Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald made the sudden and shocking announcement after Friday’s practice. Off-season free agent acquisition Connor Williams has retired from the football.
“Connor (Williams) early this week decided to retire. Personal reasons, and we respect that. I wish him the best. We’ve got to move forward, said Macdonald.
The Seahawks signed Williams on August 11th, and he began his race against time to get game-ready for the Seahawk’s opener with the Denver Broncos. Complicating matters was his recovery from a season-ending injury he suffered in Week 14 while playing for the Miami Dolphins in 2023.
After an aggressive of-season recovery program, Williams met the opening day deadline and started all nine games with the Seahawks this season. Williams did not practice this week, and questions began to surface regarding his status for Sunday’s game. Macdonald’s announcement put all those questions to rest but raised others regarding Williams’s well-being.
“Yeah, you start getting to timetables and all that. I’d rather keep it private between Connor (Williams) and the things that he’s working through, but it was this week, “ added Macdonald.
CENTER OF ATTENTION
Olu Oluwatimi, a second-year center from Michigan, replaced Williams. The Seahawks drafted Oluwatimi in the fifth round ( 154th overall) of the 2023 draft. Oluwatimi started one game during his rookie season and played in three others.
This season, he has played four offensive snaps, none of which were at the center position. Despite the lack of snaps at center this season, Macdonald was adamant that Oluwatimi would be the team’s starting center for the foreseeable future.
“ He’s (Olu Oluwatimi) the guy that’s been knocking on the door for a while, So obviously it’s an unforeseen circumstance that you’ve got to take head-on. But the silver lining in the whole thing is that we get to see Olu go do his thing. This guy’s been working really hard, basically started at center for us the whole off-season until we signed Connor (Williams). So we’ve had a really good week of practice with Connor not here and onward we go.”
HELP UP FRONT AND WIDE AREAS
The good news for the Seahawks is that the correct tackle, Abe Lucas, will start for the first time this season. Lucas suffered a knee injury and participated in just six games. According to head coach Mike Macdonald, Lucas will see significant playing time and be on a pitch count.
“We’re anticipating to see him (Abraham Lucas) right now in a pretty significant manner. We’re still on a progression here, so the amount of reps that he’s going to get, we’ll see as the game kind of unfolds. We have a plan, we have a target rep count, and we’ll kind of leave that in-house right now. But yeah, excited to see him go do his thing.”
RETURN OF DK METCALF
The return of Metcalf is bound to boost the Seahawks’ passing game. Despite missing the two games, Metcalf is tied with Jaxon Smith-Njigba for the team lead in reception yards (586) and touchdowns ( three) and leads the team in receiving yards per game at 85.
“Yeah, excited to have DK (Metcalf) back. I’m not sure how we’re designated, but he is ready to go. I mean we’re fired up to see DK out there and he is practicing great. Excited to see him go do his thing,, “ said Macdonald when asked about the return of Metcalf back in the lineup
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