Seahawks Camp — Aug 23: Price Returns to Team Drills in Nashville

Jadarian Price spent Friday's joint practice in Nashville back in Seattle's full-speed team periods — bouncing a run outside to the sideline in 11-on-11, hauling in an over-the-shoulder catch in seven-on-seven — and Sam Darnold put a label on the rookie back afterward: "He's a really special player," per the team's website. The first-round pick had missed roughly two weeks of camp with lower-body soreness before working his way back in stages: Monday brought his first full-speed practice in 11 days, lining up regularly with the first-team offense in helmets and shoulder pads with no contact drills, per Bob Condotta at The Seattle Times, and Mike Macdonald kept it procedural — "He's just like any other return to play guy. He's on his return plan. It's good to see him out there," per Cameron Van Til at Seattle Sports. The remaining box is live carries in a game, and the chance comes today, when the Seahawks play the Titans in Nashville after this episode is filed.

The joint practice around him gets the two-column treatment, because both columns were loud. Jaxon Smith-Njigba beat Titans cornerback Alontae Taylor down the sideline and made another catch at the one-yard line, Elijah Arroyo scored in red-zone work, and Rashid Shaheed popped up from a big hit over the middle from that same Taylor — "showed a lot of toughness," Darnold said, per Ari Horton and John Boyle at the team's website. Safety Ty Okada supplied the defensive play of the day, jumping a Cam Ward crossing route and returning it for a score. His own account, per the team's site: "I was coming down over the middle, tried to get him to get his eyes off of me." The other column: Darnold threw two interceptions, one of them a pick-six to Taylor, per Ben Arthur at Fox Sports, and afterward credited Tennessee's four- and five-man rushes as "really, really good" — while Ward, on his end, threw red-zone touchdowns on Seattle's defense, per Arthur. A chippy, competitive day that neither side owned, which is roughly what a joint practice between a contender and a hungry young team should look like.

The front office made the week's biggest roster move on Wednesday, signing cornerback Trevon Diggs — the former Cowboy — to a one-year deal, per Condotta. He slots into the competition for the third corner job behind Devon Witherspoon and Josh Jobe, the audition Noah Igbinoghene ran in last week's game, with Diggs rotating outside when Witherspoon moves to the slot. This is depth insurance rather than a crowned starter — injuries have limited Diggs to 23 games over the past three seasons, per Condotta — and Condotta ties the timing to the unresolved Terrion Arnold situation: the corner acquired from Detroit has not signed his contract and would go onto the commissioner's exempt list when he does, while the league investigates a February incident. Diggs, for his part: "I'm looking to show that I'm still the best."

The week's worst news came at receiver. Jake Bobo hurt his right knee attempting a leaping catch during Friday's joint practice, and Macdonald didn't dress it up: "Our heart goes out to Jake Bobo, it seems like it's going to be a serious knee. We're going to get it imaged, but early returns, it looks like it's a long-term injury," per John Boyle at the team's website. Saturday the team placed him on injured reserve, ending his season, and signed receiver Julian Hicks to the open spot, per Boyle. That lands in a receiver room already managing without Tory Horton, who has been out while "working through some things," per Macdonald via Van Til.

The rest of the ledger, in brief, because most of it didn't move. Zach Charbonnet was still on the physically-unable-to-perform list as of Monday, per Condotta, and Nick Emmanwori — who passed a physical August 11 — remains on it too, per Van Til; both now sit a week from the August 30 cutdown, when staying on the list means missing at least the first four games. Behind Price, Emanuel Wilson is still out with the leg injury from August 11, Jacardia Wright returned Monday after two weeks away, and the team signed rookie back Anthony Hankerson, per Condotta. Edge rusher Derick Hall has been sidelined since August 11 with an injury Macdonald says "shouldn't be long-term," rookie corner Julian Neal got into pads Monday but not team drills, per Van Til, and cornerback Shemar Jean-Charles went to injured reserve.

Back in July we previewed the defending champions as the strangest sentence in football — a 14-win Super Bowl winner priced behind the team it beat in January — with the case resting on Darnold's repeatable core and a defense that kept both of its architects, and the backfield flagged as the one soft spot. We've been checking that preview against camp every week, and this week mostly filled in the flagged spot: Price is back to full-speed team work on schedule, while the pillars themselves got their first outside test in Nashville and came away with a split — Darnold's two interceptions against Smith-Njigba's wins, Okada's pick-six against Ward's red-zone scores. Nothing in that moves the July read either way. What to watch next: the August 30 physically-unable-to-perform decisions on Charbonnet and Emmanwori, which turn a rehab status into either a roster spot or a four-game fact, and Price's first live carries, today in Nashville or in the finale. We'll check after cut day.

_Data via nflverse._