Seattle Seahawks Set For First Joint Practice in 33 Years With Tennessee Titans

Most of the Seahawks' starters will sit in their second preseason game on Saturday after the team's first joint practice since 1991.

Tennessee Titans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins (10) brings in a pass as Seattle Seahawks cornerback Riq Woolen (27) defends during their game at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, Dec. 24, 2023. / Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Seattle Seahawks haven’t taken part in a joint practice since 1991. Even then, it was constructed vastly differently, with Seattle hosting the Atlanta Falcons in Portland, Oregon, for a July scrimmage that doubled as a fundraiser for Portland State University.

Thirty-three years later, new head coach Mike Macdonald is the first Seahawks coach to organize a preseason practice with another team since Chuck Knox, who still has the third-most head coaching wins in franchise history (80).

Seattle will touch down in Nashville, Tennessee, on Tuesday, and hold a two-day, full pads practice with the Titans beginning on Wednesday before playing a preseason game on Saturday, Aug. 17.

“We’ve talked about this before, of why we’re doing it. But one, the science behind it, to kind of callous the team, get ready to go for the long haul, so that’s number one,” Macdonald said on Monday. “And just looking for the competition within a structured setting. [I] think [the Titans] got a great team, they got a great coaching staff, so to do it in a tight manner, like right here, instead of in a game and kind of control the environment.”

Macdonald added it’s an opportunity to gauge how Seattle’s starters fare against the Titans’ starters in that same controlled environment, while also seeing how the players who are not guaranteed to make the roster perform in practice against another team.

The Seahawks’ starters “probably won’t play in the game,” Macdonald said, which makes the practice far more important for them than the subsequent preseason game — especially considering it’ll be full pads both days. As a result, the starters will also see most of the practice reps, Macdonald said, in addition to some of the third teamers.

“There’s a method behind the madness,” he added.

The benefit of that structure is Macdonald and his staff will put less of their starting offense and defense on game tape (for other teams to see) ahead of the final week of the preseason.

It also reduces the risk of in-game injury to any starters and allows players on the bubble to have more game snaps. For the veterans, those snaps are far less valuable than they are for a first- or second-year player. Those are the players who the coaching staff wants to evaluate in that environment.

Like Macdonald, Tennessee head coach Brian Callahan is also in his first season as the Titans head coach. Callahan was the Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator for five seasons before being hired to helm the Titans operation. The two-day practice plan has been a collaboration between the two organizations.

“Brian [Callahan] has been great, very open about how they want to operate. We’re trying to do the same thing,” Macdonald said. “[Passing game coordinator] Jake [Peetz] is kind of spearheaded that whole operation so he’s done a great job on our end; a lot of communication on how we want to operate and then we will get together before the whole thing kicks off on Wednesday and make sure everybody is on the same page. The expectations on both sides is congruent.”

Callahan said the joint practice will also affect how much the Titans play their starters in the game on Saturday, per the team’s official website.

“I’m hoping for really two great days of controlled physical work against [Seattle],” Callahan said, “and that will likely lead to some of the starters playing less in this game just because of the amount of work they’re going to get in practice … it’s going to be such a heavy load on those guys and emphasis will be for the ones to get a lot more reps, and then the twos and threes will play a lot more in the game.”

Tennessee Titans safety Quandre Diggs (26) stretches during training camp at Ascension Saint Thomas Sports Park Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. / Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK

The ties run deep in this joint practice setup, with both of the Seahawks’ starting safeties from last year signing with the Titans ahead of the 2024 season. Both Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs, who were cap casualties this offseason (combined 2024 cap savings of about $17.1 million), each signed with Tennessee following the June announcement of the joint practice.

Nick Vannett, a third-round draft pick by the Seahawks in 2016, also signed with the Titans this offseason — now the eighth team he’s spent time with in nine seasons. Seahawks safety K’Von Wallace played in 10 games with Tennessee last season before signing with Seattle in March.

While the joint practice system isn’t always the most fan-friendly with teams withholding starters from preseason games, it is overall better for the participating teams’ veterans in their preparation for the regular season.

Macdonald is continuing to exhaust his resources and opportunities to fine-tune Seattle’s football product ahead of Week 1, and now he’s making history while doing so.