RENTON, Wash. – The Seahawks could be whole again in the secondary when they take on the Houston Texans and third-year quarterback C.J. Stroud on Monday at Lumen Field.
The Seahawks have had the four opening-day starters in their secondary available for only two games all season.
They have had the players who entered the season as their top five in the secondary available for only the first series of the season, when safety Nick Emmanwori went down with a high ankle sprain.
Three players who sat out Sunday’s 20-12 win at Jacksonville – cornerbacks Devon Witherspoon and Riq Woolen and safety Julian Love – are showing signs they may be back this week.
Woolen, who was a limited participant in practice every day last week while in the concussion protocol, was a full participant on Thursday as the team went in full pads.
Love and Witherspoon were limited participants, an upgrade from where they were this time a week ago. Neither practiced last week other than being listed as limited on Friday, when the team held a light workout before leaving for Jacksonville. Love (hamstring) and Witherspoon (knee) have missed the last two games.
In fact, the injury report revealed a healthy team.
The only player to sit out was edge rusher/linebacker Derick Hall, who missed last week’s game with an oblique injury and looks like he could be out again this week.
With a bye following Monday’s game, the Seahawks could err on the side of caution with Hall.
Defensive tackle Jarran Reed, who left late in the Jags game after he got hit in the knee, was a full participant.
Three other players were listed as limited – offensive tackle Josh Jones (ankle, who has missed the last three games); and two of them were limited for rest reasons – defensive linemen DeMarcus Lawrence and Leonard Williams.
Love and Witherspoon, if healthy, will undoubtedly step back into starting roles.
Ty Okada started the last two games in place of Love, while the Seahawks have used several cornerback rotations to make up for the loss of Witherspoon, who has played in only one game – at Arizona on Sept. 25 – since being injured in the fourth quarter of the 49ers game.
What the Seahawks will do with Woolen, who is the subject of trade rumors, seems cloudier.
Coach Mike Macdonald said his starting job could be in jeopardy after his struggles in the opener against the 49ers.
Witherspoon’s absences and other personnel issues in the back end meant Woolen stayed in the lineup until suffering a concussion in the second half against Tampa Bay and sat out last week.
The Seahawks used Josh Jobe and Shaquill Griffin as their primary cornerbacks last week.
The Seahawks could keep Jobe as the other starter in the base defense at cornerback alongside Witherspoon if he returns, and continue to use Emmanwori as a big nickel when they go with five defensive backs.
That could leave Woolen as an odd man out.
Was improved tackling just a matter of effort?
The Seahawks’ tackling Sunday was markedly better than it had been in a 38-35 loss to Tampa Bay the previous week. Via Pro Football Focus, the Seahawks had a season-low six missed tackles against the Jaguars after being credited with 10 against the Bucs.
Macdonald said it was not just that more tackles were missed against the Bucs, but that the team did not swarm to the ball as well as it needed to, meaning that when a Tampa Bay player escaped a tackle there was often no one there to help.
Tampa Bay had a whopping 200 yards after the catch, via PFF. That was cut to 132 against Jacksonville.
Macdonald insisted there was no real secret to the improvement, which he said was “significantly” better than the Tampa Bay game.
“I think it’s a function of the guys just decided to freaking tackle and get after it,” Macdonald said. “And two, I thought, our angles were great. I thought that the guys played extremely hard, the guys made a collective decision that they were going to play our style of ball, and that showed up in our tackling.”
Defensive tackle Leonard Williams agreed.
“I would say that’s about how it happened,” said Williams. “Like we explained after the bad tackling that we had against Tampa Bay I think we kind of established a lot of it was just want-to and effort and I think after addressing those points the effort and want-to really showed up last week.”
Williams said he feels like the “want-to” is always there, it’s more a matter of “just keeping that urgency and keep reminding each other in every situation throughout the game, just the level of communications.”
Hankins, Haynes not close
Macdonald said there is no update on a possible return to practice for nose tackle Johnathan Hankins and guard Christian Haynes.
Hankins is on the non-football injury list with a back issue and has not been on the field since the beginning of training camp. Haynes, a third-round pick in 2024, was placed on injured reserve before the season with a pec issue.
Fullback Robbie Ouzts, who was placed on IR with an ankle injury following the win over the Saints, would be eligible to come off following the Houston game.
Swapping WRs
The Seahawks officially signed receiver Tyler Scott to their practice squad, releasing rookie receiver Tyrone Broden to make room.
Scott was a fourth-round pick of the Bears in 2023 out of Cincinnati. He played in 28 games over the 2023 and 2024 seasons with the Bears with four starts, making 18 catches for 173 yards. He also had seven carries for 41 yards and 13 kickoff returns for 315 yards.
He was released by the Bears in August, signed to Indianapolis’ practice squad and released by the Colts in late September.