Seattle, WA
‘Lot of Moving Parts’: Rayshawn Jenkins Details Seattle Seahawks’ Versatile Defense
RENTON, Wash. – Now a wily eight-year NFL veteran, playing multiple positions isn’t a foreign concept for Seattle Seahawks safety Rayshawn Jenkins, who has cut his teeth making an impact all over the field with a well-developed all-around skill set.
Since breaking into the league as a fourth-round pick for the Chargers back in 2017, according to Pro Football Focus charting, Jenkins has played nearly a 50/50 split between free safety and strong safety with close to 2,000 snaps in each alignment. After being used more in the box in his final season in Los Angeles, the Jaguars leaned more heavily into his flexibility the past three years, logging at least 250 snaps at free safety in each season.
But as he transitions into a new defense under first-time head coach Mike Macdonald, the architect behind the Ravens’ top-ranked scoring unit from a year ago who has earned a reputation as a schematic wunderkind, Jenkins’ adaptability has been pushed to a new limit in the Pacific Northwest.
“It’s a lot of moving parts, so you really have to know not just your position, but maybe three or four other guys position as well,” Jenkins said following Monday’s first padded training camp practice.
“Because there may be tempo, there could be a shift or a motion or whatever it may be, and sometimes there’s no communication because it happens that fast or that quick. We all have to be on the same wavelength or whatever you want to call it and we have to know not only our jobs but everybody else’s jobs.”
Dating back to the start of training camp, Jenkins has been seen everywhere from single-high free safety to two deep safety to big nickel in the slot to walking up to the line of scrimmage like a linebacker, filling a multitude of roles in Macdonald’s complex system built around keeping offenses on their heels. At this point, he might as well learn to line up at nose tackle to put the cherry on top.
As Jenkins elaborated, he doesn’t simply need to know his job at free or strong safety as a veteran leader in this defense. With communication being critical in a scheme requiring extensive checks at all three levels and players moving around pre-snap, he has to have a strong understanding of the responsibilities for his teammates around him knowing there’s always a chance he could have to take on their role depending on the call.
The same challenges face Jenkins’ new safety mates, as returning Pro Bowler Julian Love, fellow free agent signee K’Von Wallace, cornerback convert Coby Bryant, and Ty Okada have to be masters of the playbook beyond their normal position, which has made building chemistry in the secondary a bit more of a prolonged process with the offseason program and a week of training camp in the books.
“It’s still a work in progress,” Jenkins said. “It’s me, Julian, K’Von back there, Coby, Ty, so we’re always back there playing with each other and kind of getting a feel for each other’s game and different plays. I may see one thing different from him and vice versa. Those are the plays we have to really just be able to communicate and get it around the board to everybody.”
While Jenkins and his safety cohorts still have a ways to go learning a new defense and how each of them tick as players, however, he believes the reward at the end of the tunnel could be a special one.
For one, Jenkins doesn’t have any doubts about everyone in the safety group having the prerequisite skills and football instincts to handle a heavier workload playing multiple positions. As he demonstrated in his first season with the Seahawks and previously with the Giants, Love can play either safety spot at a high level as well as in the slot and even played outside cornerback in the past. Wallace has been equally versatile, including playing over 300 snaps at both safety positions and more than 100 snaps in the slot with the Cardinals and Titans a year ago.
Away from those three players, Bryant previously played outside cornerback in college at Cincinnati and excelled in the slot as a rookie two years ago before transitioning full-time to safety this spring, while Okada has a history of playing multiple positions dating back to his time at Montana State and the recently re-signed Marquise Blair has previous NFL experience at safety and nickel corner as well.
Given the depth and talent in the secondary with cornerback Devon Witherspoon also being a Swiss army knife of sorts who can play inside and out, Macdonald could have the ability to unleash dynamic dime packages with six defensive backs or even play seven or eight at the same time in certain situations, something Jenkins believes Seattle has the pieces to “plug in” to do that effectively.
“Absolutely. That’d be fun to do, we’ve got the guys that are versatile enough to do those type of things,” Jenkins said. “We’ve just got a bunch of guys, like Coby Bryant, who can come in and play safety and nickel for us, just different looks like that. I feel like that presents a matchup problem because now you get these smaller, faster guys on the field, but we’re still strong enough to support the run game, so that’s just my thought process. But we’ll see how things go.”
Secondly, Jenkins loves the talent Seattle has amassed at other levels of the defense with versatility also being prioritized along the defensive line as well as linebacker, allowing for far more multiplicity scheme-wise away from the secondary.
Up front, the Seahawks re-signed Leonard Williams to go with Jarran Reed and Dre’Mont Jones, giving the team a trifecta of position-flexible defenders who can move up and down the defensive line and thrive in different alignments. Making the group even more dynamic, first-round pick Byron Murphy II has been everywhere from nose tackle to defensive end in training camp, providing Macdonald with yet another weapon at his disposal in the trenches.
As for the linebacker spot, Jenkins has been impressed by what he’s seen from newcomers Tyrel Dodson and Jerome Baker, who have rebounded nicely from injuries that kept them out of action for the entire offseason program. The two veterans each have prior experience at both off-ball spots and have excelled as pass rushers, opening up the playbook for blitzes and sim pressures alike.
Even with all of those components in place, Jenkins isn’t about to make a prediction for where the Seahawks will finish statistically as a defense in terms of points or yardage allowed. But with Macdonald at the wheel and new pieces such as himself acclimating quickly with plenty of returning talent on that side of the ball, he’s bullish on their chances for dramatic improvement if the group as a whole executes their assignments and taps in with the willingness to play multiple roles.
“I feel like we can be really good. We can be a dominant defense, especially since we have a defensive minded head coach, so he spends a lot of time with us and he makes sure we understand why he calls the calls that he makes and he makes sure we understand the situation. So if we can just do our part – because I know they’re gonna do their part – we can do our part and come here everyday and just really embrace what he’s trying to give us, we can we can be a really dominant defense. I don’t want to put any numbers or stats just because you know how this league is, but we can be up there.”
Manuhunt underway for Mason County assault suspect
Mason County deputies are looking for a man wanted in a shooting in Belfair on Monday.
MASON COUNTY, Wash. – The Mason County Sheriff’s Office is currently searching for a convicted felon wanted in a recent shooting.
The sheriff’s office says Michael Allen Beyer is wanted for first-degree assault and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
Deputies believe Beyer was involved in a shooting that happened in Belfair on January 6.
Beyer is considered armed and dangerous. If you see him, do not approach him and call 911 immediately.
Anyone with information regarding Beyer’s whereabouts is asked to call Detective Helser at 360-427-9670 x657, or Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
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Two more Seattle restaurants are calling it quits thanks to the untenable minimum wage hike.
At the same time that the Seattle minimum wage rose from $19.97 an hour to $20.76 an hour, the city ended the tip credit of $2.72. Under the previous rules, restaurants were able to pay $17.25 hourly wage if their staff earned at least $2.72 in tips per hour. But as cost of business continues to skyrocket in Seattle, a minimum wage hike without a tip credit is simply untenable for many small businesses.
Jackson’s Catfish Corner in Seattle’s Central District closed its doors in this new year. In an interview with Converge Media, owner Terrell Jackson argued Seattle is too expensive to operate in.
“I know that the minimum wages went up to 20 bucks an hour … I know that’s hard for my business as a small Black business,” Jackson said. “I’m not Amazon or Walgreens or Walmart who can pay their employees that much.”
Jackson isn’t alone in his complaints.
More from Jason Rantz: Panic as Seattle restaurants may not survive massive minimum wage shift
A second West Seattle eatery closes, citing the minimum wage hike
Bel Gatto, a bakery and café, became the second West Seattle eatery to close its doors over the Seattle minimum wage hike. The owner posted a sign to the front door to thank supporters but said she can’t afford to stay open anymore.
“Our revenues, unfortunately, are not able to cover the close to 20% increase in mandated wages, salaries and payroll taxes put into effect by the Seattle City Council effective 1/1/25. This ruling has made the continuation of our bakery operations untenable,” the sign read.
The owner, Peter Levy, explained to the West Seattle Blog that, “we were approaching close to a break even status in the last quarter of 2024, but the requirement to absorb another $4,000 per month in payroll expenses with the new mandate by the city put a break even further from our grasp which is what led to the closure.”
Last week, a video by Corina Luckenbach, owner of Bebop Waffle Shop in West Seattle, went viral as she said the minimum wage hike was forcing her to close after 11 years. She said she didn’t have an extra $32,000 a year to pay her staff what the city mandates.
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Will more restaurants close?
Ahead of the minimum wage hike, restauranteurs offered many warnings over what’s to come.
Ethan Stowell operates a number of Seattle’s top restaurants, including How to Cook a Wolf, Staple and Fancy, and Tavolata. He warned this change would be exceptionally costly for businesses in an industry notorious for razor-thin margins. And restaurants can’t merely raise menu prices again.
“I know everybody wants to say, ‘Just raise things (on the menu) a dollar or two,’ and that’s what it’ll be. That’s very simplified math. I wish it was that easy, but it’s not. This is a large increase that’s probably large enough to be equal to or close to what most restaurants in Seattle profit,” Stowell told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.
Portage Bay Cafe co-owner Amy Fair Gunnar noted the minimum wage change will cost her about $45,000 more a month. She said restaurants will have to “seriously change what they’re doing or they’re going to close their doors.”
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Ignoring the warnings, mocking the business people
The warnings from restaurant owners were mostly ignored or mocked.
Efforts by the Seattle City Council to address the forthcoming crisis fell apart after activists said they didn’t want restaurants to get an exception. Council president Sara Nelson told “The Jason Rantz Show” they will take up the issue again this year but there’s no specific idea yet to forward for legislation. The Mayor of Seattle, Bruce Harrell, has been almost completely absent from the issue.
Left-wing voices, meanwhile, claim to not care. That if businesses “can’t afford to pay a living wage,” then they shouldn’t be in business.
One reporter with The Stranger mocked one of the closures, quipping on X, “Has anyone ever eaten at bebop waffle lol.” Left-wing Seattleites condemned the business for “creating a right wing media darling to complain about paying people a living wage.”
KING 5 reporter Maddie White helped elevate this talking point by citing the National Low Income Housing Coalition, claiming “the average renter needs to make upwards of $40 an hour to afford rent.” But she’s quoting a stat for two-bedrooms. Minimum wage jobs aren’t meant to cover the cost of a single person renting a two-bedroom home or apartment.
Ironically, as activists dismiss the concerns of small business owners, they fail to acknowledge the inevitable consequence: when those businesses shut down, people lose jobs. A $20.76 hourly minimum wage — even with a $2.72 tip credit — means nothing if you’re unemployed.
Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on X, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook.
A pair of candidates have surfaced in the Seattle Seahawks’ search for a new offensive coordinator.
An NFL insider’s view on Seahawks OC change and what’s next
The Seahawks are scheduled to interview Detroit Lions offensive line coach Hank Fraley and Chicago Bears interim head coach Thomas Brown, according to multiple reports. NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero first reported the news Thursday morning.
Seattle will interview Fraley on Friday and Brown on Saturday, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer.
The Seahawks moved on from offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb on Monday after an up-and-down season for Seattle’s offense that included one of the worst rushing attacks in the league.
Fraley, 47, has been on Detroit’s coaching staff for the past seven seasons, including the past five as the team’s offensive line coach. Fraley has coached an offensive line that’s paved the way for one of the NFL’s best rushing attacks. The Lions rank third in Pro Football Focus’ run block grading and finished the regular season sixth in both rushing yards per game (146.4) and yards per carry (4.7).
During his time in Detroit, Fraley has helped develop four-time Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow and three-time Pro Bowl right tackle Penei Sewell. As a player, Fraley started 123 games at center and guard over a 10-year NFL career with the Eagles (2001-05), Browns (2006-09) and Rams (2010). According to Breer, Fraley has done groundwork in searching for a pass game coordinator that he would pair with as an OC.
Brown, 38, began the season as Chicago’s passing game coordinator. He then was promoted to offensive coordinator when Shane Waldron, a former Seahawks assistant, was fired as OC on Nov. 12, and then to interim head coach when Matt Eberflus was fired on Nov. 29. Brown went 1-4 as the Bears’ interim head coach.
Brown was the Carolina Panthers’ offensive coordinator in 2023. Prior to that, he spent three seasons under head coach Sean McVay in various roles on the Los Angeles Rams’ coaching staff.
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