Seattle Seahawks Counting on Backups to Step Up Against Miami Dolphins

With both teams dealing with several injuries, the Seahawks will have to lean on unheralded contributors against the Dolphins for a chance to start 3-0.

Aug 17, 2024; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Seattle Seahawks running back Kenny McIntosh (25) is tackled by Tennessee Titans safety Mike Brown (44) in the first quarter at Nissan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Casey Gower-Imagn Images / Casey Gower-Imagn Images

It's only Week 3 in the 2024 NFL regular season, but based off lengthy injury reports for the Seattle Seahawks and Miami Dolphins this week heading towards Sunday's matchup at Lumen Field, it looks like November or December already for both organizations.

On Wednesday, Seattle had a whopping nine players who did not participate in practice due to injury and another six players were limited. Those numbers gradually improved as the week progressed, but the team still ruled out tackle George Fant and edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu along with giving running back Ken Walker III and linebacker Jerome Baker doubtful designations, likely leaving them without four starters against Miami.

In addition, the Seahawks also added edge rusher Derick Hall (hip) to the final injury report with a questionable designation a few hours after initially releasing it, joining fellow outside linebacker Boye Mafe (knee) as a game-time decision. Three other players received questionable designations, including tight end Pharaoh Brown, who has missed the first two games, though coach Mike Macdonald seemed optimistic about safety K'Von Wallace and receiver Laviska Shenault playing.

Even considering their injury situation, Seattle won't get much sympathy from Miami, who will be traveling to the Pacific Northwest with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sidelined by a concussion, thrusting backup Skylar Thompson into action for his third career start. The team already has standout pass rusher Bradley Chubb and receiver Odell Beckham Jr. on the reserve/PUP list, so they will be missing plenty of star power on Sunday as well.

With the Seahawks already quite banged up, Macdonald and his staff will be banking on several young backups to rise to the occasion against the Dolphins, starting in the trenches with Stone Forsythe making his second straight start in place of Fant, who landed on injured reserve on Friday afternoon along with starter Abraham Lucas.

Now in his fourth season and the final year of his rookie contract, Forsythe has played quite a bit of regular season football at this point with 10 previous starts under his belt. Last week, per Pro Football Focus charting, the former sixth-round pick allowed five pressures on 47 pass blocking reps against the Patriots, but only one of those pressures resulted in a hit on Geno Smith and he performed at a respectable level while dealing with the likes of Keion White and Josh Uche.

"I thought Stone played well," Macdonald told reporters following Friday's practice. "The second half and on, from the Denver game through New England, I thought he was doing a lot of nice things. Again, the only thing you can do is just keep going out there and getting it done on the practice field, play-by-play, and then I'm excited to see him go play on Sunday. He's ready to go." 

Away from Forsythe, with Walker expected to sit for a second straight game, the Seahawks will turn to Zach Charbonnet and potentially a bigger dose of Kenny McIntosh to fill the void in the backfield.

Making his third career start, Charbonnet struggled to find much running room in Foxboro, rushing for 38 yards on 14 carries, but he did power into the end zone for a one-yard touchdown and made several key blocks in pass protection picking up blitzes. Playing 96 percent of the snaps, he also made a pair of key receptions on Seattle's game-tying and game-winning drives in the fourth quarter and overtime.

Coming off a game where he only played one snap on offense, given Seattle's inability to get much going on the ground in Week 2, McIntosh could see a more expansive role against Miami. More of a slasher than his counterpart, his running style could be a better fit against the Dolphins, who allowed his former college teammate James Cook - who runs with a similar style as a one-cut and go runner - to rush for 78 yards and two touchdowns on only 11 carries last week in a loss to the Bills.

At this stage, McIntosh still has much to prove with minimal pass protection reps to evaluate him on, but a steady performance in a rotational role on Sunday would go a long way towards earning more trust from Macdonald and the coaching staff.

"I expect the best version of him if he's out there," Macdonald said. "But you talk about process over results. I mean that's the message that’s been to Kenny [McIntosh] since we got here. Just keep focusing on all the things you need to handle pre-snap so you can go play as fast as possible and the rest will take care of itself."

On defense, after logging 44 defensive snaps in Baker's place against New England last week, Seattle will likely turn to rookie linebacker Tyrice Knight for his first career NFL start on Sunday. The fourth-round pick out of UTEP finished with seven tackles, including five that resulted in two or fewer yards for the Patriots, but he also had his share of rookie mistakes, including getting caught out of position on a 35-yard tight end screen to Hunter Henry.

With Baker missing most of training camp and the entire preseason with a lingering hamstring injury, Knight has been forced to grow up quickly under the coaching of Macdonald, who has been hesitant to provide too many compliments for the rookie up to this point due to lofty expectations for his linebackers in general. Though he's just three weeks into his NFL career, his coach has raised the stakes by telling him he's "not a rookie anymore," and he will face his biggest challenge yet dealing with explosive running back De'Von Achane as a runner and receiver.

"I think it's just constant improvement," Macdonald said when asked what he's seen from Knight so far. "We ask a lot from those guys and at some point, he was cross-training multiple positions and the game moves fast and each week you're kind of learning a new offense and how they operate. So you’ve got to stay poised, kind of apply your rules. But he's a cool customer man. He doesn't ever seem like he's rattled or anything like that, so he's going to be just fine."

If there's another area where the Seahawks may need to call upon unheralded reinforcements, it's off the edge with Nwosu already out and both Mafe and Hall listed as questionable to play. In the worst case scenario where all three don't suit up, or even if two of those players wind up being sidelined, the onus will fall on veterans Trevis Gipson and Tyus Bowser, who was elevated from the practice squad on Saturday, to plug-and-play significant snaps alongside starter Dre'Mont Jones.

Coming over only two days after Nwosu sprained his knee in Seattle's preseason finale, Gibson has only seen the field for nine total defensive snaps so far and has yet to produce any statistics. As for Bowser, the former Ravens starter joined the team earlier this month after a workout and will be playing in his first game in more than a calendar year, making him a relative unknown expectation-wise despite having 19.5 sacks and 48 quarterback hits on his resume.

Regardless of who winds up suiting up on Sunday, the Seahawks will undoubtedly need major contributions from non-starters to defeat the Dolphins minus multiple standout players. Following the mantra established by former coach Pete Carroll, it will be "next man up" and Macdonald will be keeping his fingers crossed that improved depth will show up between the lines on Sunday as his team seeks to remain undefeated on their home turf.