Camp Takeaways: Locker Room, Connections Key in Seahawks Decision to Sign Terrion Arnold

RENTON, Wash. - With ongoing legal issues at play stemming from a February incident in Florida, including eight felony charges for robbery and kidnapping, the Seattle Seahawks don’t know when - or if - Terrion Arnold will be allowed to return to the field.

But one day after reports surfaced that Seattle planned to sign Arnold, moments after wrapping up a quick walkthrough heading into Saturday’s preseason opener against Dallas, coach Mike Macdonald confirmed that the team and player have a deal in place, acknowledging that a myriad of factors led to franchise being comfortable on taking a chance on the former first round pick out of Alabama.

“I think it was an opportunity to bring on a player that we felt strongly about during the draft process,” Macdonald said. “We also understand that it's a serious situation with a legal matter. There’s a process behind it so we respect that. That’s how we’ll operate too, just letting that process play out and let the league decide if and when his return to play is. We understand that that's at play but there's an opportunity to bring him in and give him an opportunity to earn a position here.”

As Macdonald indicated earlier in the week, the third-year coach has the utmost confidence in the culture that has been built in Seattle, while several people inside and outside of the building also vouched for Arnold as part of the process.

Among those, general manager John Schneider has great respect for former Alabama coach Nick Saban, who wrote a letter in support of Arnold to the judge in Tampa at the beginning of the player’s legal case. Defensive backs coach Karl Scott, who coached under Saban for three seasons, helped recruit Arnold to Tuscaloosa before departing to accept a position with the Minnesota Vikings, while quarterback Jalen Milroe maintains a close relationship with his soon-to-be current teammate from their time together with the Crimson Tide.

“We feel really strongly about our locker room and our team. We had a great visit with Terrion (Arnold) and obviously we knew him going throughout the process,” Macdonald explained. “I referenced the folks that had been in his corner throughout the process as well and we respect those people. We’re not going to ignore those folks that we really respect, and have a strong opinion about it as well. When you put all of those things together it felt like it was a good opportunity for the team.”

In respect to legal proceedings and potential discipline from the league office, including the possibility of Arnold landing on the commissioner’s exempt list, Macdonald understands all possibilities remain on the table. But he chose not to speculate or expand on what the Seahawks learned during the discovery process, opting to keep those details in house at this time.

If Arnold avoids the exemption list for the time being and hits the practice field in the near future, Macdonald hopes that the ex-Lions first round pick will be able to capitalize on his opportunity and that the organization can help him stay on a straight path. He will be thrust into a still wide open competition at cornerback, as the Seahawks have veterans Nehemiah Pritchett and Noah Igbinoghene as well as rookies Julian Neal, Andre Fuller, and Michael Dansby currently vying for snaps behind Devon Witherspoon and Josh Jobe.

At this time, Pritchett appears to be in the driver’s seat for the third cornerback spot, as Macdonald lauded him for his progress last week. Igbinoghene has made a few plays during camp while playing both on the boundary and in the slot, while Fuller and Dansby have looked the part of capable NFL corners while taking advantage of Neal’s prolonged absence due to a leg injury.

But compared to those five players, Arnold would immediately be an upgrade, at least from a talent and potential standpoint. Many viewed him as the best cornerback prospect in the 2024 NFL Draft class and he’s still just 23 years old, the same age as Neal and younger than both Dansby and Fuller. Over two seasons in Detroit, while he yielded six touchdowns, he produced 91 tackles, an interception, and 13 pass breakups, showing improvements in coverage in eight games last year with opposing quarterbacks completing just 56% of passes against him.

From a system fit standpoint, without knowing the specifics of what the Lions were asking him to do in their scheme, Macdonald sees physical and athletic traits in Arnold’s tool box that match up well with what the Seahawks ask of their cornerbacks. But he will have to earn his opportunities whenever he does start practicing, whether that’s next week, September, or later.

“He plays with a lot of energy, physicality. Some of the pattern match stuff that we do is more up his alley than he did at Alabama,” Macdonald said. “Personality wise, I think there's an opportunity there if he's the best version of himself, he could be a fit for us. We’ll see when he gets in the building, we'll go about our business like we normally do and go try to be the best version of us that we can possibly be and that includes him. That’s the message to our team on the daily.”

What else stood out from the final official training camp practice of the summer? Here are four other takeaways from the VMAC:

1. Macdonald provides a morsel of insight on how Seahawks will handle quarterback, running back in preseason opener.

Oftentimes, coaches don’t have interest in revealing who will and who won’t play in preseason games, and for the most part, Macdonald has subscribed to that idea over the years, at least in terms of specific players. But on Friday, he did pull back the curtain a bit in regard to how Seattle intends to handle things in the backfield with their quarterbacks and running backs against the Cowboys.

At the running back position, rookie Jadarian Price has missed five of the past seven practices with leg soreness, and while Macdonald said he’s “on the mend,” he won’t be available on Saturday. Neither will veteran Emanuel Wilson, who appeared to tweak his hamstring during Tuesday’s padded practice. With those two or second-year runner Jacardia Wright available, George Holani likely will see the field for at least a series or two before giving way to Velus Jones Jr., T.J. Harden, and Justin Jones.

As for under center, Sam Darnold won’t play in the game, but the Seahawks will handle reps a bit different with Drew Lock and Jalen Milroe than they have in the past. Typically, the second-string quarterback will play a certain number of series before giving way to the third stringer and not playing the rest of the evening. Seattle intends to rotate the two backups, however, allowing for them each to play with different groups of players around them on the second and third units.

“George should get some work tomorrow. A lot of our established starters won’t be playing, they’ll be going through the warmup and everything, but George should see some action to some degree and we’ll go from there,” Macdonald said. “The quarterbacks, we’re going to rotate in some form or fashion. We have an idea of how we want it to work but don’t want to be put in a corner there. It’ll be great.”

Entering his second preseason, Macdonald is especially eager to see how Milroe performs against another team, as the former Alabama star has taken notable steps forward this summer as a passer. The Seahawks hope to see those improvements translate to game action, with the coach fired up to see him play to his strengths and own unique style as a dual-threat weapon as he has done on the practice field.

“I’m excited to see him go rip it. He’s really improved his game and go be himself,” Macdonald remarked. “I think the cool thing about our system and what we want from our players, especially the quarterback position, is there’s different styles. Sam (Darnold) is great because he plays Sam’s brand of ball. I want Jalen (Milroe) to feel empowered to play his brand of football and go be himself out there, and let that shine, which he’s done in practice, so it’s time to do it in a game situation. I’m really excited for that.”

2. Off the PUP list, Nick Emmanwori begins partaking in “football” activities with eyes on Week 1 return.

Closing in on a month since he underwent ankle surgery, Emmanwori won’t be playing on Saturday night and most likely will not see any snaps in the preseason at all. With that said, he has continued to make rapid progress in his recovery, coming off the PUP list earlier in the week after passing his physical.

As he has done throughout the entire process, Macdonald refused to give any specifics on a potential timeline for Emmanwori. But with him no longer being in a boot, he has started to transition into football-related activities, including doing some stretches and a bit of technical, walkthrough pass rushing work with an assistant coach before Tuesday’s practice.

“It’s a great opportunity to start doing football,” Macdonald explained. “As he becomes ready to do more, we can do more now, which is nice rather than him watching everybody else do football. He can do it now, which is cool.”

At this point, Emmanwori’s next step will be participating in team walkthroughs and beginning to run behind the scenes. Once he has reached that stage in his rehab, the focus can then start to shift to when he can start practicing again, taking another step towards potentially being ready for Seattle’s season opener.

Fortunately for the Seahawks and Emmanwori, there’s still close to a month until the Patriots come to Lumen Field, so there shouldn’t be any need to rush him back. With ample time on the calendar and a whole preseason yet to play out, there should be plenty of optimism about him being ready to go for the start of the season.

3. Seattle tries to maintain a long-term viewpoint with players regarding the reality of looming 53-man cutdowns.

Not all realities in the NFL world are positive ones, and with only 53 players allowed to be rostered for the start of the regular season, every team will have to make difficult decisions jettisoning 37 players through waivers or trades. That process could be an especially agonizing one for the Seahawks this year, as the defending champions only lost five players in free agency from their title team while also bringing on what appears to be a rock solid eight-player draft class in April.

While everyone in the building understands that reality, however, Macdonald doesn’t want players “counting” down the days until the Seahawks have to trim the roster down to 53. He wants them to fully take advantage of the opportunities presented to them to impress in exhibition games and future practices, putting their best foot forward to position themselves to end up on another roster in the league or on Seattle’s practice squad, which he calls the “ready” squad.

Every rep this time of year matters and with injuries being a constant in football, the Seahawks maintain a list of players who could return when those injuries occur. Last season, as just two examples, receiver Montorie Foster Jr. and outside linebacker Jalan Gaines were cut long before the season started and eventually returned on the practice squad late in the season. Now, both players are in the mix for 53-man spots a year later, a prime example of what can happen down the line for those who put the work in and leave a positive impression on Macdonald and the coaching staff.

“When you’re around these guys, you realize the amount of work they put in. Nobody is rooting more for them than our coaches because the amount of respect for what they’ve done every day is off the chains. I’m begging for them to make plays because they earned it,” Macdonald commented. “The nature of our world is that not everybody will be able to be on our team. The number one thing if you were to ask all our position coaches that their player would end up on some sort of roster in some form or fashion. Ultimately, we’re working for what’s best for the Seahawks, but we’re also in simultaneous lanes, parallel universes where we’re rooting for our players as well.”

4. While he won’t play in 2026, the Seahawks expect Robbie Ouzts to resume his career despite neck injury.

Ruling him out for the season roughly a month before the opener, Ouzts didn’t last long in camp before a recurring neck injury suffered during the playoffs started to act up again. After participating in the first five practices, including the first padded session, he sat out for a week without the Seahawks providing any clarity on his situation, leading to speculation that the neck issue remained a problem.

Unfortunately, that speculation wound up being the truth, with Macdonald acknowledging on Friday that Ouzts landing on injured reserve indeed was related to the previous neck injury. But if there’s a sliver of good news, the Seahawks don’t think this situation is similar to former players Chris Carson, Kam Chancellor, or Cliff Avril who were forced to retire because of their neck injuries, believing that an extended window to heal properly will allow him to return to the field in 2027.

“It’s an unfortunate situation. It’s just someone you are really rooting for,” Macdonald said. “To our knowledge, there is a recovery process, and this should help his career long-term. That’s why we are doing it.”

With Ouzts sidelined for all of 2026, the Seahawks will turn to Brady Russell as their primary fullback in new coordinator Brian Fleury’s offense, while recently signed second-year player Brock Lampe will see plenty of snaps in the preseason at the position. Lampe previously played for running backs coach Thomas Hammock at Northern Illinois, and if he impresses in exhibition games, it’s possible the team could keep him on the practice squad as an insurance policy with few traditional fullbacks available to sign in today’s NFL.