Rookie Mini Camp Thread

[D-train]

Weird I was told Price had no idea how to catch a football. Looks pretty natural here.

[D-train]

By Bob Condotta
Seattle Times staff reporter
RENTON — It was a weekend of making acquaintances and first impressions for the eight members of the Seahawks’ 2026 draft class during the team’s two-day rookie minicamp.

“Players did a great job,” coach Mike Macdonald said following Saturday’s roughly 100-minute practice at the VMAC that also featured seven undrafted free-agent signees, a handful of second-year players and 44 tryout players. “Really took a jump this second practice (the Seahawks held a similar practice Friday), and it started to look like professional football out there, which is exciting.”

The rookies will now have a week off before returning to join the rest of the team’s vets for the final phases of the offseason program the following week.

Here are some thoughts on what we saw from each of Seattle’s eight draft picks over the two days of minicamp practice.

It seemed to stand out Saturday that Price caught a number of passes out of the backfield given that his relative lack of pass-catching experience at Notre Dame has been regarded as one of the bigger questions he has to answer as he enters the NFL.

Macdonald, though, said the way Price was used in the camp was in large part to get him work while also keeping him out of harm’s way as much as possible.

“It’s not like an extra point of emphasis (to throw him the ball),” Macdonald said of Price, who caught just 15 passes for 162 yards in three seasons at Notre Dame. “I think because of camp, probably more space plays rather than keeping him in traffic. Just trying to be smart on how we utilize him in this camp. But (he’s) getting off to the right start. Did a good job. It’s definitely part of our offense.”

Seemingly indicative of the team erring on the side of caution in this camp, Price took one kickoff return during an early special teams drill and then pulled to the sideline for others to handle the rest of the drill. The Seahawks, though, say Price will get a look as a kickoff returner after he returned two for touchdowns last year at Notre Dame. However, the Seahawks also have Rashid Shaheed to handle those duties, and it’ll be interesting to see how much they will want to throw on Price’s plate as a rookie when he could be the Day 1 starting running back.


Safety Bud Clark (second round, 64th overall)
Clark got snaps at safety, though most of his seemed to come during the helmets-off walk-through segments, with the Seahawks possibly appearing to err on the side of caution with him, as well.

Clark, though, was an active presence throughout, working with coaches on the sidelines and getting asked after Saturday’s practice to lead the final breakdown cheer.

“Yeah, I think (general manager) John (Schneider) said he’s the opposite of an energy vampire,” Macdonald said. “He just broke down the last huddle, and the team went nuts. You can tell he has a contagious spirit about him, and we obviously love that.”

Cornerback Julian Neal (third round, 99th overall)
The Arkansas product got ample work throughout the two days at left cornerback. Neal also arrived with a reputation for an energetic personality and Macdonald said that was on display throughout, as well, noting “if we had a third practice, it would have been Julian” leading the breakdown cheer.

Guard Beau Stephens (fifth round, 148th overall)
Stephens got all of his work during the camp at right guard, where he could be thrown immediately into competition with four-year vet Anthony Bradford for the starting spot.

Macdonald, though, said Stephens will also get work on the left side once the offseason program begins.

“Beau is on the right side, but we’re going to train him at both spots,” Macdonald said. “We’ll see how it goes inside. You need flexibility across, on the interior part of your line. He’s played both in his career (at Iowa). Right now he’s playing right guard, but we’ll be training him right and left.”

Receiver Emmanuel Henderson Jr. (sixth round, 199th overall)
Henderson got work both at receiver and in special teams drills. The latter may be most important as he starts out to make a legitimate run at a roster spot.

Henderson, a Kansas product, said Friday he’s confident he can make an impression on special teams.

“Wherever you can put me I feel like I can go out there and dominate my position anywhere on special teams,” Henderson said. “I’ve been doing it all through my college career and I will continue to do it.”

Cornerback Andre Fuller (seventh round, 236th overall)
Fuller, from Toledo, worked both in the slot and outside. However, he appeared to get most of his work as a slot corner in the nickel package.

Fuller said he felt being used both inside and outside showed that “the coaches trust me” to be able to play multiple spots.

“Just seeing a little bit of trust built and looking forward to learning some more,” he said Friday.

Nose tackle Deven Eastern (seventh round 242nd overall)
The Minnesota product also seemed to move around some to the other defensive tackle spots, evidence of how the Seahawks think he can be more than just a run-stuffer in the middle of the defense.

“Our coaches were very excited to add an A-gap player that can get up and down the line of scrimmage and have some upside as a pass-rusher,” Schneider said last week.

Cornerback Michael Dansby (seventh round, 255th overall)
The Arizona product appeared to get most of his work playing right cornerback.

“I felt pretty good,” he said following Friday’s practice. “Not too many mistakes at all. Overall, it was a pretty good day for me.”

Macdonald said what might stand out most about rookie minicamp is how seeing the rookie class on the field for the first time represents one of the most significant signs of the starting of a new season, one in which the Seahawks have the enviable but challenging task of trying to repeat as Super Bowl champions.

“Yeah, this is a fun weekend because you’re finally seeing it in person for a lot of the guys,” he said. “I think you have to, you know, from the success of our last year’s class, you can’t be married to like what happened last year.

“It’s kind of a microcosm for the whole team. You’ve got to go at it with a new, fresh lens and excitement about who these guys are and let them go be them. They can’t be anybody else. There’s a newness and a freshness to it that really our team needs right now, which is cool. Then let’s just go attack it. I think looking at it with a fresh perspective is important at this point because they’re new guys. They’re a new part of the team, which will add an element of excitement to the rest of the guys.”

[Michael K.]

Weird I was told Price had no idea how to catch a football. Looks pretty natural here.

I saw that video. Ran a pretty good route too.

[Sibelius Hindemith]

Hopefully he'll bulk up some so that he'll be able to take the punishment better of being a #1 RB in the NFL.

[D-train]

Hopefully he'll bulk up some so that he'll be able to take the punishment better of being a #1 RB in the NFL.

Yep he is my height but only 203lbs right now. They want him to get to 210lbs. I was 209lbs this morning after being 222 lbs before I got sick 3.5 weeks ago.

[Donn Beach]

Seems kinda crazy to me that Mendoza needs to learn how to play under center.

[Donn Beach]

Schneider told a story about one player who openly bemoaned that his time at Seahawks headquarters had run longer than scheduled. Having apparently not done much homework on the organization, he thought he was complaining to a staffer. He had no idea it was actually the general manager

Do corners seem to be the more extreme personalities?

Among the reasons Seattle didn't give Riq Woolen a second contract was that he wasn't as sound or as willing a tackler as they preferred. That's a strength of Neal, who will try to replace Woolen as their No. 3.

Confidence and passion poured out of him as he spoke with reporters during a conference call for the ages. As his voice quivered with emotion, Neal called himself the most physical corner in the draft, talked about punching receivers at the line of scrimmage and at one point declared that the Seahawks were "going back-to-back this year."

"He has great traits, he's got a great work ethic, super competitive, he's smart," Macdonald said. "Those are all the ingredients that we believe can add up to playing even better football as his career grows."

[D-train]

Yep he definitely has Richard Sherman's brain