Seahawks snap counts: Thoughts on receiver usage, Thomas Rawls, Jimmy Graham and more

Here are five thoughts gleaned from reviewing the Seahawks’ snap counts in the wake of Sunday’s 12-10 win over Miami.

1, The snap counts make even more evident what we saw on the field in how the Seahawks emphasized their passing game Sunday. Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse each played 70 of 82 snaps, 85 percent. Only twice last season did either play more than that, and for each it was about 10 percent more snaps than they played on average last season. Tyler Lockett played 62 snaps, 76 percent, the third-highest percentage of his career. Paul Richardson also played 17 snaps, or 21 percent. Fullback Tani Tupou, meanwhile, played just seven snaps, or nine percent. The question going forward will be whether this continues a shift to being more of a passing team or if the Seahawks figured they might have trouble running against Miami’s defensive front and thought the quick-passing game had to be more of an emphasis against the Dolphins.

2, Richard Sherman and DeShawn Shead played all 53 defensive snaps at cornerback and Jeremy Lane played 43 snaps in the nickel, 81 percent. The Seahawks were in a base defense with three linebackers on just 10 percent of snaps — the 10 played by Mike Morgan at strongside linebacker. That seems to confirm what had become something of a prevailing thought as camp went on — that the storyline of how the team replaces Bruce Irvin was a little faulty to focus on just one player. Seattle is likely to be in nickel a bit more, but will then also use Morgan as a base SLB and others in pass rush situations.

3, Michael Bennett said his toe was fine, and indeed he played 47 of 53 snaps, 89 percent. He averaged 81 percent last season so he’s used to being on the field a lot. But the Seahawks will probably not want Bennett at close to 90 percent all season. DE Cliff Avril likewise played 83 percent of snaps, 44 of 53. And obviously, that Miami ran so few plays made it easier to leave those guys out there longer. You would probably expect to see more of Quinton Jefferson (nine snaps) and Cassius Marsh (six) going forward, though Jefferson is dealing with a hand injury that appears to be limiting his snaps a bit.

4, Christine Michael got 52 snaps and Thomas Rawls 22. Seattle made good use of Rawls’ snaps to get him the ball as he had 12 carries and three receptions on those 22 plays. Coach Pete Carroll seems to be hinting that Rawls will assume the starting job now that he has a game under his belt, so those numbers could switch. Another player whose snaps figure to go up markedly now is Jimmy Graham, who had 17, most appearing to come in the second half.

5, Much was made last week of the Seahawks’ having 15 rookies on their roster. But in game one the impact of the overall class was a little sporadic due in part to the injury that held out Germain Ifedi. Five rookies saw action on offense or defense, combining for 66 total snaps — 33 from Jarran Reed.