The Seahawks made a couple of anticipated roster moves Saturday, placing safety Julian Love and tight end Eric Saubert on injured reserve.
Each had already been declared out for Sunday’s 5:20 p.m. game at Washington — Love with a nagging hamstring injury and Saubert with a calf issue.
To replace them on the 53-man roster, Seattle activated rookie fullback Robbie Ouzts off injured reserve and signed safety Jerrick Reed II off the practice squad.
The Seahawks also elevated receivers Cody White and Ricky White III off the practice squad for Sunday’s game.
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The two receivers will fill in for the injured Dareke Young (hip) and Jake Bobo (Achilles), each of who was declared out on Friday due to injury.
Seattle also listed Cooper Kupp as questionable with heel and hamstring injuries.
Cody White and Ricky White III each figure to play substantially on special teams to fill in for Young and Bobo, who each rank among the team’s leaders in special teams’ snaps.
Cody White also figures to fill in as a kickoff returner. Young is Seattle’s second leading kickoff returner with 10 attempts for 322 yards behind the 14-358 of George Holani.
Cody White is the only other Seahawk with a kick return this season with two for 59 yards, those coming when he was active for the season opener against the 49ers.
Ricky White III was the 238th overall pick in the seventh round of out UNLV in April and has been on the practice squad all season. Sunday will be his NFL debut and will make him the 12th rookie to play this season for the Seahawks. White was the Mountain West Conference Special Teams Player of the Year in 2024 after blocking four punts.
Ouzts, a fifth-round pick out of Alabama where he played tight end before moving to fullback with the Seahawks, played 60 snaps on offense in Seattle’s first three games before suffering an ankle injury that landed him on IR. He figures to resume playing substantially at fullback as well as on special teams, helping to fill Saubert’s snaps.
Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald announced on Wednesday that Love had suffered a setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury he initially sustained late in a week two win at Pittsburgh.
Love has played just one game since the initial injury against the Steelers, in week four at Arizona on Sept. 25. The 28-year-old Love played all 17 games for Seattle in 2023 and 2024 after signing as a free agent, playing his first four NFL seasons with the New York Giants.
Third-year safety Ty Okada, who initially became a Seahawk in 2023 as an undrafted free agent signee out of Montana State, has started the four games Love has missed and figures to continue in that role.
Okada played just 33 snaps on defense in 11 games in his first two seasons with Seattle, seeing most of his action on special teams. He’s played 303 this year and had what might have been his best game in Seattle’s 27-19 win over Houston on Oct. 20 by tying a career high with nine tackles and getting his first full sack.
Okada has a grade from Pro Football Focus of 69.0, 21st of 88 safeties this week.
Macdonald this week noted Okada’s steady improvement since the beginning of the season, particularly in understanding his role.
“You don’t have to play every play or solve all the issues when you’re out there,’’ Macdonald said. “You have to play within the scheme, play with energy and the plays will find you. And I think that’s what he’s come to with his style of play. Not saying he can’t make those plays, it’s just that’s what we need him to do. I think he has confidence in his role and that’s when he has been able to execute. He’s doing a great job.”
Coby Bryant has started every game at safety while rookie Nick Emmanwori has emerged as a third safety, earning regular snaps in nickel and dime packages, and it appears as if for now he is likely to continue mostly playing in that role.
Macdonald recalls Quinn meeting
Macdonald and Washington coach Dan Quinn figure to forever share a connection due to the way the coaching cycle unfolded in 2024.
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Each were the last two hired of what were eight new coaches, and each were candidates for both the Seahawks and Commanders jobs. Quinn, in fact, was initially considered by many as the favorite for the Seattle job, due in part to his history with Seattle, including serving as defensive coordinator in 2013 when the Seahawks won the Super Bowl.
But the Seahawks were blown away by Macdonald during an interview held two days after Baltimore lost the AFC title game in Jan. 2024 and almost immediately began working on what turned out to be a six-year contract.
Quinn was still available at the time, with Washington appearing to wait to see what would happen with Macdonald. But once Macdonald got the Seattle job, Quinn and Washington quickly came to agreement.
Macdonald revealed this week that he first met Quinn while visiting his sister, Kate, who was living in Kirkland during Quinn’s time as Seattle’s defensive coordinator.
Macdonald was a graduate assistant at the time at Georgia, where the DC was then Todd Grantham, who knew Quinn.
With Grantham’s help, Macdonald got a meeting with Quinn at the VMAC.
“I was just trying to network,’’; Macdonald said, before elaborating on the visit with Quinn.
“I walked right through the entrance right there (pointing to the front of the VMAC). I was wide-eyed; I thought it was like the coolest thing of all time. He came down, he was playing Beastie Boys in his office and he was talking football about something. I had no idea what he was talking about, but it sounded sweet. What I remember from that visit was how the feeling he had with the players in the building was — you could tell there was a special connection and the respect he had. He knew everybody’s name in the building and that really stuck with me for a long time. I have a ton of respect for DQ and he’s obviously a great football coach, but that was a big-time moment in my life. It was just really cool, so I appreciate him for doing that.”
Seahawks change up travel plans
The Seahawks typically under Pete Carroll and in Macdonald’s first year left two days prior to a game on the east coast. But Macdonald decided to change that up for the Washington game, which not only starts at 8:20 p.m. local time but also is the day after clocks are moved back. So instead of leaving on Friday the Seahawks were scheduled to leave on Saturday after a walkthrough at the VMAC.
Macdonald recalled that the Seahawks left on Saturday last year for a Monday night game against the Detroit Lions, which resulted in a 42-29 loss. That’s the only road game Seattle has lost under Macdonald.
“With Detroit, we went for two days, and we felt like it’d be smarter to go one day,’’ he said.
Bob Condotta: bcondotta@seattletimes.com. Bob Condotta is a sports reporter at The Seattle Times who primarily covers the Seahawks but also dabbles in other sports. He has worked at The Times since 2002, reporting on University of Washington Husky football and basketball for his first 10 years at the paper before switching to the Seahawks in 2013.