Seahawks Forever w/ Dan Viens

Training camp opens on Thursday this week, and sometimes the beginning of the football season brings only bad news until the Week 1 kickoff. Staying healthy and ensuring all your stars are available for the start of the season is key. But on Monday the NFL announced that Jarran Reed, one of the defensive players the Seahawks were appearing to rely on, was suspended for the first six games of the season.

Nathan of the Seahawks Nest podcast joins the show to talk about the suspension, the information that does not seem to be available from a 2017 case with a long timeline of investigation, and the inconsistencies of the punishment that NFL fans have a big problem with. According to Reed's statement, it appears as this is the final determination and so we focus on what the team may do in response to this news.

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The Seahawks had the top rushing attack in the NFL last season. With that in mind, one of the questions that people, particularly in the fantasy football world, seem to be struggling with right now is which Seahawks running back should be drafted first? To those who watch Seahawks football, Chris Carson seems like the obvious answer after becoming the first 1,000-yard rusher since Marshawn Lynch. But Rashaad Penny seems to be getting a lot of hype to take over that top role this year. 

Also, who now becomes the third down back now that Mike Davis is gone? A vast majority of passes went to Davis in 2018. Both Carson and Penny had a similar number in terms of yard per attempt when catching the ball. Carson also feels like the best choice here, and if that happens, does that mean Penny could see majority of carries in early downs? Who else makes the team at running back beyond the two obvious choices? We did into all these questions and more on this episode.

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Last season the Seahawks defensive line dropped to 26th in the NFL in terms of pass rush productivity, as measured by Pro Football Focus. Considering they were 1st and 3rd in their two Super Bowl seasons, it seems to measure up to how we felt about the defensive line in those seasons. Considering they lost Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril and Sheldon Richardson after the 2017 season, a drop was expected, but to get back to a top unit on the defensive line they're going to need to see improvements. 

While it's tough to project an improvement with the loss of Frank Clark, there are a number of players on the roster who have finished in the top 100 in terms of pass rush productivity in past seasons. We talk about the players who need to maintain their past efforts, return to previous form or develop as young talent to get the Seahawks back among the top defensive lines in the NFL.

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Leading into the 2019 Seahawks season there are questions for at every position groups. One of the most intriguing questions is who will take over for Doug Baldwin as Russell Wilson's favorite target. The easy answer is Tyler Lockett, especially after his season last year. He hit double digits in terms of his touchdown numbers, but never felt like the same type of red zone threat that Baldwin proved to be so good at and there also wasn't a clear favorite for going to on third down. Who fills that gap in 2019 and which one of the rookies have the highest expectations to produce early on? Clinton Bonner joins Brandan Schulze to break down all of the questions we have at wide receiver and tight end going into the upcoming season.

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Former Field Gulls contributor now with the Athletic, Sam Gold joins the podcast this week to talk about his 22-minute film breakdown between Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson. Comparing areas like accuracy, arm strength, vision, pocket awareness and more, Wilson edged out Luck in the overall analysis, which seems to have a lot of Colts fans fuming. Gold does say that Colts fans who have actually watched the video all the way through believe that his analysis on Lucks strengths and weaknesses is fair however. In the video, Gold is critical of Wilson's vision on the field as well as his pocket awareness, but his elite ranking in terms of his accuracy is really what put Wilson in a strong position ahead of Luck, even before considering Luck's injury history. Follow Sam on Twitter @SamuelRGold.

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The Seahawks mini camp wrapped up this past week and Russell Wilson took to the podium on Wednesday to talk about his plans to continue to work with receivers in the upcoming weeks and how he feels about DK Metcalf. Wilson says Metcalf has been "looking really, really special" and was among the group Wilson pointed to for guys to step up with the departure of Doug Baldwin. He also talks about rookie Gary Jennings and how he coached his YMCA basketball team "back in the day." Russ also talks about the offensive line and from the way he lists off the five starters, it sounds as though the line has already solidified, which is something we haven't seen from the Seahawks in a while.

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The third week of OTAs has concluded and this week cornerback Shaquille Griffin took to the podium to talk about about how his mindset and his diet have changed since the end of last year.  He also talks about some of the changes his twin brother Shaquem has made in the offseason after his rookie year and his potential new role with the team mirroring what he did in college as a pass rusher.  With Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor all having moved on from the team, Griffin sees himself as the player to pass along a lot of the knowledge he picked up from his former teammates. Especially with Bradley McDougald out with a knee injury, he sees a leadership role for himself along the group of young defensive backs. Griffin has also had the opportunity to go up against rookie D.K. Metcalf in 7-on-7 drills during OTAs. Shaquille talks about some of the growth that he's seen from Metcalf in just the first few weeks of working together.

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The second week of OTAs is coming to a close and on the afternoon of May 29th, linebacker K.J. Wright took to the podium to offer his thoughts about being back in Seattle for his 9th season with Seattle, what it's like being the longest tenured Seahawks player and how he feels about being among only three players left from the 2013 squad that won the Super Bowl. Because he ended up hitting the free agent market, Wright talked about how he didn't expect to come back for 2019 and thought he'd be wearing a different color uniform. 

Now that Russell Wilson is under contract, the main focus of the offseason appears to be how Bobby Wagner is due for a new deal now that he's going into the final year of his contract. K.J. was asked whether he has any advice for Wagner going into his negotiations, as well as how Wagner's participation in OTAs is viewed by other players in the locker room. Ultimately, Wright feels as though Bobby will certainly get a deal done this offseason.

The Seahawks picked up two new linebackers through the draft and Wright offers his perspective on just how well they're picking up on the transition from college to the pros. He also talks about some of his offseason plans for humanitarian work in Africa as well as a new podcast he's doing with former Seahawks linebacker Mike Morgan.

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With the Seahawks in need of a veteran pass rushing presence after the departure of Frank Clark, the Seahawks turn to one of their favorite places the last couple seasons - the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft. Ziggy Ansah was the fifth pick overall that season and is coming off a year where he was franchise tagged by the Detroit Lions. Unfortunately injuries sidelined him for much of the season, and as Jeremy Reisman of Pride of Detroit explains, it was a common theme for Ansah over the past three seasons. But if Ansah can return to his Pro Bowl form in 2015, it could remind Seahawks fans of another outstanding pass rusher that they were able to pull away from the Lions ahead of Seattle's Super Bowl season.

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The Seattle Seahawks 2019 Draft class has been finalized and the team comes away with 11 draft picks after having only four selections a week ago. John Schneider made a record number of trades and even traded up on a couple occasions including a move up into the second round to pick up a wide receiver who was initially expected to be one of the first off the board in the entire draft.Rob Staton and Brandan Schulze run through the selections from the Seahawks draft and talk about what will be one of the biggest criticisms of the draft and how the team may have a plan for addressing additional needs along the defensive line. Rob talks about how Seattle could even consider going after Jadeveon Clowney, with the rumors that the Houston Texans may have been looking to get into a deal with the Kansas City Chiefs.A report came out during the draft that Doug Baldwin may have played his last snap in the NFL and is considering retirement. Rob talks about how that could have played a role in the Seahawks grabbing two receivers with their first five picks. The slide down the draft board for D.K. Metcalf was a long one and when the Seahawks selected him at the end of round two, the emotion came out in his phone call with Schneider and Pete Carroll. Tune in to hear discussions around each one of the Seahawks selections: L.J. Collier, Marquise Blair, D.K. Metcalf, Cody Barton, Gary Jennings, Phil Haynes, Ugo Amadi, Ben Burr-Kirven, Travis Homer, Memarcus Christmas and (announced live as we were recording the podcast) John Ursua.

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