Seahawks notes: Offensive tackle depth takes a hit, kickers get a break

RENTON – As the Seahawks finished their eighth practice of training camp Saturday at the VMAC, three of the top four offensive tackles on the depth chart were not available.

In fact, by the end of practice Seattle had just three offensive tackles left – starting right tackle Brandon Shell and rookies Stone Forsythe and Greg Eiland.

Left tackle Duane Brown continued his “hold in,’’ attending practice but not in pads and again a spectator (same as strong safety Jamal Adams).

Three other tackles left during practice due to injury – Jamarco Jones, who has usually been working as the starting left tackle with Brown out; Cedric Ogbuehi, who is in a tight competition with Shell for the right tackle spot; and second-year player Tommy Champion.

Since coach Pete Carroll was not scheduled to talk to the media, there were no updates afterward, leaving it unclear if any of the injuries are significant.

But if nothing else, the Seahawks could be pretty shy of depth at tackle for the mock game at 1:25 p.m. Sunday at Lumen Field.

Both Jones and Ogbuehi suffered injuries last week that caused them to miss one day of practice – Jones got his knee rolled on during a practice; Ogbuehi was held out one day after injuring his shoulder.

It was unclear if the injuries they left with Saturday were the same.

Ogbuehi departed after the linemen conducted a one-on-one pass rush drill. Carlos Dunlap got the better of Ogbuehi on two straight snaps, after which Ogbuehi headed to the locker room. Jones was treated for a leg injury of some sort, returned briefly, then left.

Champion, an undrafted free agent a year ago who spent all last season on the practice squad, left with a leg injury.

The injuries had Shell and Forsythe, a sixth-round pick out of Florida this year, working as the starting tackles at the end of Saturday’s practice with Eiland, an undrafted rookie free agent out of Mississippi State, as a backup. The Seahawks also list rookie Jake Curhan of Cal as a tackle but he has appeared to play almost exclusively at guard in camp.

Brown, who turns 36 at the end of the month, is entering the final season of his contract, due to make a base salary of $10 million in 2021.

A Friday report from ESPN stated that Brown “isn’t pleased’’ he hasn’t gotten a contract extension yet.

The thought is the Seahawks are waiting to do anything with Brown until after they have completed an extension with Adams.

Seattle also practiced Saturday without Ethan Pocic, who is competing with Kyle Fuller for the starting center job. Pocic sat out or was limited for much of the first week of camp with a hamstring injury. It’s unclear if he was injured or just being rested in anticipation of the mock game.

Injury report

Wrapping up a few other injury/personnel situations from Saturday’s practice:

Cornerback D.J. Reed left late in practice after suffering some sort of upper leg injury. It didn’t appear overly serious, but Reed took off his pads and watched from the sidelines. Reed has been consistently working as the starter at right cornerback ahead of Tre Flowers.

Backup linebacker Nate Evans also left with an unknown injury during practice. That left the Seahawks with just four healthy players listed as linebackers with Cody Barton (quad) and Jon Rhattigan (hamstring) each remaining out. For the third straight day, the Seahawks suited up fullback Nick Bellore as a linebacker. Bellore, in his 11{span}th{/span} season, began his NFL career as a linebacker, starting 10 games at that spot for the 49ers in 2016 before moving to fullback after signing with the Lions in 2017. Bellore turned in one notable play as a linebacker Saturday, stopping Gerald Everett shy of the end zone after a reception during a red zone drill, causing assistant linebackers coach Aaron Curry to race down the field in celebration.

Also sitting out Saturday were defensive linemen Poona Ford, Robert Nkemdiche and Aldon Smith. Nkemdiche has been dealing with a groin injury and has not practiced in three days. It was unclear why Smith and Ford were out.

Running back Rashaad Penny also sat out for unknown reasons.

Kickers get a break

The Seahawks are attempting to make Sunday’s mock game as close to the real thing as possible so that players get a realistic run-through of what game preparation is like.

That included having kicker Jason Myers and punter Michael Dickson take the day off from doing any actual kicking, as would be the case on the day before a real game to rest their legs.

Still, the Seahawks wanted to get a few live practices of field goals in to prepare the rest of the field goal unit. That meant the odd sight of receivers John Ursua and Tyler Lockett attempting field goals from the 30.

Ursua had the needed distance on all of his kicks. But each missed wide to the left. Lockett, who kicked left footed, forcing Dickson to have to switch sides to make the hold, was much wider on his kick.

“How was it?’’ Dickson said with a laugh. “Not good. Johnny-U has a bit of potential, but Lockett not so much.”

Asked if he’d given Ursua a few tips before his attempts, Myers said he “tried to. Didn’t go too well. Job security for a little longer, I guess.’’