Thursday night the Seattle Seahawks closed out the 2019 preseason by defeating the Oakland Raiders while it rained at Century Link, and over the course of the game several of the Hawks rookies showcased their skills and made arguments for making the team. The debates about who does and who does not make the roster will reach fever pitch over the next day, with hand wringing going forward.
Terry Wright WR
Wright had been quiet through the preseason. We’d heard his name mentioned during early practices in camp, but he had yet to make a reception in any of the first three preseason games. That changed Thursday night when he hauled in this pass from Geno Smith.
Jazz Ferguson
It seems like we’ve talked about an impressive play by Ferguson after every preseason game, and this is no different after he managed to get behind a Raiders defensive back and win a jump ball on an underthrown pass. Whether it will be enough to win him a spot on the 53 remains to be seen, but this is the type of big receiver jump ball ability the Hawks have been looking for since Pete Carroll arrived.
Travis Homer
The one and two in the running back room are Chris Carson and Rashaad Penny, and after his performance last Saturday C.J. Prosise seemed to have the inside track for the third running back role. However, Thursday night Homer called dibs on that role for when Prosise inevitably goes down with an injury. He read the line properly, sprinted through the hole and then made the first man miss in the secondary on this 27 yard run.
Ben Burr-Kirven
It would be an understatement to say anything other than BBK came to play on Thursday night. Fighting for one of the last roster spots at a position that is absolutely stacked, Burr-Kirven did his best Bobby Wagner impression, recording twelve tackles, including two for a loss, record a sack and break up a pass. If there was any doubt about his ability to potentially contribute in the NFL, he likely erased those with his performance. He’ll of course need to continue to develop and be able to do what he did against starters rather than the backups of a team that finished 4-12 in 2018, but there’s no questioning how well he performed against the Raiders.
Ben Burr-Kirven is having an absolutely fantastic game. His 3rd down pressure the latest impressive play.
— Matty F. Brown (@mattyfbrown) August 30, 2019
Seattle was in red 2. BBK realized that no receivers were threatening his MRT/F3 Hook assignment, so he was free to attack the escaping quarterback. Fantastic work. pic.twitter.com/HSPjNowCKA
Marquise Blair
Blair has impressed with some big hits over the course of the preseason, but for the second consecutive game he departed with a back injury. The team hasn’t been very descriptive of what the injury is, and back injuries are notoriously fickle. This is obviously a situation worth watching with cuts looming on Saturday.