Seattle Seahawks stock watch: 3 new players who helped themselves in first preseason game

The Seahawks put a whooping on the Chargers last night in their first preseason game of the year. While it won't help them in the NFC West standings, the victory did inspire a lot of confidence in head coach Mike Macdonald and his new defensive scheme. There were a few standouts individually but overall the unit functioned cohesively and looked far sharper than what we'd come to expect from Pete Carroll's defenses, at least early in the season.

Seattle also got a few flashes on the other side of the ball from their backups, even if overall they didn't do much. Here are three new additions to the team that raised their stock with a strong performance against the Chargers.

WR/KR Laviska Shenault

The wide receiver room looks more loaded than ever, as both Dareke Young and Shenault looked good in admittedly small sample sizes. Shenault managed 31 yards on his two catches, including some nice YAC on one. He was also potent on special teams, totaling 44 yards on his one kickoff return.

LB Tyrice Knight

Picking Knight in the fourth round came as a surprise from the Seahawks, and some critics pointed to tackling issues at UTEP throughout the offseason as being a point of concern. Knight seemed just fine in his NFL debut, though. He made four stops altogether, which was the most for any of the defensive starters.

DL Byron Murphy II

If you were only loooking at the box score, you might not think much of Murphy's first game for Seattle. Murphy only posted one tackle, but that misses the context of how disruptive he was. He very nearly had a sack and wound up getting double and even triple-teamed by the Chargers up front. The one TFL he posted was impressive as hell, anyway.

We're pleased enough to think Murphy doesn't need to play another snap in the preseason. He's too valuable to risk injury and they should keep him fresh, healthy and ready to destroy come Week 1.

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