Seahawks camp day 5: Pads come on, Byron Murphy zooms, O-line impresses; a new WR option?

Zoom!

Like a cat escaping water, Byron Murphy just took off at the snap.

The first poor guys trying to block him one and one had no chance.

Second-year free agent Ilm Manning? Not fair.

Undrafted rookie Jalen Sundell? The first time, he stayed with the Seahawks’ rookie first-round draft choice, top rookie versus one of the lower ones. On an immediate do-over, the squat, 306-pound Murphy made one jab step left, one lightning-fast, inside step right — then used his redwood-trunk legs to toss aside the 301-pound Sundell.

Then came the most encouraging scenes for the Seahawks offense in this fifth practice of training camp.

Anthony Bradford, competing to be the starting right guard this season and known as a slower mauler, impressively stayed with Murphy’s fast step inside immediately off the snap. Bradford stymied Murphy.

New coach Mike Macdonald had said coaches wouldn’t truly get a feel for what they have in rookie guard Christian Haynes until after the pads came on in training camp. They came on Monday.

So did Haynes.

The rookie third-round pick competing with Bradford and Raiqwon O’Neal to start at right guard followed Bradford stopping Murphy by going one-on-one with Leonard Williams. Williams, a 10th-year veteran, is Seattle’s $64 million defensive lineman. At the snap, Williams gave Haynes a welcome-to-the-NFL blow into his neck. Yet the 6-foot-3, 317-pound rookie who started 49 games for Connecticut gave little ground. He stalemated the 6-5, 310-pound Williams with brute strength.

Then rookie right tackle and sixth-round pick Mike Jerrell from the University of Findlay stopped starting edge rusher Boye Mafe cold. Jerrell’s offensive teammates and coaches roared.

“Good job, Mike!” they yelled.

The first day of shoulder pads for the Seahawks in this training camp Monday provided the most realistic moments of NFL football yet for Seattle’s rookies.

And the new coaching staff including head coach Mike Macdonald, offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and offensive line coach Scott Huff had to like what they saw in their youngest, newest pros along the line of scrimmage.

You know, the area that will determine whether the Seahawks close the gap on the defending-champion San Francisco 49ers in the NFC West in 2024.

McDonald has given Murphy some noticeably tough love publicly during offseason practices, and in the early days of his first NFL training camp as a head coach. When the 16th pick in this spring’s draft wasn’t as sharp in making a first impression as coaches expected in rookie minicamp from their prized new defensive tackle, Macdonald said of Murphy in early May: “Need to get in a little bit better shape, so we can get through a whole practice and fly around like we expect him to.”

Saturday, Macdonald said of Murphy’s start to training camp: “I think Murph probably had a slower couple of days than he wanted to coming out.”

Not Monday. Murphy was the fastest lineman off the ball, from the defense or offense, veteran or rookie, in camp’s first one-on-one pass drills.

Yet in general the offensive line won the first day of one-on-one pass-rushing drills, the best, more realistic battles of any training camp.

Starting left tackle Charles Cross drew coaches’ cheers for stopping top pass rusher Uchenna Nwosu immediately off the edge. Backup tackle Stone Forsythe, 6-8, quickly moved his feet to stay with early camp star Derick Hall’s spin move. Starting center Olu Oluwatimi hit tackle Jarran Reed, immediately stopping Reed’s inside rush. Reed then lost his balance and footing on the wet grass. He fell to the ground beneath Oluwatimi, then got up shaking his head.

One of the only defensive players to win his one-on-one battle in the latter half of the 10-minute drill was Matt Gotel. The 350-pound nose tackle from Lakes High School in Lakewood, Snow Junior College in Utah and Division-II West Florida got past and through rookie free-agent center Mike Novitsky.

When the drill ended and the team was reconstituting for 11-on-11 scrimmaging, the offensive and defensive linemen came together in a big, combined huddle. They congratulated each other, broke the huddle down together, then went on to scrimmaging.

Jake Bobo wows Tyler Lockett

During one of the last plays of the day’s scrimmaging, wide receiver Jake Bobo ran past cornerback Lance Boykin covering him along the left sideline. Backup quarterback Sam Howell threw one of his best passes of camp so far, over and away from the defender toward the sideline of the end zone, where only Bobo could catch it.

The 6-4 breakout star of Seattle’s training camp last summer as an undrafted rookie out of UCLA and Duke dived full extension, Superman style, directly parallel to the ground. Bobo snared the pass with the tips of his stretched fingers and pulled the ball into his body before he landed in the end zone. A superb catch.

Tyler Lockett is 31, in his 10th Seahawks and NFL training camp. The fellow wide receiver said after practice that was one of the best catches he’s seen in a training-camp practice.

“Oh, I think that was at least top five,” Lockett said. “I mean, that was a tremendous catch.”

Bobo, 25, had 19 catches on 25 targets (a nice 76% rate of catches on targets) while playing 29% of offensive snaps last season. Grubb and his new offense could be increasing those numbers, those as Lockett noted — and knows — there’s only one football for Geno Smith to throw to among Lockett, DK Metcalf, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Noah Fant, Bobo and more.

At the least, Bobo in his second Seahawks training camp is solidifying his spot as the fourth wide receiver. Grubb and Macdonald could keep as many as seven out of this preseason, depending on special-teams needs, too.

“You’ve got someone like Bobo coming into his second year able to make big-time catches when you call his name,” Lockett said. “I mean, that alone makes it tough for defenses to figure out what they want to do.”

Sam Howell’s best day yet

Howell was inaccurate during the first four practices. Monday after a players’ day off, the Washington Commanders’ starter from last season Seattle acquired in a trade of two draft picks this spring had his best day as a Seahawk so far.

He threw a majestic ball deep down the middle over the defenders onto the hands of fifth-year free-agent wide receiver Cody White early in scrimmaging. Then he threw the ball over the cornerback onto Bobo’s hands for that wowing touchdown.

In early practices, Howell’s passes landed short and well underthrown on similar deep routes, a couple of which got intercepted.

Smith is the clear number-one quarterback. He continued his accurate camp for most of Monday, until Pro Bowl safety Julian Love intercepted one of his passes over the middle late.

Howell and P.J. Walker, who started a game last season for Cleveland at Seattle, are QBs two and three.

Cody White impressing

Cody White, 25, was an undrafted rookie with Kansas City in 2020, out of Michigan State. Then the New York Giants signed and waived him. The Denver Broncos signed and waived him. The Pittsburgh Steelers signed and waived him — nine times. The last two seasons when he wasn’t on Pittsburgh’s practice squad he played 7% and 15% of the Steelers’ offensive snaps, with six career catches in the league.

The Seahawks signed him to their practice squad last October. He did not appear in a game for Seattle last season.

Through five practices, White is catching most of the passes Howell and Walker are throwing anywhere near him.

White’s size is intriguing. At 6-3 and 227 pounds, only Bobo and Metcalf are taller on Seattle’s 90-man rosrter, and only by one inch. Only Metcalf is bigger, by eight pounds.

Lockett is a fan of White’s.

“I think Cody White has been having a really, really great camp,” Lockett said. “He’s another person who had spectacular OTAs. We got to see him make a couple of plays out there today...He’s taking advantage of his opportunities. He’s winning his one-on-one match-ups.

“Slowly but surely, he’s continuing to give himself a chance to continue to play in this game, like he knows he can.”

Extra points

*Dre’mont Jones missed his second consecutive practice. He ran into a teammate away from the ball Friday at the end of a play. Macdonald said Saturday Jones had a minor hamstring injury and was “good.”

*Fellow defensive end Mike Morris left practice with a few plays remaining in it. He walked off the field with a trainer into the team facility with what was perhaps a hand or arm injury of unknown severity.

*For the second consecutive practice, rookie fourth-round pick Tyrice Knight got some plays with the first-team defense at inside, “Will” linebacker.

*The starting right guard for much of scrimmaging was O’Neal, who is listed as a tackle. McClendon Curtis, listed as a guard, backed up fill-in first-teamer George Fant at right tackle.

Usual starting right tackle Abe Lucas pushed a conditioning sled on the turf, indoor field following practice. He remains sidelined from practices indefinitely following offseason knee surgery.