The Seattle Seahawks received some good news just ahead of starting their first training camp under first-year head coach Mike Macdonald.
Two of their biggest offseason additions, linebackers Tyrel Dodson and Jerome Baker, passed their physicals and came off the PUP list.
That was an important development, as Seattle Sports’ Brock Huard explained Wednesday during the Blue 88 segment of Brock and Salk.
Huard referred to a conversation from earlier in the show with veteran defensive lineman Jarran Reed, who talked about the new defense being installed by Macdonald, to make his point.
“When you hear Jarran Reed talk about some of the complexities of this defense, the higher level, the audible-ing, making it look like one thing, the offense doesn’t know – you know what that takes? Communication,” Huard said. “Takes a lot of it, and a lot of nonverbal communication and time on task and working together.”
There’s more on the line for this training camp than in the past for the Seahawks because of all the new concepts being introduced. And according to Huard, a former NFL quarterback who is a now a FOX football analyst, the Seahawks’ defense would have been behind the 8-ball if it had to rely on less-experienced linebackers like rookie Tyrice Knight to start training camp.
It’s a lot easier to get the ball rolling with the 26-year-old Dodson, who has four years of NFL experience with Buffalo, and the 27-year-old Baker, who joined Seattle after six years with Miami.
“These two (Dodson and Baker) are not rookies like Tyrice Knight, whose head is spinning, and it’s going to continue to spin as they continue to add and add and add to this playbook and get ready for preseason and regular season games,” Huard said. “These guys’ heads? Not gonna spin. They’ve both been in enough places and played in enough schemes that they can assimilate, and will assimilate, quickly. To be on the field, doing it with that front? Really, really important and great, and cannot undersell the great news that they passed their physicals. … That is awesome – awesome – that they passed their physicals and will be ready to go.”
