New Seahawks rookies hit practice field for first time

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RB Kenny McIntosh (No. 25), QB Jack Coan (No. 10) and OT Greg Eiland (No. 75) lead players through bag drills at rookie mini-camp for the Seattle Seahawks on May 12, 2023. (photo by Curtis Crabtree / FOX 13)

RENTON, Wash. - It was a beautiful afternoon at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center on Friday that felt far closer to a summer training camp practice in August than a first look at a new crop of rookies in May. But Friday's practice was in fact the first chance the new 10-man draft class of the Seattle Seahawks and a collection of undrafted free agent signings and tryout players had to get on the practice fields alongside the shores of Lake Washington.

First-round picks Devon Witherspoon and Jaxon Smith-Njigba were both limited due to lingering hamstring concerns. However, the rest of the draft class got plenty of action in their first practice in Seahawks colors.

"It’s a beautiful place, has a great coaching staff, and has great teammates, so I really wouldn’t want to be anywhere else at the moment," linebacker Derick Hall said.

Prior to the practice beginning on Friday, the Seahawks announce signings of 25 undrafted free agents and six members of their 10-man draft class.

Smith-Njigba (Rd 1 - No. 20), nose tackle Cameron Young (Rd 4 - No. 123), defensive end Mike Morris (Rd 5 - No. 151), center Olusegun Oluwatimi (Rd 5 - No. 154), safety Jerrick Reed II (Rd 6 - No. 198) and running back Kenny McIntosh (Rd 7 - No. 237) all signed their rookie deals with the team. Witherspoon, Hall, running back Zach Charbonnet and guard Anthony Bradford are the four yet to sign their contracts.

Rookie mini-camp can be a rather sloppy exercise at times. A collection of 70 players coming together for the very first time with limited knowledge of a playbook and new surroundings can tend to yield a rather disjointed production. As such, the quality of the on-field performance isn't something to analyze too closely.

"The whole group, they’re out here 20 minutes early waiting for practice to start. They’re really eager," head coach Pete Carroll said.

"We're off to a good start and there's a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of juice from these guys. They're expected to figure that part out so that when we get here Monday when the rest of fellas get here, they'll fit right in. So we're off and running."

Witherspoon and Smith-Njigba were mostly spectators for the first of two practices this weekend for the rookie class. Carroll said they just wanted to be overly careful with both players as they work back from hamstring issues.

"Both guys had hamstring issues in the offseason," Carroll said. "And so we just want to make sure we know where they are, so we don’t want to go too far, too fast. There’s no reason to at this point because they can still get all the learning done. There’s a lot of walkthrough plays that we go through in this process so they can get the learning and see what’s going on."

Smith-Njigba insisted he's back to 100 percent while Witherspoon echoed Carroll's comments about the team easing him into action.

"They are just taking it easy on me, just trying to help me get back into the routine, so nothing crazy," Witherspoon said.

Here are some of Carroll's thoughts on the draftees as they got their first work with the team in on Friday.

– LB Derick Hall: "He really looks the part, 255 (lbs), weighed in. He's in good shape, has a really good feel for the position where he's got drops and he's got rushes and things like that. He has no problem with any of that stuff as far as the learning. Clint was taking a lot of care to make sure that we got him up and going and get him off to a good start. There's not much of this position he can't do now. We just need to see how physical he can be and how he can put it all together and really, assessing his pass rush will be an exciting part. He'll be able to do the drops and all that."

– DE Mike Morris: "Mike came in at 290 (lbs) or something. He's 6'6", 290-something. He looks great out there. He's played some defensive line but not as much as he's going to play now. Really eager to learn it and all of it. You can see stuff. We’ve got to use our imagination a little bit, but we know how tough these guys are. We've seen them play football. Now we need to see if they can adapt to our stuff, and there's a lot of positives in there."

– C Olu Oluwatimi: "We've always cherished the guy that can kind of be the play-caller up front in the middle, and Olu's got that background. … He's a really bright kid. He's got all the physicals. He weighed in at 319 (lbs). He looked terrific. And then that, watching those guys fit together, and I've already talked to them about getting the special communication line open so that they can learn and grow together."

– NT Cameron Young: "He's huge. 320-something (lbs). He looked exactly like what we were hoping to see. We wanted to see a big guy to come in and play nose tackle for us and there's no question. We've seen him on film and all that, but you still got to get around him. He's a big man and he's real bright about the position, understands it and all, and he's going to do fine."

– S Jerrick Reed II: "He's a stud now. He's really built, he’s really quick. I needed to see him in person to see how he can play as physical a style as he has. He's a stud now. He's really built and he's fast as hell. And so made a first impression that was good today."

Mario Edwards set to join Seahawks on Monday:

Head coach Pete Carroll said defensive end Mario Edwards has yet to officially sign with the team, but is expected to do so on Monday when he joins the team for offseason OTAs.

"I'm really pumped about this because I thought I saw something in Mario a couple months ago when we started free agency, where he could help us," Carroll said.

Edwards is an eight-year NFL veteran that played last season for the Tennessee Titans. Edwards has made 32 starts in 99 career games. He's got 135 tackles with 19.5 sacks with 46 quarterback hits and three forced fumbles. 

"He's got versatility," Carroll said. "He's played end. He stood up. He's had his hand on the ground. He's been inside as a 3-technique. He's played everywhere along the line that I really like. He's really quick and he plays really hard. He's got a real good attitude about him. He fit in a lot of ways. So I see him adding to the pass rush for sure. And he'll be competing to be in that first group, the first four guys out there. I've seen him play enough. He can play football. He'll be a big factor for us."

Seahawks Rookie Mini-Camp Roster: