Notes from Seahawks’ first OTA of the offseason

The Seahawks, most of them anyway, were on the field Tuesday for their first session of organized team activities of the year.

As was reported earlier, Jimmy Graham and Russell Wilson were among those absent, as they are in Miami to attend the funeral of Tamara Meyerson, a longtime mentor and manager of Graham. Cliff Avril was also away following the death of his father.

Pete Carroll, who opened his press conference by offering condolences to Graham and Avril, said Wilson will try to visit Avril after attending Meyerson’s funeral.

Other notable absences were Michael Bennett, Bruce Irvin and Marshawn Lynch, and asked about all three Carroll answered briefly only to note that these workouts are voluntary.

The practice itself was without helmets and at a slightly different tempo than past OTAs, the result of the Seahawks having to forfeit two minicamp practices this year for letting things get too physical in OTAs last year.

“We made a big effort in the last couple weeks to understand better about the OTA tempo and all that we’ve had some issues with in the past,” Carroll said, noting they had someone from the league come meet with coaches recently to try “to get our tempo right… Sometimes we practice so hard that we’ve missed the tempo a couple of times.”

An encouraging sign during Tuesday’s practice was that both Kam Chancellor and Richard Sherman were participating after finishing last year with injuries. Chancellor said his MCL injury did not require surgery and that he was back to training two weeks after the Super Bowl. He said this is the best he has felt during an offseason during his NFL career.

Carroll updated the status on several injured players:

FS Earl Thomas (shoulder) is still not practicing, but is on track to be back for the start of camp. With Thomas out, DeShawn Shead got first-team work at free safety. Carroll and newly-promoted defensive coordinator Kris Richard both raved about Shead’s growth over the last couple of years, and Carroll noted that the defensive back could also factor into the competition for the nickel cornerback spot.

That job is currently open because Jeremy Lane is still recovering from the arm and knee injury suffered during the Super Bowl. Carroll said Lane’s arm injury suffered a setback, but that his torn ACL is recovering well. Will Blackmon worked with the starting nickel defense Tuesday.

WR Paul Richardson who tore his ACL in the playoffs, is also making good progress and Carroll said both he and Lane have a shot to be back for camp, though the Seahawks will be cautious with both. Considering how late those two suffered their injuries, it’s a positive sign for the Seahawks that camp is even a possibility at this point.

CB Tharold Simon (shoulder) watched from the sidelines Tuesday, but Carroll said he should also be back for training camp.

DT Brandon Mebane was also a spectator, but is running and “looks great” according to Carroll. He too is expected back for camp.

RB Robert Turbin is recovering from hip surgery and also is expected back for camp. With him sidelined and Lynch absent, Christine Michael carried the load for the first-team offense.

Receivers Kevin Norwood and Chris Matthews both sat out Tuesday, but should be back for tomorrow’s session.

Not injury related, but notable… Carroll said G Alvin Bailey is down 23 pounds from last season, when he played at over 350 pounds. As expected, Bailey was the starting left guard, while Lemuel Jeanpierre was the starting center Tuesday.

Carroll said DT Jesse Williams, who was recently diagnosed with kidney cancer, will have surgery Thursday. Williams was at the VMAC Tuesday watching his team practice.

“His attitude is good,” Carroll said. “It’s been a hard couple of weeks since he got the news, but now that it’s coming to game time, he’s ready to go. He’s talking about bouncing back quickly and getting back on his feet and going again. I wouldn’t expect anything less from Jesse. He’s a battler all the way. He’s been up against, he’s fought some difficult fights, and he’s fighting another one, maybe the fight of a young man’s life. We’ll be there with him and hope to pull him through.”