Rookie mini camp thread

[D-train]

Walker missed game 1 and 13.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... elog/2022/

DJ missed 13 and 14

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/ ... elog/2022/

[Donn Beach]

Pete getting up to speed

"It's a solid group of guys, like we've said from the beginning, the personalities of them," Carroll said. "It feels like there are a number of guys that will have the potential kind of makeup to be leaders. You can just feel it. It's a very confident group, not cocky at all. They're ready to work."

"I really am charged about this group, and the whole offseason, there's been a sense that something special is happening."

Does seem odd for them to be injuring themselves...

Their pair of first-round picks were in Devon Witherspoon and Jaxon Smith-Njigba were limited in Friday's practice as a precaution due to hamstring injuries during the offseason

[D-train]

Pete getting up to speed

"It's a solid group of guys, like we've said from the beginning, the personalities of them," Carroll said. "It feels like there are a number of guys that will have the potential kind of makeup to be leaders. You can just feel it. It's a very confident group, not cocky at all. They're ready to work."

"I really am charged about this group, and the whole offseason, there's been a sense that something special is happening."

Does seem odd for them to be injuring themselves...

Their pair of first-round picks were in Devon Witherspoon and Jaxon Smith-Njigba were limited in Friday's practice as a precaution due to hamstring injuries during the offseason

I know, I brought that up but I saw video of them running around. They look fine.

[D-train]

PC seems jacked about the new QB. lol Imagine 200 TDs in HS. Unreal.

By Bob Condotta
Seattle Times staff reporter
RENTON — The Seahawks made clear how comfortable they feel about their quarterback position when they decided not to use any of their 10 picks in the draft last month to add to the duo of Geno Smith and Drew Lock.

Not that they didn’t think about it. Had Florida’s Anthony Richardson been available at five, they may have had a tough decision. With Richardson gone (as well as Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud, whom the team never figured would be available), they had what they portrayed as a relative slam-dunk to take cornerback Devon Witherspoon of Illinois.

Maybe to the surprise of some, the Seahawks passed on the rest of the quarterback field, thinking none were worth adding to the mix to take away reps from Lock, who at just 26 years old is a player they think has a lot of potential.


When the Seahawks re-signed Lock on a one-year deal worth up to $4 million, they essentially committed to him as the backup and they want to give him as much work as possible in camp and preseason.

Still, the Seahawks are certain to have a third quarterback on the roster — at least on the practice squad if not on the 53-man as they did last year with veteran Sean Mannion.

They added the then-30-year-old Mannion in camp last year and kept him on the practice squad all season, liking his veteran presence in the meeting room and familiarity with the offense of coordinator Shane Waldron. The two were together with the Rams.

This year the Seahawks have taken a different approach. Earlier this week they signed undrafted free-agent rookie Holton Ahlers of East Carolina as the third quarterback on the 90-man roster behind Smith and Lock.

Ahlers, 23, was one of four quarterbacks they had in for rookie minicamp this weekend.

But the other three were tryout players — Jack Coan, who played at Notre Dame and Wisconsin and with San Antonio of the XFL, as well as Reece Udinski of Richmond and Connor Degenhardt of Division II New Haven.

As might be expected, it was the QB actually on the 90-man roster — Ahlers — who appeared to get the bulk of the work in team sessions during minicamp and went first in the rotations during drills.

Ahlers, a 6-foot-3, 227-pound left-hander, impressed during a seven-on-seven late in Saturday’s workout with three on-the-money completions, one a deep pass to E.J. Hicks, a tryout receiver from North Carolina Central who had a handful of catches throughout the day.

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“He seems really confident in himself,” coach Pete Carroll said after Friday’s practice.

Ahlers certainly has some reasons to be as his bio is littered with impressive collegiate numbers.

Ahlers was not only a four-year starter at East Carolina, with 50 starts, but a four-time team captain, setting 10 school records while also finishing seventh in total yards in FBS history with 15,379 (13,933 passing, which ranks 11th in FBS history, and 1,446 rushing) and also accounting for 122 total touchdowns (97 passing and 25 rushing).

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As Carroll gleefully noted, Ahlers was just as prolific in high school, starting all four years at D.H. Conley High in Greenville, N.C., where he was third in state history with 201 total touchdowns (145 passing and 56 rushing). That included throwing for 61 as a senior.

“Come on,” Carroll smiled. “You never heard of anybody throw 61 touchdowns.”

As Carroll also noted, Ahlers worked out of a spread no-huddle offense at East Carolina, in sharp contrast to the prostyle offense he’ll be asked to learn with the Seahawks.

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“He’s got some transitions to make because our style is different than what they played,” Carroll said. “They were coming up with plays off the sidelines all the time. No huddle and all that. But he’ll be fine with it. He’s making transitions. But he’s exciting because it’s kind of like the intangibles that you know are there because you’ve been successful for a long time at the position.”

The offense this weekend featured one familiarity — receiver C.J. Johnson, who played with Ahlers at D.H. Conley and East Carolina and was also signed this week as one of the Seahawks’ 25 undrafted rookie free agents. The 6-1, 225-pound Johnson caught 79 TDs in high school and another 21 in college playing alongside Ahlers.

Witherspoon, Smith-Njigba again limited
Saturday’s roughly 90-minute workout looked like Friday’s in terms of player availability. Once again, the team’s top two picks — Witherspoon and receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (taken 20th) — did not take part in team drills. Each went through conditioning drills and some individual work but sat out team drills.

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Carroll explained Friday that the Seahawks just wanted to be careful with each as they have been dealing with hamstring issues, adding there’s no reason to push either player right now.

“We’re assessing more than anything to make sure we know where we are,” Carroll said.

Smith-Njigba, who played just three games last year at Ohio State while dealing with his hamstring issue, got some regular action during the early walk-through portion of the team’s practice, catching a few long passes, and ran some routes during individual drills.

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The rest of the team’s eight draft picks all appeared to participate fully.

All of the rookies on the 90-man roster will be joined this week by veterans as the Seahawks will begin moving into the final phase of the offseason program, which will consist of 10 Organized Team Activities as well as a mandatory three-day minicamp.

Rule changes in recent years mean that all rookies are eligible for all of the offseason program. Until 2018 players whose colleges had not finished their spring terms were not eligible to take part. Knowing that they’ll have all their rookies for all of OTAs has changed how some teams approach rookie minicamp knowing players will still have a chance to get a lot of offseason work even if they sit out some of rookie minicamp.

[Donn Beach]

Was gonna say, Pete spouts but he backs his shit up...50 years

Just imagine how many mundane conditioning drills Pete Carroll has observed in the 50 years since he took a graduate assistant position at his alma mater, College of the Pacific, in 1973, to launch his coaching career. But we know the truth by now: Carroll sees something special at the dawn of each season, absolutely convinced that there's a championship on the horizon, if only he can just coax it out of them.

[D-train]

Was gonna say, Pete spouts but he backs his shit up...50 years

Just imagine how many mundane conditioning drills Pete Carroll has observed in the 50 years since he took a graduate assistant position at his alma mater, College of the Pacific, in 1973, to launch his coaching career. But we know the truth by now: Carroll sees something special at the dawn of each season, absolutely convinced that there's a championship on the horizon, if only he can just coax it out of them.

I hope so. Mike and I will win almost $12k if they do. ha

[Sibelius Hindemith]

Pete getting up to speed

"It's a solid group of guys, like we've said from the beginning, the personalities of them," Carroll said. "It feels like there are a number of guys that will have the potential kind of makeup to be leaders. You can just feel it. It's a very confident group, not cocky at all. They're ready to work."

"I really am charged about this group, and the whole offseason, there's been a sense that something special is happening."

Does seem odd for them to be injuring themselves...

Their pair of first-round picks were in Devon Witherspoon and Jaxon Smith-Njigba were limited in Friday's practice as a precaution due to hamstring injuries during the offseason

Njigba injured his hamstring over a year ago.

[maoling]

Was gonna say, Pete spouts but he backs his shit up...50 years

Just imagine how many mundane conditioning drills Pete Carroll has observed in the 50 years since he took a graduate assistant position at his alma mater, College of the Pacific, in 1973, to launch his coaching career. But we know the truth by now: Carroll sees something special at the dawn of each season, absolutely convinced that there's a championship on the horizon, if only he can just coax it out of them.

I hope so. Mike and I will win almost $12k if they do. ha

I've watched every meet and greet presser with our draftees this year. There are common personality traits running through all these guys, namely: attitude, gratitude, leadership potential, individuality, hungriness and brains. Time will tell, but I think this may turn out to be our best draft class ever.

Last year was the first time since the 90's that I put down a legit sports bet on a Seattle team, or any team. I got excited midseason when we went on a roll. As soon as DT's dad covered our bet, we kind of tanked for a while and injuries exposed how thin we were. Nobody knows how far they might go this year; this schedule looks tough to me. But right now, I like our depth and I'm happy we put some money on them.

[Donn Beach]

Pete getting up to speed

"It's a solid group of guys, like we've said from the beginning, the personalities of them," Carroll said. "It feels like there are a number of guys that will have the potential kind of makeup to be leaders. You can just feel it. It's a very confident group, not cocky at all. They're ready to work."

"I really am charged about this group, and the whole offseason, there's been a sense that something special is happening."

Does seem odd for them to be injuring themselves...

Their pair of first-round picks were in Devon Witherspoon and Jaxon Smith-Njigba were limited in Friday's practice as a precaution due to hamstring injuries during the offseason

Njigba injured his hamstring over a year ago.

And it seems he injured it again

[D-train]

Pete getting up to speed


Does seem odd for them to be injuring themselves...

Njigba injured his hamstring over a year ago.

And it seems he injured it again

Nope. Watch the vids of him I posted. He is fine. They are just being over precautious with a prize asset.