Seattle, WA
Seahawks training camp preview: Key questions for special teams
We’re one week out from the Seattle Seahawks’ first training camp under Mike Macdonald. There are a lot of questions about the roster which we hope will be answered through camp and the preseason, and starting today we will preview the season with three questions concerning every part of the roster. The preview for special teams is the only one that will not focus on specific positions, but instead concentrate on the entirety of the unit.
Special teams roster: K Jason Myers, P Michael Dickson, LS Chris Stoll
How will the Seahawks handle the new kickoff rules?
This is a blanket question for everyone, I suppose. The modified NFL kickoff was designed to, well, make the kickoff relevant again. Reduce the touchbacks, put the ball in play, and find ways for the kick return to be safer for the players without eliminating kickoffs completely.
There’s a phenomenal article by Sumer Sports’ Shawn Syed, who broke down every kickoff from the XFL (from which the NFL’s kickoff rules are generally modeled off of) to spot patterns in the date and to see what can translate to the NFL. It’s not as simple as aligning differently and swapping returners. There is so much to learn about different coverage schemes, potential option plays with a second returner, kickers changing their ball placement for where the kick lands, etc. that it is going to take some time to adjust.
Here’s what Syed concluded after his research:
Aside from strategic nuance and rule manipulation, the change in the NFL kickoff is going to have a tangible impact on the field; there will likely be an astounding increase in the percentage of kickoffs returned this season.
More players will find their name on the stat sheet and great players will emerge in different ways, on both the kicking and returning side. The best special teams coordinators will be able to get the most out of their players executing the fundamental techniques of football but will also find creative ways to open and close space for returners. The best kickers will also give their team an advantage by how they kick the ball into the landing zone.
Instead of checking the box and starting a drive at the 25 yard-line, teams will have to earn their starting field position. Each yard added onto the start of a drive increases a team’s chance to score points, but kickoff units may find that the differences in the XFL rules and NFL rules fall in their favor.
The new kickoff is one of the most compelling reasons to watch the preseason. We might see an established star as a second returner/speed option threat, Jason Myers involved more as a tackler, Michael Dickson used as a kickoff man, different strategies to limit field position, and I consider all of it as exciting as it is confusing.
Who is going to return punts?
Piggybacking off the previous topic, there are no shortage of viable candidates for kick returner for the Seahawks. Dee Eskridge, Laviska Shenault Jr, Dee Williams, Kenny McIntosh, Tre Brown, and Nehemiah Pritchett are among the potential options for kickoffs. We may even see, say, Kenneth Walker III on special teams but that’s just speculation. Players with deep punt return experience, however, are in short supply.
Williams is the most experienced but unless he dramatically improves he won’t make a dent on the wide receiver depth chart. Everyone else I’ve listed did not return punts in college or the pros. Easop Winston Jr returned 10 punts with the New Orleans Saints in 2021 and had those duties for the Seahawks last preseason, but he similarly has an uphill battle to make the roster as a receiver.
Tyler Lockett is the veteran, safe pair of hands as a punt returner but his days of being an All-Pro at the position are long gone. He might be the option for fair catches inside the 20.
It’s arguably more important Seattle figures out punt returner than kick returner, and hopefully that means no repeat of the time they let Earl Thomas return punts and force-quit that experiment after one game.
Are we going to get “even year” Jason Myers brilliance again?
Jason Myers has seldom been a consistent placekicker on a year-to-year basis. His statistics in even-numbered years versus odd-numbered years are something of a running joke. Myers’ two Pro Bowl seasons (one with the Seahawks and the other with the New York Jets) were in 2022 and 2018, respectively. He didn’t miss any field goals in 2020 and even banged through a 61-yarder. Meanwhile, he was a very underwhelming 17/23 on field goals in 2021 and got cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2017 after going 0-3 on 50+ yard kicks and missing a couple of PATs.
Last season was an odd year for Myers even by odd-numbered year standards. He missed seven field goals, tying a career-high set in 2016 (even-numbered year!), but was perfect on PATs for the first time. Worryingly, Myers was only 6/10 on field goals in indoor stadiums, including two misses against the Detroit Lions, a missed game-winner versus the Los Angeles Rams, and a miss inside of 40 yards versus the Dallas Cowboys.
A loose defense of Myers is that he was asked to do way more field goal kicking than is reasonable. He led the league with 42 attempts, five more than his previous career-high of 37 back in 2022. When you look at the percentages of all kickers since 2000 with at least 40 attempts in a season, Myers has a middling ranking. His middling ranking also applies to DVOA, so the volume of misses does not indicate his overall season was a bad one.
Perhaps Myers is emblematic of kicker volatility. If your name isn’t Justin Tucker there’s just not going to be grand expectation of high accuracy every season.
From the FTN Football Almanac 2024:
Field goal percentage is almost entirely random from season to season, while kickoff distance is one of the most consistent statistics in football.
This theory, which originally appeared in the New York Times in October 2006, is one of our most controversial, but it is hard to argue against the evidence. Measuring every kicker from 2018 to 2022 who had at least 20 field goal attempts in each of two consecutive years, the year-to-year correlation coefficient for field goal percentage was an insignificant (and negative) -.05. Jason Myers of Seattle is a great example. In 2018, he had a Pro Bowl season for the Jets and connected on 92% of field goals, which got him a big contract in Seattle. In 2019, he declined to just 82%. In 2020, he rebounded and hit all 24 of his field goal attempts with no misses. The next year, he was back down to 74% including two misses from inside 40 yards. And then in 2022, Myers connected on 92% of his field goals.
What you hope to see is Myers maintain his excellent PAT record but not have his name called for more field goals than necessary. This is nevertheless an important year for Myers considering this is his final season with any guaranteed salary.
There are no questions about Michael Dickson, for we know he is not to be questioned.
Our next preview will look at the quarterbacks.
Seattle, WA
Seattle Kraken Sign Goaltender Victor Östman and Defenseman Ville Ottavainen to One-Year Deals | Seattle Kraken
SEATTLE (July 10, 2026) — Today, Seattle Kraken General Manager Jason Botterill announced that the club has signed goaltender Victor Östman and defenseman Ville Ottavainen both to one-year, two-way deals ($850,000 AAV) for the 2026-27 season.
Östman, 25, played his first full professional season with the Coachella Valley Firebirds of the American Hockey League (AHL), appearing in 36 games and posting a 17-15-3 record, 2.81 goals-against average, .906 save percentage and two shutouts. The 6-foot-4 goalie tallied two assists, leading all rookie netminders and tying for fifth among all AHL goaltenders. He posted a season-high 42 saves in a single game. The Danderyd, Sweden, native made his first NHL career start with the Seattle Kraken on April 16, 2026, stopping 35 shots.
Ottavainen, 23, appeared in 53 games with Coachella Valley in his third season with the Firebirds, recording 17 points (3g/14a). The 6-foot-5 blueliner finished the season with 71 penalty minutes, ranking fourth on the roster, while placing second in assists and fourth in points among Coachella Valley defensemen. During the Calder Cup Playoffs, Ottavainen scored one goal and added three assists. In 193 career regular-season AHL games, the Oulu, Finland, native has totaled 66 points (14g/52a), adding nine points (1g/8a) in 36 career playoff games.
SEATTLE – The husband of a pregnant woman killed in a random 2023 downtown Seattle shooting has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the King County Regional Homelessness Authority.
The complaint alleges the agency failed to act on clear warning signs exhibited by the suspect, Cordell Goosby, before he opened fire on the family.
Cordell Goosby in the foreground with the crime scene, including the white Tesla the couple were shot in, in the background
King County prosecutors say Goosby shot a married couple sitting in their car on 4th Street in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood on June 13, 2023. It resulted in the death of 34-year-old Eina Kwon, who was 32 weeks pregnant at the time. Her husband, Sung Kwon, was also injured in the shooting.
Goosby was charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder for the act, but he was found not guilty by reason of insanity this year.
The lawsuit, filed by Kwon and his attorneys, claims that Goosby was being supported by the King County Regional Homelessness Authority and was provided with other services leading up to the shooting.
In the weeks leading up to the attack, Goosby allegedly told his case worker that he was hearing voices, experiencing paranoia, and thinking of conducting drive-by shootings. The complaint alleges Goosby’s case worker was repeatedly ignored by the agency’s supervisors when bringing up Goosby’s declining mental state.
An employee responsible for initiating psychiatric holds reportedly declined to see Goosby after he texted his case worker he needed to leave Seattle fast before he hurt someone, saying he would get to it in two days. The next day, Goosby carried out the shooting.
What they’re saying:
My wife and daughter should still be here. My family will never be whole again, and every day I think about the life we were supposed to have together. I am bringing this case forward because the people who were supposed to help this man looked away when it mattered most. I don’t want another family to experience the unimaginable loss that I am left with,” said Sung Kwon.
“KCRHA knew their program participant, Mr. Goosby, was in crisis. He asked them for help. He told them, over and over, that he was hearing voices and thinking about shooting people. He was threatening KCRHA employees. The warning signs could not have been more clear. Instead of getting him help or alerting law enforcement, KCRHA told its own staff to wait it out, and discouraged others from contacting police, as well. Eina and Evelyn Kwon paid for that delay with their lives,” said Julie Kline, the Schroeter Goldmark & Bender attorney representing the Kwon family.
What’s next:
The lawsuit seeks damages for wrongful death, the death of a child, and personal injury to be determined at a future trial.
FOX 13 Seattle has reached out to the King County Regional Homelessness Authority about the lawsuit and is waiting to hear back.
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The Source: Information in this story came from a press release from Seattle-based law firm Schroeter Goldmark & Bender, a complaint filed in King County Superior Court by Sung Kwon, and previous FOX 13 Seattle reporting.
SEATTLE — The widower of Eina Kwon, a pregnant woman who was gunned down while sitting in traffic in downtown Seattle, has filed a lawsuit against the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, alleging the agency knew of escalating and threatening behavior by the gunman in the weeks leading up to the shooting.
Cordell Goosby shot Kwon and her husband, Sung Kwon, at the intersection of 4th Avenue and Lenora Street in June 2023.
Seattle Police Department officers are seen investigating the shooting in Belltown near the intersection of 4th Avenue and Lenora Street on June 13, 2023. (KOMO News)
Earlier this year, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Video showed the shooting was completely random as Goosby walked up the Kwon’s car at a turn light and opened fire. Eina Kwon and her baby were killed, while Sung Kwon was shot and survived his injuries.
RELATED | Belltown restaurant reopens months after shooting death of pregnant owner Eina Kwon
The case sparked a severe backlash about the dangerous conditions on the streets of downtown Seattle during a year that set a record for homicides in the city.
According to Sung Kwon’s lawsuit, the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) knew Goosby was growing delusional and violent prior to the shooting, including the day prior, when the agency declined to screen him immediately for psychiatric admission.
Weeks of escalating behavior
The lawsuit brings to light many allegations about Goosby’s interactions with KCRHA workers in the weeks before he attacked the Kwon family.
A photo showing{ }Cordell Goosby being arrested in Belltown on June 13, 2023, following a shooting that killed Eina Kwon. (KOMO)
In April 2023, the complaint says KCRHA staff started receiving complaints about Goosby’s behavior at his county-funded apartment on 1st Avenue West in Seattle. The lawsuit alleges neighbors told KCRHA staff about an overwhelming odor of marijuana and noise coming from Goosby’s apartment, the lawsuit alleges.
By June 2023, those complaints had escalated into reports of Goosby fighting strangers, displaying aggressive behavior, and talking about shooting people.
The day before shooting the Kwons, a KCRHA case worker notified her supervisors that Goosby had told her he needed to “leave Seattle fast before he hurts someone,” the lawsuit claims.
Goosby also apparently claimed people were in his vents talking to him and he was being “gang stalked”
“(KCRHA case worker) sought out (KCRHA supervisor), whom she understood to be the point person for initiating an evaluation by a Designated Crisis Responder for involuntary psychiatric admission,” the lawsuit states. “(Supervisor) declined to see Mr. Goosby that day, telling (case worker) he would get to it on Wednesday.”
Day before the random attack on the Kwon family
On June 12, 2023, Goosby confronted a property manager at his apartment complex while screaming, saying he hadn’t eaten in days and was being antagonized by neighbors.
The lawsuit claims the property manager called a KCRHA supervisor, who then discouraged the manager from calling police and assured him, “Goosby was not dangerous.”
A photo of Goosby’s county-funded apartment. (KOMO)
“By the end of the day on Monday, June 12, 2023, KCRHA had taken no steps to help Mr. Goosby or intervene in any way and did not notify law enforcement of Mr. Goosby’s threats to hurt (case worker) and others,” the lawsuit states.
But after talking with the KCRHA staff, the apartment manager called Seattle police and reported Goosby was in crisis.
According to an SPD case note included in the lawsuit, the apartment manager said Goozby was enraged about claims that people were talking to him all day and night, and said “if they don’t stop, you know what’s going to happen.”
The police report notes KCRHA staff had been notified, and the officer advised the apartment manager to call back “if (Goosby) ever seemed on the edge of committing a violent act.”
4th and Lenora Shooting
At 11:00 a.m. on June 13, 2023, the Kwon family was in their Tesla driving to their Belltown restaurant when they stopped for a turn light at 4th Avenue and Lenora Street in downtown Seattle.
Armed with a stolen gun, Goosby ran up their car at random and started firing through the glass.
Eina Kwon was shot in the head and check and did not have a heartbeat when paramedics arrived. She was rushed into surgery at Harborview Medical Center, but she and her 32-week old baby both died.
Flowers sit at Lenora Street and 4th Avenue on Thursday, June 15, 2023, in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood to honor Eina Kwon. (KOMO News)
Sung Kwon was shot in the arm and treated for his injuries.
Goosby surrendered to Seattle police immediately after the shooting. He was charged with murder in the first degree and went through multiple competency evaluations until being deemed not guilty by reason of insanity this spring.
Why family says KCRHA is responsible
Lawyers for Sung Kwon allege KCRHA had a “duty to exercise reasonable care” to prevent Goosby from harming the Kwon family.
“Mr. Goosby was a KCRHA program participant and KCRHA undertook to provide him with housing and case management services,” the lawsuit states. “KCRHA failed to implement or enforce policies and procedures for supervising and responding to program participants who pose a danger to others. KCRHA failed to adequately hire, train, and supervise personnel to handle program participants who pose a danger to others. It failed to provide guidance, protection, or support to personnel, so they were enabled, empowered, or equipped to take reasonable steps to address program participants who pose a danger.”
The suit claims KCRHA staff asked with reckless disregard of the safety, and sought to prevent others from contacting law enforcement about Goosby’s threatening behavior.
“KCRHA was negligent in its failure to take reasonable care as it related to its knowledge of Mr. Goosby’s mental state and behavior thereby creating, combining with, or increasing the foreseeable risk of improper conduct of Mr. Goosby, which KCRHA knew caused a foreseeable risk of injury to others,” the lawsuit states.
The complaint does not list a specific dollar amount, but seeks for damages to be determined at trial.
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