RENTON — Through what is now almost three weeks of Seahawks training camp, veteran nose tackle Johnathan Hankins has been the invisible man.
The 13-year veteran, who played in every game for the Seahawks last year, with eight starts and 390 snaps, re-signed in May on a one-year deal to again play the role of early-down, run-stuffing nose tackle.
But he has yet to take the field, having been placed on the Non-Football Injury list on July 23 while dealing with a back issue.
But while Hankins has not been seen on the field, coach Mike Macdonald said Hankins is getting plenty of work done behind closed doors.
“He’s in the meetings, doing his rehab,’’ Macdonald said. “Doing a great job.’’
Still, Macdonald said again Monday he has no specific ETA set for Hankins’ return.
“Just kind of with what he’s dealing with, his back, you can’t have like a timetable because either you are going to be wrong or you are going to be disappointed, and if he’s back earlier than maybe the prognosis is initially then great (and) now we are rocking and rolling,’’ Macdonald said. “So it’s really just a matter of how quickly the back kind of calms down.’’
And as Macdonald noted, Hankins has played his specific role in the NFL for a long time — a second-round pick in 2013, he has 142 career starts.
“Let’s face it — Hank doesn’t need a lot of reps to get ready to play,’’ Macdonald said. “He knows what to do.’’
Still, the NFI designation gives the Seahawks some options when it comes to the roster. While Hankins’ contract is for up to $2.115 million overall, only $350,000 is guaranteed, with another $510,000 in per-game roster bonuses. If Hankins remains on the NFI list he would have to sit out the first four games.
But if he doesn’t make the roster, Seattle is out only the $350,000.
And in Hankins’ place, two younger players have gotten a number of snaps at nose tackle to state their case — Quinton Bohanna and Brandon Pili, both 26. The two have each gotten significant reps with the first-team defense at nose tackle with Hankins out.
Both have NFL experience.
Bohanna, a Kentucky product, has played in 34 games with 13 starts, including 10 with the Cowboys in 2021 and 2022 when Seahawks defensive coordinator Aden Durde was Dallas’ defensive line coach. He played in one game for the Seahawks last year, spending most of the year on the practice squad.
Pili, a USC alum, played in 12 games for Miami in 2023 and 2024 before being released by the Dolphins last November and signed by the Seahawks. He did not play in any games for Seattle but the Seahawks signed him to the active roster the final week of the season to retain his rights for 2025.
Pili had two solo tackles in Thursday’s preseason opener while Bohanna had an assist.
“Two guys that went into the offseason with something to prove,’’ Macdonald said. “And both guys have really taken ownership of the trajectory of their careers by taking care of their bodies, taking a ton of reps, doing a great job, great attitude, positive. … they’ve really backed it up with some great practices and I thought they played well in the game. Excited about both of those guys.’’
Interestingly, the Seahawks list 2024 first-round pick Byron Murphy II as the starting nose tackle on their public depth chart.
But that doesn’t necessarily reflect the nature of Murphy’s role.
Murphy will continue to get some reps at nose tackle, a position that typically lines up over the center.
But the Seahawks are also moving him around some in the defensive line, with Murphy able to play the traditional defensive tackle spot of lining up over the guard, or between guard and center or guard and tackle.
“Probably wouldn’t move him outside over tackle at this point,’’ Macdonald said. “Not saying he couldn’t do it but (the interior tackle spots) really where he’s going to live.’’
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Seahawks sign former Husky Tuputala
The Seahawks made a roster move after practice Monday, signing former Husky and Federal Way High standout Alphonozo Tuputala and waiving cornerback Kam Alexander.
Tuputala adds depth to an inside linebacker spot that has been hit with some injuries with Tyrice Knight currently out with a knee issue as well as an unspecified other medical issue and Josh Ross out with a hand injury.
Macdonald said Knight is expected back for the regular season opener against the 49ers on Sept. 7.
Tuputala took part in Seattle’s rookie minicamp as a tryout player in May.
Starting middle linebacker Ernest Jones IV was back at practice Monday after being gone the previous two days to attend his father’s funeral.
With Knight out, Patrick O’Connell has typically worked with the starters at weakside linebacker but Drake Thomas has also gotten some snaps there.
Jamie Sheriff has also been sidelined with an injury of late, though he was back on the field for Monday’s walk-through.
Macdonald switches up practice
The Seahawks had been scheduled for a roughly two-hour practice in the afternoon Monday.
But Macdonald decided to scrap that plan on Sunday and instead had the Seahawks on the field in the morning for about an hour and 40 minutes for a non-padded workout that resembled a walk-through.
Macdonald noted Seattle has eight days between both of its preseason games and he felt taking out one of the days when the team could have been in pads is “just trying to get as much work in while being as smart as possible.’’
Macdonald said the Seahawks will be in full pads for Tuesday afternoon’s practice, the last that is scheduled to be open to the general public, and then in shells on Wednesday before having a walk-through Thursday and Friday’s 7 p.m. preseason game vs. the Chiefs at Lumen Field. Macdonald has said starters may see some action against Kansas City.
No rotating on OL, starters to be set soon
The Seahawks spent much of last season going with a rotation at right guard with Anthony Bradford and Christian Haynes.
But Macdonald said the team does not plan to have any rotations on the offensive line this year, instead they’ll soon pick a starting five and go with that group heading into the regular season.
“I think we’re narrowing in on what we want to do,’’ he said. “We have a process and right now we just want to stick to it. We’ll name a starting five at some point.’’
Three of those five are set — left tackle Charles Cross (expected back for the season after recent finger surgery), left guard Grey Zabel and right tackle Abe Lucas.
Bradford appears the front-runner at right guard, having taken almost all the reps with the starting offense this week, while Olu Oluwatimi and Jalen Sundell continue to compete at center.
Oluwatimi seemed to be in the lead but he has been dealing with a back issue of late. Oluwatimi practiced some on Saturday but has been out the last two days leaving all the first-team center reps to Sundell.
Macdonald, however, said Oluwatimi has not had a setback but is just still working his way back from an injury that crept up last week.
NOTES
— Macdonald said he is again leaning toward having game captains this season instead of naming seasonlong captains. O’Connell, Bradford and safety Ty Okada were captains for the Raiders game.
— Macdonald said cornerback Shemar Jean-Charles has been dealing with a lower body injury, which has held him out of camp so far. But he said the hope is Jean-Charles is back in seven to 10 days.
Bob Condotta: bcondotta@seattletimes.com. Bob Condotta covers the Seahawks for the Seattle Times. He provides daily coverage of the team throughout the year.