Seahawks Camp — Sep 3: Diggs Back, Igbinoghene Isn't

Cornerback Trevon Diggs was back with Seattle on Monday, one day after the team released him — re-signed to the practice squad on a veteran deal, per John Boyle at Seahawks.com. That answered the question our last episode handed to this one. John Schneider released eight vested veterans on Sunday, free agents the moment they were let go, with a stated plan to bring several of them back. Three came back: Diggs, running back Velus Jones Jr. and safety Rodney Thomas II, per Boyle. Safety D'Anthony Bell and cornerback Noah Igbinoghene, both named in the reporting as expected returns, were not on the 17-man practice squad the team announced, per Cameron Van Til at Seattle Sports. And receiver Cody White, released the same Sunday, signed with the Raiders' practice squad instead, per the Raiders' own announcement — reuniting with Klint Kubiak, his former offensive coordinator in Seattle, per Van Til.

Schneider had explained the mechanism on Sunday, per Van Til: "Having veterans on the practice squad has enabled us to not expose certain players to the waiver wire." Four of the six veteran slots went to that idea on Monday — those three plus safety AJ Finley, per Boyle. On cornerback, per Ari Horton at Seahawks.com: "That position, you can never have enough guys all the way through and we've been in spots before where we've been stuck..." And on Diggs, per Horton: "He came in a little bit late and he's kind of just getting going." Schneider added that Diggs had bought into the culture, the players and the staff. Diggs led the league with 11 interceptions in 2021, per Randy Gurzi at Sports Illustrated.

The waiver wire itself was quiet in Seattle's direction. The Seahawks claimed nobody, per Van Til and, separately, Jeremy Brener at Sports Illustrated. They lost one player: second-year edge rusher Jared Ivey, claimed by the Falcons on Monday, the only Seahawk taken in the entire run, per Van Til. That is the whole waiver exchange — one out, none in. A day earlier, at cutdown, the front office had traded with the Chargers for undrafted rookie cornerback Avery Smith, out of Toledo, per Boyle.

The second wave of reserve moves was mostly paperwork resolving. Linebackers Power Echols and Aaron Smith and tackle Amari Kight, all waived with injury designations at cutdown, per Boyle, cleared and reverted to injured reserve on Monday, per the CBS Sports transaction log. Linebacker Chris Paul Jr. was waived from injured reserve with an injury settlement the same day, per Boyle. The two placements that matter for September were already made Sunday and stand: running back Zach Charbonnet on the reserve physically-unable-to-perform list after February knee surgery — "the plan was always for him to open on the PUP list," Schneider said, per Van Til — and receiver Irvin Charles on injured reserve with a return designation. Both are out at least four games.

The practice squad is where the roster's shape shows. 17, announced Monday, with center Federico Maranges back on the international designation for a second straight season, per Boyle. Four of Seattle's own 2026 picks are on it — sixth-round receiver Emmanuel Henderson Jr., seventh-round cornerbacks Andre Fuller and Michael Dansby, and seventh-round nose tackle Deven Eastern, per Van Til — along with receiver Ricky White III, a 2025 pick. That pairs with the fact that only three 2026 draft picks made the 53: running back Jadarian Price, cornerback Julian Neal and guard Beau Stephens, per Michael Hanich at Sports Illustrated. And the safeties: the active roster carries three, and three more sit on the practice squad — Thomas II, Finley and safety Maxen Hook, per Brener. Running back Jacardia Wright, whom we described as waived, is on it too, per Boyle. The team calls the 53 plus the 17 its "Ready Squad," a 70-man unit, per Horton — and Cooper Kupp, who spent eight seasons with the Rams, put the difference simply on the Hard Knocks finale, per Van Til: "Last year, there were guys that I thought had played to the point that I thought there was no way they weren't making the 53."

Two corrections to the page from our last episode, both about dates and wording rather than facts. We said fullback Robbie Ouzts went to season-ending injured reserve the same week as the Tennessee injuries; the CBS Sports transaction log dates his placement to August 11, nearly two weeks earlier, and lists the injury as a neck. And we passed along a characterization of safety Bud Clark's broken ankle as season-ending; Mike Macdonald's own words on August 25, per Boyle, were "the severity I'm not sure, but he's going to be out multiple months." The coach's version is the one that stays on the page. The Sunday ledger, by the team's own release, was 24 waived, four waived with injury designations, and eight vested veterans released.

Cornerback Terrion Arnold, signed Saturday and placed on the Commissioner's Exempt List Sunday, cannot practice or play while he is on it, per Van Til. What is new this week is the why. Albert Breer at Sports Illustrated said Seattle had word from the league, when it brought Arnold in for a visit, that he would probably be cleared to practice and play — and that the league's posture changed as the public reaction built. Macdonald, on the signing, per Van Til: "I have a responsibility coming from the organization about what we expect and also what our vision would be for him and how it would operate." That is where it sits, open-ended.

Back in July we previewed the defending champions as the strangest sentence in football — a 14-win champion priced behind the team it beat in the Super Bowl — with the case resting on Sam Darnold's repeatable core and a defense that kept both of its architects, and the backfield flagged as the one soft spot. The numbers behind it: 14 three, the top seed, and a defense that ranked second in the league in expected points added allowed per play, the measure of how much each snap moved the opponent's expected score. The offense was thirteenth by the same measure, eighth throwing and 20-ninth running — which is the part July worried about, and cut day made it paperwork: Charbonnet out at least four games, and now, with running back Emanuel Wilson likely inactive for the opener, per Brener, a Week 1 backfield of Price and George Holani. The July read held its core. Its soft spot has a start date and a thinner bench than the plan called for.

Next is the Patriots, Wednesday, September 9, at Lumen Field — the kickoff game, and a rematch of the Super Bowl. No injury report has been filed yet. What to watch: whether Nick Emmanwori is on the field — "We'll see how that goes," Schneider said Sunday, per Van Til, and Emmanwori's own words on the Hard Knocks finale were "I'm making progress, but I can't really do back-to-back hard days" — and whether Price's first live carry is in the opener. The Recap follows the game.

_Data via nflverse._