Seahawks notes: Earl Thomas, Frank Clark, Byron Maxwell skip OTA

News, notes and observations following the Seahawks’ OTA on Monday, the third of four that will be open to the media.

— The three players who have been sitting out for voluntary reasons remained absent — free safety Earl Thomas, cornerback Byron Maxwell and defensive end Frank Clark. Thomas and Clark are sitting out to make a statement about their contracts (each has deals that are up after 2018) while it’s unclear the situation with Maxwell, who re-signed with Seattle in April, getting a one-year deal. Middle linebacker Bobby Wagner, one of two players who was made available to the media following the OTA, said he expects Thomas back “real soon” though he didn’t specify when.

— Left tackle Duane Brown, the other player made available to the media, also is entering the final year of his contract and it’s thought the team will work to get an extension with him done at some point. But Brown, who held out last season at Houston and essentially forced a trade with the Texans working out a deal with Seattle, said he has not talked yet with the Seahawks but also said it’s not a pressing issue at the moment. “My agent is handling that,” Brown said. “I trust that everything is going to happen in good time and when it is supposed to.”

— Brown, who typically kneeled for the national anthem last season, had harsh words for the NFL’s new national anthem policy, announced last month, in which players are expected to stand for the anthem if they are on the field with teams being potentially penalized if they don’t. Brown echoed comments of some other players saying one of his biggest issues is that players were not consulted before the league approved the policy. “I don’t like it,” Brown said. “I don’t like it. I think its dismissive. I don’t think its ever properly been acknowledged there was no one that was consulted with or talked to about the matter, so we have discussed it amongst ourselves and we are still discussing it to see how we are going to handle it as a team. But I don’t agree with it at all.”

— Kicker Sebastian Janikowski also was again sidelined with a hip issue leaving kicking duties to Jason Myers. Rookie punter Michael Dickson has been the primary holder, another role held in the past by veteran punter Jon Ryan. Seattle won’t keep two punters and the growing expectation is that Dickson will win the job and at some point the team will waive Ryan, who has been with the Seahawks since 2008 and is the only player let who predates the arrival of Carroll in 2010.