Who shone, who didn’t for Seahawks vs Broncos

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Jordyn Brooks played fast and led the Seahawks in attacks against the Broncos. (Getty)

The Seahawks ’second preseason game was very similar to their first result, and resulted in a 30-3 loss to the Denver Broncos at Lumen Field on Saturday night.

Quick view: The Seahawks lose to the Broncos 30-3 in the second preseason game

Denver played most of its starters and key players for a considerable time and the Seahawks – well, they had 22 players out for various reasons and played their third and fourth string quarterbacks for the entire competition.

There were still highlights in the ugly loss of the Seahawks, good and bad, who saw their stocks rise and fall on Saturday night.

Supply

• RB DeeJay Dallas

One of Saturday’s most shocking Seahawks was the highlight for special teams. It would be DeeJay Dallas, Seattle’s 2020 fourth-round pick.

On his first initial return from the game, Dallas broke a nice 45-yard return to Denver territory. He followed this up with a 28-yard return that initially looked like he was going to make a minimal profit. He showed great vision and exploded on both returns.

But his fantastic outing on special teams didn’t make it there, as he got a hand in a Denver point later in the contest.

With Carson, Rashaad Penny and Alex Collins at the forefront of the running race depth, the special teams will have to be where Dallas makes its mark. In that sense, Saturday was a big day for the second year back, which also had three catches over 27 yards.

While the in-depth chart posted by the team released before the game is unofficial, it had Dallas behind corner DJ Reed as the team’s top comeback. After an outstanding performance on Saturday, perhaps that will change in the future, especially with Reed as a key part of the team’s defense.

• LB Jordyn Brooks

Seattle’s defense gained weight on Saturday, mostly because many key players like Jamal Adams, Bobby Wagner, Quandre Diggs and Carlos Dunlap didn’t play.

But a starter who saw a fair amount of playing time in the contest was sophomore defender Jordyn Brooks, the Seahawks ’first-round pick a year ago.

His performance wasn’t perfect – he missed an attack on the backfield and fought one-on-one on the cover to make a big win, but he was easily the Seahawks ’most eye-catching defender against the Broncos.

Brooks played the entire first half and led all of the Seahawks defenders with seven attacks, with the next six solo. He showed his speed, toughness and instincts, and did what he had to do in his current role: run and hit.

Brooks will be under the microscope not only because of his first-round status, but because he will be Seattle’s starting defender, which was a position KJ Wright held for many years. So far, so good, even with a few hiccups.

• ST / LB / Jack of All Trades Nick Bellore

Nick Bellore is a former defender, but he has been a full defender and a special team for the Seahawks since joining the team in 2019.

As a Pro Bowl special team in 2020, Bellore played a good part of the defense against the Broncos and no doubt looked like the role that could be good for Seattle due to an early knee injury to defender Ben Burr -Kirven who caused him to be removed from the field.

Overall, Bellore finished second on the team with five attacks. He also had an attack for the loss.

The depth of the Seahawks’ defense isn’t too worrisome, but Burr-Kirven’s injury certainly doesn’t help things. Bellore, at the very least, holds on and looks at the piece, which could help the Seahawks in case of injury or if beginners need a spell in a burst.

• WR Cade Johnson

The Seahawks have a highly regarded unrecruited rookie class for 2021, and one of the most popular players to sign is South Dakota state receiver Cade Johnson.

Johnson tied the team at receptions and reception gardens with three and 34, respectively, with John Ursua, who left the game with a knee injury. Johnson did this performance along with Alex McGough and Sean Mannion who threw football at him.

Johnson looked like a road runner capable of getting things going with the ball in his hands, so I hope he can have more chances with Russell Wilson or Geno Smith throwing him football to show what he can really do as a receiver of the NFL.

Low stock

• TE Dom Wood-Anderson

The Seahawks have three tight ends that Gerald Everett, Will Dissly and Colby Parkinson really like, but Parkinson is out of the game with a foot injury that has his Week 1 status on the air.

Saturday was a great opportunity for Dom Wood-Anderson, a 2020 unrecruited free agent who spent last year in the Seattle training squad, to defend a place on the roster, especially after a open preseason game for the closed youth.

That’s not what happened.

With Everett and Dissly sitting and Parkinson out, Wood-Anderson was Seattle’s first finish. His day began with a tough entry with a masked penalty in the Seahawks ’first unit. He was later asked for a false start and, in the third quarter, was singled out to keep him.

Wood-Anderson is one of six tight ends on the list along with Everett, Dissly, Parkinson, Cam Sutton and Tyler Mabry, and his rough start on Saturday could make him the weird man with list cuts.

• Veteran corners

I put “veteran” here because even though rookie Tre Brown was playing, he didn’t see much action in the passing game.

The two corners that started, however, did.

It was Tre Flowers and Ahkello Witherspoon, who compete to start against the aforementioned Reed in week 1.

The flowers didn’t have very poor moments, but it did cover a few passages below and didn’t inspire too much confidence.

Meanwhile, Witherspoon received the torch from sophomore receiver Jerry Jeudy for a big win that set up the Broncos’ first-ever score.

Cornerback has been the single biggest question before the season starts and Witherspoon and Flowers didn’t do much on Saturday to make it clearer.

Follow Brandon Gustafson on Twitter.

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