Seahawks' DeMarcus Lawrence absent from offseason program | Notebook

RENTON - As has been the case throughout the offseason program, veteran defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence was not on the field Tuesday when the Seahawks began Organized Team Activities.

Lawrence remains the only player who has yet to appear either in pictures the team has posted on its website of players taking part in earlier workouts or who was on the field Tuesday for the first workout the media attended.

Coach Mike Macdonald said there is no reason for concern that Lawrence won't be around when it matters most.

While there was one report that the 34-year-old could be considering retirement - he and his wife, Sasha, welcomed the sixth child to their family shortly after the Super Bowl - Macdonald reiterated Tuesday that he remains part of the team's plan in 2026.

"Yeah, he's on his plan, Macdonald said. "He's working through some things. But he's in great spirits. He'll be here at some point."

That point will likely be by the time of the team's mandatory minicamp June 9-11, which concludes the offseason program.

Macdonald confirmed that the presence of Lawrence helped lure free agent edge rusher Dante Fowler Jr., who signed with the Seahawks on May 11. Fowler played with Lawrence in Dallas when both were coached by current Seahawks defensive coordinator Aden Durde.

Fowler was signed after the Seahawks did not draft an edge rusher and will be expected to help fill in the snaps lost when Boye Mafe signed as a free agent with the Bengals.

"Obviously he's been a really good player in the league for a long time," Macdonald said of Fowler, who has 58.5 sacks in 11 NFL seasons including 10.5 with Washington in 2024. "Feel like he's going to fit in really well here in terms of how we do things and his skill set, playing on the edge for us, and his prior relationships with AD (Durde) and D-Law (Lawrence) definitely help, coming in and kind of knowing the expectations about how we do things."

Fowler was not on the field Tuesday but has attended many of the workouts over the past few weeks since signing.

"He's been great so far and look forward to him having a great offseason and training camp," Macdonald said.

Arroyo shines as Barner sits out

Tight end AJ Barner was present but not in uniform as he recovers from what Macdonald indicated was recent work to repair injuries dating to last season. Barner was on the injury report repeatedly last season with issues that included shoulder and ankle injuries but played through them to take part in all 17 regular-season games and three playoff games.

"He's good," Macdonald said. "He's had the things in the offseason, but he's attacking it like AJ Barner does and as you would expect. He's itching to get out there. But we'll probably see him come training camp time."

With Barner out and Eric Saubert also present but not taking part in on-field drills, second-year player Elijah Arroyo got most of the snaps at tight end with the No. 1 offense and made a handful of catches throughout.

Arroyo, the 50th overall pick of the 2025 draft out of Miami, suffered a knee injury late in the year and sat out the final four games and first two playoff games before being activated before the Super Bowl, playing 19 snaps.

"Elijah has had a great offseason," Macdonald said. "Great opportunity to take his game to another level, and he's attacking it."

Good news for Horton

Second-year receiver Tory Horton remains on the sidelines as he continues to recover from offseason surgery to repair a lingering shin injury that caused him to miss the final nine games of the 2025 season and the playoffs.

Macdonald said Horton's recovery is taking a positive turn.

"Tory has made a lot of great strides,'' Macdonald said. "Seems like we got some feedback that can really accelerate his recovery, which is great. He deserves some good news. He's been working really, really hard."

Macdonald did not rule out that Horton may be on the field in some capacity before the offseason program ends with minicamp June 9-11.

"There's a chance he could do some stuff toward the end of the spring," he said. "We'll see how it goes."

No ETA yet on Charbonnet, McIntosh

As expected, running backs Zach Charbonnet and Kenny McIntosh were not on the field as each continues to recover from ACL injuries suffered last season. McIntosh was injured early in training camp and Charbonnet in the divisional playoff game win over the 49ers. The hope remains that McIntosh will return when training camp begins in late July with Charbonnet more realistically set to return at midseason.

Macdonald said Tuesday there is no set date for either.

"Zach is doing a great job," he said. "Same thing with (Kenny). These things, I think they're on their own timetable. That's hard to pin down right now. But we'll be probably having a better idea as we circle back in July."

Free agent signee Emanuel Wilson was not present Tuesday because of what Macdonald said was "a personal thing going on."

That meant three-year vet George Holani and rookie first-round pick Jadarian Price were the primary running backs with the first-team offense. Holani appeared to go first in the rotation - likely in part a nod to his veteran status - followed by Price, Jacardia Wright and Velus Jones Jr.

Jones is listed as a receiver by the Seahawks but has played both spots in his career and for now appears to be back at running back.

Price had one of the highlight plays of the day with a long gain on a catch down the sideline on a route out of the backfield thrown by backup QB Drew Lock during a seven-on-seven session.

Joint practice could happen with Titans

Macdonald said the Seahawks are hoping to again conduct joint practices against the Titans before they play their second preseason game there on Aug. 23. They had joint practices at Tennessee in 2024 and last year at Green Bay.

The Seahawks have preseason games this year at home against Dallas and at Kansas City but play both during the regular season. Teams typically prefer not to hold joint practices against teams they'll play later.

"The only one we could possibly do is with Tennessee," Macdonald said. "… So we'll see. I wouldn't say it's a done deal yet, but just trying to finalize some details, but we're hopeful that will work out.

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This story was originally published May 26, 2026 at 11:35 PM.