Seattle Seahawks Announce Joint Practices With Tennessee Titans

Bucking past trends from the Pete Carroll era, the Seattle Seahawks will bring training camp on the road for a pair of practices against the Tennessee Titans in Nashville.

Tennessee Titans cornerback Tre Avery (23) successfully defends a pass from Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf (14) late in the fourth quarter of their game at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, Dec. 24, 2023. / Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA

In another sign that a new regime has taken charge in the Pacific Northwest, the Seattle Seahawks announced they will travel for joint practices against the Tennessee Titans before the two teams meet in the preseason on August 17.

With coach Mike Macdonald taking the reins for legend Pete Carroll, it's yet another departure from the norm for the Seahawks, who didn't participate in joint practices at any point during the past 14 years during training camp due to Carroll's personal preference.

At the start of OTAs, when asked about the possibility of doing joint practices against his former mentor Jim Harbaugh, who took the head coaching job for the Chargers in January, Macdonald shot down the idea. But as it turns out, his response was directed specifically to practicing against Harbaugh's squad and not one of the other two teams on the Seahawks preseason docket.

"Down the line maybe," Macdonald said at the time. "This year we're not going to. It'll be fun to see those guys and see Jesse [Minter] and some of the other coaches that we're familiar with. But, yeah, be fun to go down there and get after it a little bit."

Seattle will hit the road early for Nashville, arriving in time for a pair of practices on Wednesday, August 14 and Thursday, August 15 before a day off leading up to the preseason game at Nissan Stadium. In doing so, Macdonald will have an opportunity to evaluate his new squad against other NFL talent with 11-on-11, 7-on-7, and 1-on-1 drills being part of the equation.

While joint practices have generated on-field fights in the past, including former Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald swinging his helmet at a Bengals player during a practice in August 2022. However, when done properly, these practices provide excellent value for teams, as starters can get quality on-field work against starters from another team in a more controlled environment than a preseason contest, where first-team players often don't see many snaps to avoid injury.