The Hawks will have 30-40 players on hand starting Friday. It’s their first chance to get a look, on the field, of the 11 players they drafted two weeks ago.
The Seahawks will hold their annual rookie minicamp Friday through Sunday, which marks the first time the team will get to see, on the field, the 11 players it drafted two weeks ago.
Also in attendance will be a few other younger players on their roster, as well as a few dozen players who are trying out, hoping they will land a contract at the end of the weekend.
Here are three things that we’ll be keeping an eye on during the camp, in no particular order.
1) How will the four new defensive backs fit?
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For now, it seems pretty clear how the four defensive backs Seattle took will line up — Shaquill Griffin and Mike Tyson will be corners, with Delano Hill at strong safety and Tedric Thompson at free safety.
The Seahawks have also said they’ll try to get a look at Hill and Thompson on the outside to get a sense of their coverage skills. Logically, Hill and Thompson are backups their first season to Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas, but if they prove capable of being able to contribute in other ways, it could allow them to get on the field in some substitute packages and give the Seattle defense more flexibility.
As for Tyson, the minicamp will be Seattle’s first chance to get an on-field look at him at cornerback after he played primarily safety and nickelback in college. As GM John Schneider made clear after the draft, the Seahawks are making a projection that Tyson can pull off that position switch. A definitive answer will take a while, but the minicamp will give Seattle its first indication of what Tyson can do on the outside.
2) Which receivers will stand out?
The rules for rookie minicamps don’t allow for full pads and any real blocking and tackling, meaning it is inevitably the skill-position players who stand out.
Seattle has some intriguing receivers to look at, led by third-round pick Amara Darboh and seventh-rounder David Moore. At 6 feet 1, 216 pounds and 6-0, 219, respectively, each projects as the kind of physical presence at receiver the Seahawks have been looking for more the last few years.
Also expected to participate is recently signed free agent Cyril Grayson, a track star at LSU who has not played football since high school but has been said to have impressed in workouts with the rest of the team the last few weeks (Grayson was able to be signed and participate immediately after it was ruled he was eligible to be drafted in 2016).
3) Will any tryout players do enough to earn a roster spot?
As noted, there will be 30-40 or so tryout players, a few of whom might do enough to earn contracts with the team.
Last year, the Seahawks signed five tryout players immediately after the rookie minicamp — cornerback Jamal Marshall, linebacker Pete Robertson, fullback Taniela Tupou, tight end Ronnie Shields and receiver Tyler Slavin.
While the list of tryout players was not available Thursday, a couple of intriguing names have surfaced.
One is former Skyline High star Jordan Simone, who played safety at Washington State and Arizona State. He suffered a knee injury in 2015 at Arizona State that ended his career late in his senior season but is said to be fully recovered.
Another player expected on hand is former Texas A&M receiver Speedy Noil, who was invited to the NFL combine but was not drafted nor signed as an undrafted free agent.
Noil, a New Orleans native regarded as one of the top high-school recruits in the nation for the class of 2014, was a tryout player last week in Green Bay’s rookie minicamp but did not get signed by the Packers.