The Seattle Seahawks held a media day session prior to their Wednesday practice in San Jose. Field Gulls was in attendance at the San Jose Convention Center, and while we were unable to get any questions in for the solo podium appearances for Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald and quarterback Sam Darnold, we did speak to several Seahawks players and special teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh in 1-on-1s at tables. Here’s a snippet of some of the more notable quotes from these interviews.
Brandon Pili reflects on being claimed off waivers by the Seahawks in 2024
“It was definitely a shock. I thought I had really built a bit of a resume in Miami, and when I got released it was kind of devastating. Coming here, getting to be closer to my family was definitely a plus, and knowing the guys upstairs in the recruiting room believed in me and they’re trying to get me here. I think that was a big confidence boost for me and allowed me to go on an upward projection.”
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Safety Ty Okada on how the Seahawks have battled through injuries
“I think we’ve proved that week in and week out with guys just left and right stepping up when their number is called. I think it’s a credit to the team that we have and the coaching staff that we have—the way they get us prepared, and also just teammates having faith in anybody that steps on that football field and upholding the amazing standard that we have.”
Charles Cross, Abe Lucas, and Bryce Cabeldue share their views on Coach John Benton
Cross: “JB has done a great job since the first day he got in. Just coming in and being able to put us in a position of success. Being very detail-oriented, very technique-oriented, and really just playing our style of football.”
Lucas: “He’s been a phenomenal coach. He obviously was hired for a reason: a wealth of experience and knowledge. Breaks down the fundamentals very well in ways that we can understand it, and also if you were to sit down with the best minds of the game on the team—our coaching staff, whoever it was—he would be a main voice in that crowd, so definitely very helpful for us.”
Cabeldue: “I think one thing he does a really good job of is he’s the same guy every single day. He doesn’t care who you are—he doesn’t care if you’re the vet in the room, the best player in the room, or the worst player in the room. He’s going coach you hard, he’s going to coach you the exact same no matter who you are. I think that’s one of the keys to success. He’s been around the league for a very long time; he knows a lot about football, he knows a lot about our offense. Me, personally, and the offensive line, we want to go to work for him because he’s such an amazing person and amazing coach.”
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Coach Jay Harbaugh on Seattle’s special teams success, particularly on kickoffs
“It’s been an exciting thing. [With] the change in the kickoff, there’s a lot of football being played, which is really cool. Times in the past—the more veteran coaches might know better than me—there might be a bunch of touchbacks and there’s not even any football happening on those plays. So, excited to have more football. I think our guys have done a great job over the two years learning the parameters of the play—what works, what doesn’t work, the timing, the spacing, the angles. All the stuff that you kind of intuitively knew in the old kickoff or you know on offense or defense, there’s that process of figuring that out on the fly through reps. They’ve done a fantastic job being fast learners, giving us great feedback. We really enjoyed it and every week we try doing the best job we can.”
We’re back at it again on Thursday with more clips to come!
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