A little good news and a little bad news from the Seahawks first day of training camp. Luckily, the good news is good, and the bad news is barely noteworthy. Let's start with the good.
↵Less than a year after tearing the ACL, MCL and PCL in his right leg, a little more than 10 months to be precise, Walter Thurmond was able to take the field at the VMAC center and practice with his new teammates. Being able to participate in the Seahawks first scheduled practice is excellent news, but should not be overestimated. Medically speaking, Thurmond should be fully healed. From a football perspective, how Thurmond responds to daily practices and, moreover, preseason action will dictate his readiness for the regular season.
↵Leon Washington was more of a sure thing. Broken bones, except for the severest cases, have a predictable and relatively short period of recovery and leave few if any lingering effects. Again, it is undoubtedly good that Washington was able to make his first practice, but remaining healthy is the key.
↵The bad news, sort of, is that fellow first-round picks Russell Okung and Earl Thomas are still unsigned. The truth is though, unless Okung and Thomas's holdouts extend deep into training camp, missing a little practice might be a blessing in disguise. Case in point: first first-round selection to sign, wide receiver Dez Bryant, suffered a high ankle sprain in practice and is now expected to miss four to six weeks.
↵Practice is valuable, but it comes with risks. Okung and Thomas need time to learn their respective systems and gel with their teammates, but that will truly begin to happen during game action. The value of practice is mitigated by the inherent risk of injury. I'm not sure how much more ready a player is that participates in every practice versus one that misses a handful because of a contract hold out, but I doubt very much. Okung and Thomas will be playing in very similar capacities for the Seahawks as they did in college. They'll take their lumps during game action and learn, and that is the vital experience that will shape them into great professionals.
↵Anyway, we, the media, will continue to ramp up the drama until Okung and Thomas eventually sign. How can we not?
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