THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Media spins Seahawks' QB battle into intrigue

Sorry.

I wish we had visuals today, so you could see the laughter.

Or hear it, to be more accurate.

Honestly, considering the Seahawks and their NFL brethren have been wearing T-shirts and shorts during their abbreviated minicamps — not to be confused with the just-concluded, non-mandatory OTAs — there’s not much to be learned.

So, why am I giggling loud enough to scare the cat?

Well, because something between analysis and dread already has enveloped the muddled Seahawks’ quarterback situation.

Once again, a reminder …

The Seahawks have spent less than a week together, and they were dressed more for family barbecues than for the violence of NFL football.

And yet, the fact that Russell Wilson is gone — replaced by struggling career clipboard-holders Geno Smith and Drew Lock — has unleashed opinions, puzzles, possibilities, and when all else is exhausted …

Widespread weeping.

The most bizarre piece of this Smith-Lock jigsaw is that the media (and with the NFL, that means hundreds of writers, talkers, chalkboard experts and so on) is treating this QB conundrum as though the regular season were starting this weekend.

IF THIS first minicamp is any indication, we’re going to be buried under Seahawks quarterback updates every few days.

And eventually, every few hours.

There are endless hours of sports talk radio chatter originating in the Seattle-Tacoma area, and most of the shows are recycled as podcasts.

So, we already can access theories like this, from former pro quarterback Brock Huard, when asked why Smith was taking ALL the snaps with the No. 1 offensive unit, rather than splitting them with Lock …

“I think they’re doing everything they can to give Drew some confidence, not putting him in that situation to be judged every day as he might have been in the past (at Denver).”

However …

“As far as making plays off-script, which you have to do at some point to win a game,” Huard concluded, “Drew Lock has more in his pocket than Geno — the ability to move, to run, to extend plays.

“He’s just more athletic and able to do those things.”

Now, let me say just one more time that these questions and comparisons are being debated after less than a week in shorts and T-shirts.

In fact, there were stories and podcasts screaming with opinions after just one or two practices.

I loved this headline …

“Is Drew Lock Showing Enough to Keep Seahawks from Getting Mayfield?”

OK, we’ve discussed the possibility of acquiring Cleveland outcast Baker Mayfield a couple of times, and nothing really has changed on that front.

And it CERTAINLY hasn’t changed after a couple of workouts with Lock running the second-team offense.

Maybe what all this hoopla proves that there’s no such thing as too much publicity or news (real and otherwise) when it comes to the NFL.

Here’s a headline from the Seattle Times, which I’d like to say has come a bit early.

But it’s accurate, at least …

“They’re not Russell Wilson, but Drew Lock and Geno Smith are providing intrigue in Seahawks QB battle.”

True enough, especially when you realize that Huard had to lead off a radio show explaining why Smith SEEMED to start as the No. 1 quarterback.

Still …

Is there really “intrigue” here?

Already?

SURELY, you can see why I’ve been laughing at “The Great Seattle Quarterback Mystery.”

Look, it’s way, way, way too early for Pete Carroll and John Schneider to know precisely what they’ve got at the position Wilson held for a decade.

What they DO know is that they don’t have Russ, and that decision was made after a year (perhaps two years) of long, hard thought.

They also knew, when they made the trade with Denver, that they would not have a quarterback on the roster who has had any real success as a starter in the NFL.

You can make a whole series of guesses what they had in mind when they pulled that trigger with the Broncos …

Build out the rest of roster (which appears to be going well), and find their franchise QB in 2023?

Stall for time until the Browns are staring at a humiliating $19 million payoff to Baker Mayfield, who is not even on the roster — and grab a more talented quarterback at a ridiculously low price?

Pray that Lock actually can turn his athleticism into success as an NFL quarterback?

Ironically, unless this is a very well-kept secret, almost no one expects that the answer could turn out to be a revived and suddenly gifted Geno Smith.

But hey …

The time to argue all these points is a few months away.

The NFL is not a minicamp played in shorts, with hitting forbidden.

So far, all we’ve seen is a few days of a glorified family picnic.

Let’s save the panic for real football, eh?

Email: [email protected]

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press three days each week. He also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on Gonzaga basketball which is published monthly during the offseason, and weekly beginning in October.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”