RENTON — While Saturday’s mistake-filled 20-7 loss at Green Bay was hardly the show Jalen Milroe hoped to display in what was his most extended playing time of the preseason, it hasn’t appeared to change the Seahawks’ plans for him this season.
From the minute Milroe was drafted, coach Mike Macdonald hinted that the Seahawks could put in a special package of plays for the rookie QB each week.
Tuesday, he made his most concrete statement yet that Seattle will indeed have regular plays in the game plan for Milroe during the regular season.
That doesn’t mean they will necessarily be called or that Milroe will be on the active roster each week. But those options will be on the table.
“We’re going to have plays for Jalen in the game plans and he’s going to rep those with the ones,’’ Macdonald said. “And however we build the package for him going into games, he needs those reps in walk-through and full speed so that’s going to be important.’’
Could Macdonald just be slyly letting Seattle opponents know they’d better spend some valuable time preparing for a possible Milroe cameo or two come game time?
Certainly possible.
It was surely not a mistake that the Seahawks unveiled a Milroe-led version of the tush push on the opening series of their second preseason game against Kansas City, which worked for a 2-yard gain and a first down on third-and-one.
“It could be,’’ Macdonald said last week when asked if that play — in which Darnold remained on the field and lined up behind Milroe — could be used regularly. “We’ve already done it, so it’s on tape. It’s important to be able to get those converted in those short-yard situations. It’s a good play right now.”
And hey, if 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan has to spend even five minutes preparing for it in the lead up to the regular-season opener Sept. 7 all the better, right?
Some might wonder, though, how ready Milroe is for even a short stint in any regular-season game given how Saturday developed.
Milroe, the 92nd overall pick out of Alabama, started and went the entire way, working mostly with other backups.
Seattle fell in a 20-0 halftime hole as Milroe lost two fumbles — one on a sack in the first quarter and another when he ran for three yards to pick up a fourth-and-one in the second.
Each led to Green Bay points and accentuated an issue Milroe also had in college — he lost six fumbles last season at Alabama, including two in a loss to Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl in his final game.
Milroe then lost another fumble on a shotgun snap that appeared to just go through his hands in the fourth quarter on what was Seattle’s final offensive snap.
Of Milroe’s first nine drives Saturday, five ended in punts, two on fumbles and two on downs (once when Milroe was sacked on a fourth down) as he completed just 13-of-24 passes for 148 yards.
Macdonald insisted he didn’t come away discouraged from Milroe’s performance against the Packers.
“I thought there was a lot of good stuff,’’ Macdonald said Monday. “He made some really good throws on time, went through his progressions. You go back to (losing) the ball and I think that’s pretty obvious leaving the field. But I thought the guy made some really cool plays throughout the game, stuff that we can build on moving forward.
“So yeah of course there are things we want to get better at and put up more points and all that type of stuff. But definitely a good foundation to move forward.’’
Milroe also rushed seven times for 31 yards against the Packers and finished the preseason with 87 yards on 15 carries, including a long of 27 against the Raiders. He also had a carry for 15 yards against Green Bay.
Milroe rushed just two times for three yards in the first half against Green Bay before carrying five times for 28 in the second half. Macdonald said Milroe’s 15-yard run in the fourth quarter that helped set up Seattle’s only TD was a designed play.
But he said there was no intent behind Milroe running more in the second half saying, “it’s just more how the plays went … it wasn’t a point of emphasis to call any different types of plays (in the second half).’’
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Still, it’s that running ability the Seahawks will most want to try to exploit in any package of plays that the team installs each week.
When the Seahawks finish cutting their roster to 53 by Tuesday’s 1 p.m. deadline, Milroe will be one of three QBs on the roster behind Sam Darnold and backup Drew Lock.
Seattle hasn’t often kept three QBs on its 53-man roster for an entire season in recent years but essentially committed to it when it drafted Milroe in the third round, acknowledging he was mostly likely to be in a developmental mode to start out.
It’s not as constricting to carry an extra QB on the 53-man roster these days, however, due to recent changes in practice squad rules which make it easier to fill out gameday 48-man rosters with players needed for special teams.
What will be a question for Seattle is whether it keeps all three QBs active each week or just two.
Macdonald said that’s something the Seahawks have already spent time working through.
“During the preseason we do a mock, who would be up (meaning, on the 48-man active roster on gameday), how would we handle it (and) with the new offensive staff making sure we understand what this is going to look like once we get into the season and you toss around certain scenarios,’’ he said. “So we’ve worked through both scenarios.’’
Bob Condotta: bcondotta@seattletimes.com. Bob Condotta covers the Seahawks for the Seattle Times. He provides daily coverage of the team throughout the year.