MIKE McDONALD: Great to see everybody again. It was a great day out there, man. A lot of good football, a lot of good situational stuff. We got better today, so I'm pretty stoked.
Great day out there. Beautiful weather. Great football weather. We got after it, so I'm really excited right now.
Q. Felt like today was the Jaxon Smith-Nijigba Show; what's at that like to see him and 'Spoon go against each other like that and have such a competitive practice?
MIKE McDONALD: Shoot, it's great. It's great. JSN is a great player and expecting great big things out of him. He's had a great off-season. Works his tail off. His practice habits are awesome. Moving ability is pretty elite.
I think we got a really cool plan for him. For him and 'Spoon a lot of times end up going against each other, it's tough right now. You can't contest the ball, but you're trying to be competitive. We're in these red zone periods, so there is a delicate balance there.
I thought we handed it great staying off the ground and making some okays and executing at a high level, so good day.
Q. In what ways are you improving?
MIKE McDONALD: On the team?
Q. Yeah.
MIKE McDONALD: I think you can just feel it come out of the huddle. I think you can hear the defense being ahead of plays more, anticipating things. There are things that we're always going to chase, especially with the young guys, but I think when you start to see how it all comes together on both sides of the ball and guys understand how it fits, I think you can feel that just by the speed of how we're practicing.
Q. Are they also beginning to feel that in terms of players?
MIKE McDONALD: I think so. And we're still going through our process. We're halfway through OTAs here, but it's where you want it to be. Keep pushing the envelope. Having progress every day, taking the next step, that's the challenge.
We don't have to be ready to play tomorrow, but we do have to take the next step every time we get out here. That's the focus and that's what it's been and that's what it will be.
Q. What are your impressions from what you've seen of Sam Howell out here in the OTA sessions?
MIKE McDONALD: I think he's representative of where we are at as a football team. Sam has improved every time we've come out here. It's really exciting. He's thrown the ball really well.
Today he made some good decisions in some situational work that was exciting to see with only going over it in one day. Football intelligence is high. Obviously his ability is what it needs to be. He's right there. I think he mirrors where we are as a team right now. We're excited about Sam.
Q. What's Leslie Frazier specifically in his role bringing to the staff?
MIKE McDONALD: I wish he would call some more third and longs in some of those periods. Get the offense behind the sticks.
Where do I start? All of the above. Leslie is an elite communicator, a loyal person, a loyal coach. Super high character individual.
Again, representative of the type of people we want it the building. The relationships he's been able to build with the players, just really appreciate that. Forwarding the message, things like that.
Helps us with scheme as well. So it's kind of everywhere. Just someone -- and a resource to me personally, just direction and steering the ship, seeing around corners which I've talked about in the past.
Just absolutely really excited that he's with us.
Q. As a first time head coach, how important was it to have somebody on your staff, whether it's that role or coordinator, just someone who had that type of experience?
MIKE McDONALD: It was really important. I mean, I think Les is probably the first or second guy we called when everything went down, and was a priority to work with him.
Just really cherish our relationship.
Q. As a first time head coach, how have you seen Julian Love's leadership manifest out there, especially with him being a returning player on this roster?
MIKE McDONALD: On the field he has elite poise, and that's something we're chasing. If something doesn't go our way let's keep our poise, play the next play. The game is slow to him, so to be able to communicate at a high level shows you what it should feel like when he's out there.
We have several guys like that so really exciting about that. J Love in particular, a guy that will be able to move around, change some different spots. You don't see that yet, but he'll be a guy we'll be able to move around and utilize in a pretty sweet way.
Q. How do you see the linebacker spot coming along? Obviously looks like couple of your veterans guys weren't out there.
MIKE McDONALD: Tough because some of the guys weren't out there. Something we're chasing right now. Again, we're seeing how it fits and where guys like feel more comfortable inside or outside, that sort of thing.
Probably early to kind of give you a full report on that.
Q. Where is Jerome Baker at in terms of his rehab?
MIKE McDONALD: He's working through some things Reich I have right now. We probably won't see him until training camp at this level. He's going to be fine, but just right now we won't see him out in OTAs.
Q. Is that from the wrist surgery?
MIKE McDONALD: The wrist and couple other things, like lower body stuff he's working through.
Q. It's only the first of June, but because of what you're trying to install at that position, him and Dodson...
MIKE McDONALD: I wouldn't call it a concern but any time someone isn't getting all the reps you got to figure out different ways to get them the reps.
So it's mental stuff, walk-throughs, we're trying to be creative in the building to make sure he gets all the things he needs to see.
He'll be up to speed, ready to roll.
Q. What have you seen of Tyrice Knight so far?
MIKE McDONALD: He's coming along. The mentality is there. The game is fast for him right now, but it's a process. It's his fifth practice with the big boys, and like all the rookies, they have a lot to learn.
But he's you made some plays and seeing some things right now, so definitely things we -- there is a foundation there that we're excited about.
He's a rookie right now, so he's got to pick it up just like the rest of them.
Q. (Indiscernible.) Who is the guy you had to reign in the most?
MIKE McDONALD: In the back end I think we do a pretty good job. We'll see. I mean, I think it's the mentality of -- like the offense should be able to execute at a high level. We should be completing a lot of passes out there, which is what we saw today. That's good for the Seahawks.
I think what the guys have to understand and what we keep reinforcing the message is right now we're chasing execution. We're not chasing incomplete, contested catches. We're chasing making the right calls, being in position to make plays, that sort of thing.
We're really competing against ourselves, and I think we've done a good job of explaining that to the guys. It shows on tape. You're right there, in a great spot. We're rolling, next play, offense. We executed, caught the ball, it was a touchdown, overall great play for us.
So it's probably easier than may seem to you guys.
Q. We've seen McClendon Curtis working with the ones there.
MIKE McDONALD: Yeah.
Q. What have you seen out of him?
MIKE McDONALD: Well, I mean, yeah, he knows multiple spots, so if you know what to do it's easy to move you around. I think the whole offensive line -- it's always one big puzzle piece as you trying to find the best five and the backup plan if someone can't go and making sure you have enough depth so you're not looking in the middle of the season and you have really no options.
He's doing a great job. Had a great off-season.
Q. (Indiscernible.)
MIKE McDONALD: Oh, yeah. Shoutout it Coach Knox. I think it was pretty good. Not a big like -- trying out the new hat, you know. Got some good feedback. You might see it again. We'll see.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports