag-leonard-williams","26":"tag-los-angeles-rams","27":"tag-marshawn-lynch","28":"tag-mike-macdonald","29":"tag-nfl","30":"tag-otas","31":"tag-practice","32":"tag-renton","33":"tag-sam-darnold","34":"tag-seahawks","35":"tag-seattle","36":"tag-seattle-seahawks","37":"tag-seattleseahawks","38":"tag-tennessee","39":"tag-virginia-mason-athletic-center"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Coach](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/378368edcacbb848d872682321da2b72.jpeg\"\/)
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