Charles Cross earned Seahawks’ championship belt after latest practice

New Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald runs his practices a bit diffrently than Pete Carroll used to. Yesterday we learned of another innovation that Macdonald has brought to the team - one that should help motivate players to put on their A-game faces every day at practice.

Apparently whichever unit wins at practice (offense or defense) gets a wrestling championship belt, and they get to decide which player takes it home for the day. On Monday it was the offense that took the belt after getting pulverized by the defense in their first padded practice of the year on Sunday.

After practice was over starting quarterback Geno Smith decided that left tackle Charles Cross should get the award this time around.

This is an excellent sign of Cross' progress, which has been noted by a few observers throughout the offseason. According to ESPN's beat reporter Brady Henderson, Cross was the most-impressive performer on either side of the line of scrimmage during Sunday's one-on-one pass rush drills. Other analysts have noticed that his technique has improved under the guidance of new offensive line coach Scott Huff, as well.

Getting Cross playing like an actual top-10 pick is one of the most important developments the Seahawks' new coaching staff can do this year. Thus far he's shown potential but not enough improvement to justify taking him as early as they did in the draft. If Cross can consistently perform at a high level it will help raise the ceiling for Seattle's passing offense, and that's critical especially because we don't have any idea when right tackle Abe Lucas will be able to return to the lineup.