Richard Sherman’s scuffle at Seahawks camp signals return of football

The Seattle Seahawks are notoriously competitive. Listen to Pete Carroll or many of the players speak and you might think they get paid a bonus for saying the word “compete.” Practices are intense and at full speed whether it’s a June mini camp or preparing for the Super Bowl. On Wednesday there may have been a little too much intensity and the result was scuffle between the offense and defense, with Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas in the middle of it.

Scuffles during football practice are not unusual. Steve Smith and Lardarius Webb got into a pushing match at Ravens practice on Wednesday, according to Aaron Wilson. Football is a physical, intense sport and sometimes that emotion boils over, even between teammates. But, this is Richard Sherman and the defending Super Bowl champions so it will get a little more attention than a pair of lineman grabbing jerseys. So with the help of Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times and the video of the incident from Q13 Fox, let’s take a closer look at the extracurriculars.

According to Condotta, the feathers got ruffled a play before Sherman and wide receiver Phil Bates got into it. Condotta wrote that wide receiver Bryan Walters came up with an injured shoulder after making a diving catch and the offensive players weren’t very happy with Thomas who may have landed on Walters. Thomas is probably the most intense player on the roster, the dude wears a mouthpiece to walkthroughs, so it’s little surprise he may have been going a little too hard for a June minicamp.

After some trash talk back and forth, the play on the field resumed. Sherman and Bates locked up right at the start and the jersey-pulling ensued. While Sherman had a pretty good hold on Bates, Bates appears to land a couple of punches to Sherman’s helmet. Sherman’s helmet comes off, more pushing and shoving ensues and teammates get involved. From there, it’s just a lot of yelling. Thomas and Percy Harvin had words, Sherman jawed with good friend Doug Baldwin while Marshawn Lynch played peacemaker. While there isn’t much video of the back-and-forth, Condotta provided a great visual.

Percy Harvin also stomped around angrily.

Carroll then gathered the team and told them to stay focused and remember why they are out there, according to Bobby Wagner. Sherman and Bates shook hands while the All-Pro corner and Harvin laughed on the sideline reenacting the scuffle.

While a practice scuffle is pretty meaningless, it’s much more interesting than meaningless NFL Draft fodder. It also signals the season is approaching, so welcome back practice fights, we’ve missed you.