Analysis: 12 Seahawks to Watch in Exhibition Opener vs. Raiders
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Seattle Seahawks center Christian Haynes snaps the ball during a drill in training camp at the VMAC. Credit: Corbin Smith/Emerald City Spectrum [/caption]
RENTON, Wash. - Moving one step closer to their Week 1 opener, the Seattle Seahawks will kick off the preseason on Thursday night with several familiar faces returning to town as members of the Las Vegas Raiders.
Trying to respectfully downplay the significance of Pete Carroll and Geno Smith coming back to Lumen Field for the first time wearing silver and black, Macdonald shifted the focus to the importance of exhibition contests with numerous positional battles still unsettled and a great opportunity to see Seattle’s rookie class suited up for game action for the first time among other things.
“There's so much to get out of these games,” Macdonald said following Tuesday’s practice. “There are a lot of position battles that you want to see, you want to see how guys handle live and in color schemes that they haven't been seeing the last X amount of practices. Going against other people is really exciting, being in front of the 12s is going to be a lot of fun and we want to win the game. That's how we'll call it, and that's how we'll handle all the situations, but getting our guys great reps as well. We want to get our guys an opportunity to go show what they've been practicing and training to do.”
Looking towards Thursday’s preseason opener, who should fans have their eyes on when the Seahawks battle the Raiders? Here are 12 players to watch, including a quartet of draft picks, two players vying for a starting job on the offensive line, and several exciting undrafted rookies:
Jalen Milroe
Unlike Russell Wilson more than a decade ago, Milroe won’t be playing for a shot to start out of the gate for the Seahawks with Sam Darnold entrenched atop the depth chart, but he has a chance to tantalize with his dual-threat talents in much the same way. The third-round pick out of Alabama has had a solid training camp thus far, regularly connecting on downfield throws while orchestrating the third-team offense, including hitting undrafted rookie receiver Tyrone Broden for a long touchdown in Saturday’s Football Fest. Short and intermediate throws have remained inconsistent accuracy-wise, as all eyes will be on his lower body mechanics to see if improvements on the practice field carry over to game action with pass rushers coming after him. His speed and running ability have yet to be much of a focal point with defenders not able to tackle him on the practice field, but that will change on Thursday night, creating the first real opportunity for him to show off his 4.39 speed with the ball in his hands both on designed runs and extended scrambles.
Jacardia Wright
With Ken Walker III and Zach Charbonnet set to be in bubble wrap with ball caps on for Thursday’s preseason opener, reserve running backs will be receiving all of the snaps against Las Vegas. Rookie Damien Martinez and George Holani will open the game with the starters, but it remains to be seen how long they will play before handing the keys to Wright, a bruising 218-pound battering ram out of Missouri State. On the practice field, Wright has impressed with his contact balance and physicality, two areas that could be even more pronounced in a true game setting against other backups. Look for him to be fed the ball early and often once he checks in, and with Milroe likely being the one at quarterback, he should have plenty of room to operate with opponents concerned about quarterback runs. He also figures to factor into the receiving game too, as he caught 75 passes in college and will be the primary dump off option out of the backfield.
Tory Horton
Rehabbing from a knee/hamstring surgery that prematurely ended his senior season at Colorado State, Horton didn’t participate in team drills and sat out most of the practices in the spring. But it’s hard to tell in camp, as the now-healthy receiver has rapidly shot up the depth chart, seizing first-team reps away from Marquez Valdes-Scantling over the past five or six practices and impressing with big plays every single day. A smooth route runner with elite speed and underrated shiftiness, he has made numerous catches downfield and also flashed after the catch, but the stakes will be raised when he’s actually playing against another team in a real game setting. Since he has performed well in camp, it’s possible he will only play for a series or two before putting on a ball cap for the rest of the game, but he will be a primary target for Drew Lock and should get a chance to return a kickoff or two on special teams in his debut.
Elijah Arroyo
Tabbed with the 50th pick of the 2025 NFL Draft, Arroyo hasn’t done anything to slow down the hype train since Seattle cut veteran Noah Fant two days before training camp. After dropping only one practice in his college career at Miami, his soft, reliable hands have been on display throughout his first NFL camp, regularly plucking balls in his general vicinity with a large catch radius and smoothly transitioning into a runner after the catch. His field stretching capabilities have also been evident, including hauling in a 30-yard touchdown from Milroe in Monday’s most recent padded practice. Like Horton, he should be one of the top targets at Lock’s disposal who will actually play to start off Thursday’s game, presenting the opportunity to generate a few big plays in the passing game. Possibly more importantly, however, this will be a good early litmus test to see where he fits into Klint Kubiak’s offense working against defensive ends and outside linebackers as a blocker, an area he wasn’t known for in college.
Mike Jerrell
After getting thrown into the fire as a rookie out of Division II Findlay with a trio of starts at right tackle last season, Jerrell has looked far more comfortable with a full offseason under his belt, visibly stronger with improved technique. The Seahawks have been using him primarily at left tackle in camp, and at least on the practice field, he has made a successful transition to blindside protector so far, excelling at picking up blitzes and holding up well against the team’s edge defenders. But actual game action against another opponent will be a step up for him at a new position, particularly as a run blocker in a zone-heavy scheme, providing a valuable audition opportunity as he aims to secure a reserve roster spot as a swing tackle behind starters Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas.
Anthony Bradford/Christian Haynes
To this point, the right guard competition seems to have entered soap opera status, as Haynes spent the entirety of OTAs and the first week as the primary starter with the first-team offense, only to lose those reps to Bradford, Jalen Sundell, and most recently Sataoa Laumea in a second week free fall. Along with struggling to adapt to the center position with airmailed snaps on the regular, the former third round pick swapped sides to left guard earlier this week with Laumea returning to the right side, which isn’t a positive sign for his trajectory on the depth chart. To have any shot at climbing back into the conversation, he needs a strong preseason showing badly, regardless of what position(s) he lines up at against the Raiders.
Meanwhile, as Macdonald indicated after Tuesday’s practice, Bradford has yet another chance to prove that he can improve his consistency after a pair of roller coaster seasons marred by penalties and pass protection struggles. The former fourth round pick out of LSU started 21 games in those two seasons and has flashed starter-caliber traits in small doses, but to seal the deal and re-earn the job, he has to demonstrate that he can whittle down on the miscues that hindered him the past two years. He should draw the start against Las Vegas, providing a big opportunity for him to try and capitalize on, especially with Sundell likely to play center in place of a banged-up Olu Oluwatimi.
Tyreke Smith
Formerly a fifth round pick for the Seahawks, Smith has bounced around in three NFL seasons, spending time with the Cardinals in between two stints in the Pacific Northwest with just three regular season games on his resume. Still, Seattle liked what it saw from him on the practice squad last year and re-signed him in January, and with Uchenna Nwosu potentially out to start the season after undergoing offseason knee surgery, a reserve spot in the edge defender group remains up for grabs for him to win. In the past, he has been a stout run defender in preseason games, including leading all edge defenders in run stops in 2023, but his pass rushing numbers have failed to meet expectations. If he wants to make a serious push at a spot on the 53 this time around, it will be crucial for him to turn up the heat on quarterbacks, starting with the Raiders’ backups on Thursday night.
Jared Ivey
Hard-nosed, physical, and a bit of an agitator, Ivey has had an interesting first training camp with the Seahawks after signing as an undrafted free agent out of Ole Miss. Previously a first-team All-SEC selection, the 6-5, 274-pound defender plays with violent hands and quicker burst off the line than his subpar athletic testing would suggest, and those traits have allowed him to flash periodically in camp on tackles for loss and swatted passes at the line of scrimmage. At the same time, he’s been a bit in the doghouse for making contact with a quarterback, engaging in a post-drill spar with Bradford, and taking players to the ground when tackling is prohibited. Luckily for him, tackling will be allowed on Thursday night, and posting a strong stat line racking up a bunch of stops and generating a few pressures from the interior would be very beneficial to his quest for a reserve rotational spot on the defensive line.
Jamie Sheriff
This time a year ago, Sheriff came out of nowhere to emerge as a preseason star for the Seahawks, ranking among league leaders in sacks and quarterback hits as an undrafted outside linebacker, leading to him being claimed off waivers by the Panthers to open the season before eventually returning on Seattle’s practice squad. Fast forwarding to the present, he remains in the midst of a major positional change, as Macdonald and the coaching staff transitioned him to off-ball linebacker this spring with the belief he could thrive as a hybrid defender. Last week, he demonstrated significant progress playing off the ball in practice, making a couple nice run stops in Monday’s padded practice against the third-team offense. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him still get some reps rushing off the edge on Thursday night, but this will be an important test run for him to show his progress as an off-ball ‘backer, which holds the key to him sticking on the roster or being a practice squad candidate.
Damarion Williams
A veteran in Macdonald’s defense after starting his career as a draft pick for the Ravens, Williams has has an up-and-down training camp thus far. On the plus side, he has gotten his hand on two interceptions, including a pick of Lock in the red zone, to go with a handful of pass breakups. But he has also been susceptible to giving up chunk plays downfield and has unfortunately been on the wrong end of a handful of spectacular catches such as Dareke Young emulating David Tyree catching a ball off his helmet for a touchdown. Given Shaquill Griffin’s extended absence in camp and Shemar Jean-Charles’ undisclosed injury, there may be a reserve spot at cornerback now hanging in the balance for the start of the season, and a stellar exhibition performance would help Williams’ cause as a defender with previous experience both in the slot and on the boundary.
Nick Emmanwori
No longer just a curiosity at 6-3, 220 pounds with 4.32 speed, Emmanwori has been a menace for Seattle’s offenses to deal with throughout his first training camp. Built like a cyborg with the speed of a gazelle, he already has three interceptions on the practice field and has frequently been flying into the backfield blitzing off the edge, exhibiting the ball skills and explosiveness that made him a First-Team All-American at South Carolina. Though he has turned in no shortage of highlights in camp, however, questions still remain regarding how Macdonald and his staff will actually deploy him in the lineup with Julian Love and Coby Bryant as the starting safeties. Without Love and Bryant expected to play on Thursday, don’t expect many answers on that front, but there’s still a prime opportunity to see the dynamic talent in action for the first time and it would be a surprise if he isn’t sent on a few blitzes and/or doesn’t get his hand on the football a few times.
