Snap Reactions: Seahawks snap counts against the Bears

Thursday evening the Seattle Seahawks hosted the Chicago Bears in the lone home preseason game for the Hawks this season, and it was a game that many would rather forget. Luckily, however, it’s preseason, and therefore meaningless in terms of the standing once the season starts.

With that in mind, fans were certainly excited about the potential for the Hawks to be a young up and coming team this season, and it’s certainly the case that they will be young, which will come with growing pains and rough patches. That said, the preseason and early part of the year will be much more important for getting those youngsters the experience and playing time they need in order to improve and compete at the NFL level, so seeing youngsters get significant snaps is, significant.

In any case, without wasting any further time, here are the snap counts for the offense against Chicago.

One thing that could easily go unnoticed following the on field performance against the Bears is that almost the entire first team offense was in the game for the opening series. Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf at receiver, Will Dissly at tight end, the starting offensive line and Geno Smith. The only projected starter missing was Rashaad Penny, but the first unit was able to efficiently produce a three and out even in Penny’s absence.

As for the defensive side of the ball, here are those snap counts.

The most notable absences on the defensive side of the ball is the starting secondary. No Jamal Adams, Quandre Diggs, Artie Burns or Sidney Jones. Those guys should all make a difference when they hit the field in September, while questions remain about whether or not L.J. Collier will be able to hit the field in the fall.

Myles Adams has shined through in both preseason games, which could make Collier expendable at defensive end. However, before anyone gets excited about the potential cap savings, the ever-important reminder here is that Collier is currently injured, and injured players cannot be waived. That means moving on from Collier puts him on injured reserve with an elbow injury for which Pete Carroll has said would require Tommy John surgery if he were a pitcher. That could lead to Collier spending the entire season on injured reserve and resulting in zero cap savings, which is likely not what fans want to hear.

Moving on to the special teams which were anything but special against Chicago, the snap counts for those who only saw the field on special teams were as follows.

Lastly, as pointed out prior to the preseason opener, if one wishes to read the tea leaves and try to figure out who is in the competition for the final roster spots at receiver, tight end, linebacker and in the secondary, the best place to look during the preseason is at who is playing on special teams. Therefore, here is the full list of players who saw double digit special teams snaps Thursday.

• Tanner Muse (20)
• Vi Jones (19)
• Dareke Young (18)
• Joshua Onujiogu (18)
• Lakiem Williams (17)
• Joey Blount (17)
• Boye Mafe (15)
• DeeJay Dallas (14)
• Mike Jackson (11)
• Justin Coleman (11)
• Joel Iyiegbuniwe (10)
• J.J. Arcega-Whiteside (10)
• Tyler Mabry (10)

So, for those wondering why the special teams were so bad against the Bears, it’s obviously because Nick Bellore wasn’t on the field the majority of the time.