Friday, May 24, 2013 @ 11:42am

Video: John Clayton trains for first pitch

John Clayton didn't want to suffer the same embarrassment as John Wall or Mariah Carey, so he's been hard at work preparing to throw out the first pitch at tonight's Mariners-Rangers game at Safeco Field.

Here's video evidence:

Friday, May 24, 2013 @ 9:26am

Report: Seahawks' Anthony McCoy has torn Achilles

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll thought it was a ankle injury that forced tight end Anthony McCoy to be carted off the field during Monday's organized team activity.

Anthony McCoy is expected to miss at least six months after tearing his Achilles tendon during Monday's OTA. (AP)

McCoy suffered a torn right Achilles tendon and will miss at least six months after having surgery Thursday to repair the injury.

The Seahawks announced the injury Friday, confirming an earlier report from Mike Garafolo of USA Today.

McCoy, 25, was Seattle's backup tight end last season, playing behind Zach Miller while seeing plenty of time in two-tight end sets. After struggling with drops, penalties and injuries during his first two seasons, McCoy finished 2012 with career highs in receptions (18), receiving yards (291) and touchdowns (3). He appeared in all 16 regular-season games and both of Seattle's playoff games.

McCoy, a sixth-round pick in 2010 out of USC, is entering the final year of his contract.

His injury clears the path for rookie Luke Willson to be Seattle's No. 2 tight end. Seattle chose Willson in the fifth round out of Rice, and he was among the standouts during the team's rookie minicamp earlier this month.

Darren Fells, Sean McGrath, Cooper Helfet and Victor Marshall are the other tight ends on the Seahawks' roster.

Thursday, May 23, 2013 @ 6:25pm

Ex-Seahawk Mike Williams resurfaces in CFL

Mike Williams was optimistic that he would play for another NFL team last season after the Seahawks released him in July.

He never did, and after sitting the 2012 season out, Williams has landed with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. The team announced his signing Thursday.

Williams, 29, was a first-round bust who resurrected his career with the Seahawks, leading the team in receiving in 2010 and playing well enough to earn a three-year contract extension that season. He was slowed by foot and hamstring injuries in 2011 before breaking his leg late in the season. He wasn't fully recovered by the summer, and the Seahawks released him two weeks before the start of training camp.

Williams struggled with his weight in the NFL, so it's notable that his bio on the Argonauts' website lists him at 196 pounds. That's 44 pounds lighter than what he weighed during the 2011 season.

Thursday, May 23, 2013 @ 5:33pm

Seahawks sign local product Justin Veltung

The Seahawks announced Thursday the signing of wide receiver Justin Veltung, a Puyallup native who went undrafted out of Idaho and recently attended Seattle's rookie minicamp on a tryout basis.

Veltung finished his four-year career at Idaho with 62 receptions for 901 yards and eight touchdowns, with all of those scores coming during his sophomore season. He left as the program's all-time leader in kickoff returns (78) and kickoff return yards (1,743). His college resume also includes four return touchdowns, two apiece on punts and kickoffs.

Veltung attended Puyallup High School, where he was a first-team all-South Puget Sound League selection as as senior in 2008.

Check out this video of 5-foot-11 Veltung performing a standing box jump of what is said to be 56 inches.

Thursday, May 23, 2013 @ 12:48pm

Where Russell Wilson has shown the most growth

This time last year, Russell Wilson was a rookie quarterback trying to learn a new offense while splitting reps with Matt Flynn and Tarvaris Jackson.

A year later, teammate Richard Sherman says his development is particularly evident in one area.

"He's grown miles and miles from where he was last year in terms of how confident he is in his reads, how quickly he makes his reads, how quickly he moves from No. 1 to No. 2 to No. 3," Sherman told "Brock and Danny" Thursday.

"His decision making is much quicker than it was last year, and I think that comes from all the work he puts in. He stays in the film room as much as, shoot, as much as the clickers do. He's in the film room like it's his second home, and I think it's showing."

Brock Huard noticed the same thing while watching Monday's OTA practice. He shares more thoughts on this in the video below.

You can listen to Thursday's podcast here.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013 @ 3:47pm

Which Seahawk is most impacted by Percy Harvin?

Bruce Irvin's suspension, Josh Portis' arrest and Cliff Avril's injury overshadowed what likely would have otherwise been the leading story from the Seahawks' first OTA on Monday.

That marked the first time media members got to see a practice featuring Percy Harvin, the headliner of Seattle's offseason additions.

Harvin's unique athletic ability was a main reason the Seahawks paid through the nose to acquire him, first in draft-pick compensation and then with a hefty new contract. According to Dave Boling of The News Tribune, Harvin appeared as advertised on Monday.

"He has a turbo gear. He pushes that button and it's warp speed," Boling told "Bob and Groz" on Wednesday.

"A couple of times he just blew past people or then in small space executed a move that just left Byron Maxwell just like, 'Where is he?' – grabbing air," he added.

That conversation shifted to the players who will be most impacted now that Harvin is on board. Bob Stelton and Dave Grosby share their thoughts in the video below.

You can listen to Wednesday's show here.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013 @ 1:51pm

Taking issue with Marshawn Lynch's OTA absence

The start of organized team activities on Monday included some unwanted storylines for the Seahawks.

Marshawn Lynch

Not practicing was Cliff Avril, who was forced to watch from the sideline because of a plantar-fascia foot injury.

And not present was Marshawn Lynch, the only non-injured player on Seattle's roster who was a no-show at the voluntary OTA.

"We miss him. We'd like him to be here," coach Pete Carroll said. "This is a lot of fun. There's a lot of good stuff happening here."

Lynch also skipped the start of the Seahawks' offseason program in mid-April. Carroll said his absence from Monday's OTA wasn't injury-related.

"He's in very good shape. He came in 10 days ago and was in really good shape," Carroll said. "He's working on a really intense program in his area and he's benefiting from it. We'd love to see everybody here."

So would Brock Huard. In the video below, he explains why he has a problem with Lynch's absence.

You can listen to Wednesday's show here.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013 @ 9:44am

Another PED ban doesn't mean Seahawks are cheaters

Editor's note: This column was written on the wrong side of 2 a.m. by a host who is currently on a beach in Southeast Asia suffering from severe jet lag and under the influence of copious amounts of fruit juice, everything from mango to young coconut.

A rash.

That was one description of a condition currently afflicting the Seahawks. A spate was another term for the run of players on this team who have violated the league's policy on performance-enhancing substances going back to 2011.

A glut was another term that someone used to evoke the feeling that this team that has made so much progress under coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider is suffering from – well – an enhanced number of players getting popped by the NFL for taking a substance banned by the league because it's deemed to aid performance.

Now, there are a lot of reasons to be troubled by the fact that defensive end Bruce Irvin is the fifth Seahawk on the active roster in three years to be suspended for a violation of that policy.

It means that players are failing to understand either what they are putting in their bodies or what they are allowed to put in their bodies. It also means they are not listening to their coaches and other support staff about what they are allowed to use.

What it doesn't mean, though, is that the Seahawks are a team seeking to contend through chemistry as so many have implied. Anyone who thinks so is advised to consider this simple fact: You don't have to beat a drug test to take a performance-enhancing substance in the NFL. At least not until the league and its players association reach an agreement on a test for human-growth hormone (HGH). Major League Baseball tests for it. So does the Olympics.

Defensive end Bruce Irvin is the fifth Seahawk since 2011 to be suspended for violating the NFL's policy on PEDs. (AP)

A player can't test positive for HGH in the NFL because the league doesn't have an agreement in place to test for it, the most commonly cited excuse being that a blood test is required. Consider that next time someone says Seattle's list of suspensions is some sort of indication that this team is taking an illicit chemical route to fulfilling last year's mantra of "Bigger, Faster, Stronger."

That's not to say Seattle's players are blameless in this. No, there's plenty of blame to go around, especially considering the prevalence of one specific drug among the Seahawks' suspensions.

That drug is Adderall, which is the only type of amphetamine that can be legally prescribed. It can be used for the treatment of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and the NFL permits a player to use it only if he applies for – and receives – a therapeutic-use exemption.

There have been five Seahawks on the active roster suspended for violating the league's policy on performance-enhancing drugs. The number climbs to six if you include Vai Taua, a practice-squad running back who was previously suspended.

Three of those Seahawk suspensions have been linked – either directly or indirectly – to Adderall.

Guard John Moffitt was suspended in 2011, which he attributed to Adderall. Moffitt said last year that while he once had a prescription for the drug, it was old, and in any case, he was not aware it was banned because he wasn't in training camp the day it was discussed. Cornerback Brandon Browner reportedly tested positive for amphetamines last year, serving a four-game suspension. Now comes defensive end Bruce Irvin, whose statement released by the team clearly implied that Adderall was the drug he used by stating it was "prohibited without a medical exemption."

Plenty of people have implied the drug is some sort of smokescreen, which is understandable. One of the biggest flaws of the league's drug-testing policy is that it does not specify what banned substance a player tested positive for. Adderall has come to be characterized as a convenient excuse for a player who wants to avoid the stigma generally associated with a positive test. After all, it is legal with a prescription and it is an amphetamine as opposed to an anabolic steroid. Adderall doesn't really fit our preconceptions about a performance-enhancing drug. It wouldn't seem to help you get stronger or faster.

That doesn't mean it's OK or it's harmless. Plenty of drugs available by prescription are performance-enhancers, and who's to say the properties of speed are any less a performance-enhancer than a drug that helps you recover faster from a workout, building more muscle?

The Seahawks do have a problem they need to address: Players continue to test positive for banned substances, showing that either they don't know the guidelines from the league, aren't diligent about following them or are outright disregarding them.

To imply that this run of positive drug tests implies the Seahawks have a roster full of players seeking a chemical advantage who simply point to Adderall when they're caught is inherently misguided, though, because it fails to consider that the league isn't even testing for one of the most obvious chemical advantages a player could seek out.

If you really were a player seeking some sort of pharmaceutical edge, why wait to get suspended so you can blame it on Adderall when you can take a substance that the league isn't currently testing for?