Seahawks

In the department of advance planning, the NFL today announced the sites for the 2016 and 2017 Super Bowls — San Francisco and Houston.

Here are the  details via NFL.com.

As noted, this year’s Super Bowl (48, for those who can’t read Roman numerals) is in New York/New Jersey, and the 2015 game is in Phoenix/Glendale, Ariz.

The Seahawks have just announced that they have waived backup quarterback Josh Portis.

The news comes a day after it was revealed that he had been arrested on suspicion of DUI on May 5.

Portis was one of four quarterbacks on Seattle’s roster, and one of three competing for the backup job behind Russell Wilson. The others are Brady Quinn and Jerrod Johnson.

The Seahawks almost certainly will now be on the market for at least one more quarterback for training camp.

The QBs they had in for tryouts earlier this month were Casey Brockman, a rookie from Murray State, and Jake Mullin, a rookie from McMurray.

Portis had been on Seattle’s roster off-and-on since 2011 but had never played in a game for the Seahawks.

The first day of OTAs for the Seahawks is in the books. The next one that is open to the media is Tuesday. For now, links wrapping up Monday’s beginning of OTAs, and some other stuff. …

— Here is our main story on Pete Carroll’s opening statement Monday;

— And the  notebook  with some other stuff;

— Here’s the report from Seahawks.com;

— ESPN.com’s Mike Sando says it wasn’t a banner day for the Seahawks;

— Sando also looks at how recent developments might impact the openers for each NFC West team;

— FieldGulls examines the defensive line;

— And recaps what John Schneider said about the Bruce Irvin situation;

— SI.com breaks down the impact of Irvin’s suspension on Seattle’s pass rush;

— Seahawks.com also breaks down where the team ranked on the NFL.com list of the top 100 plays of 2012;

— NFL.com also asks if the Seahawks should be concerned about the off-field stuff;

— And finally, the NFL is considering moving the draft to May.

Today marked the first Seattle Organized Team Activity of the off-season — and the only one this week that will be open to the media.

Much of the focus afterward was on the team’s recent off-field issues.

But the larger story from a strict on-field standpoint may be the sudden worry over its pass rush.

Bruce Irvin will be out the first four games, Chris Clemons is rehabbing an ACL in the Atlanta area and Cliff Avril — as revealed today — is battling a plantar fascia issue.

Of Irvin’s suspension, here’s what coach Pete Carroll said today:  “It’s going to  impact, he’s a really good football player. He had a tremendous football season. Fortunately we have guys that can step up, and really there is no way that as a team you can look at it in my mind, it calls for the next guy to step up and take full advantage of his opportunity to help the team out. And meanwhile he is hurt, he’s hurt. He’s injured. And the month that he misses is going to be a month of opportunity for somebody else. So we’ll see. We expect our guys will step in to play well. We are fortunate to have Cliff Avril here, we are fortunate to have Clem (Chris Clemons) coming back, we are fortunate to have (linebacker) Malcolm (Smith) get his chance to step up, as well. We’ll figure that out when  the time comes, but it will be like  he’s injured and he’s not there and what are you going to do about it.’’

Asked if he’s worried about the depth at the spot, Carroll said: “Well, we will always be concerned, sure, and I don’t mind telling you that. But we are fortunate in that we also are working our roster in that regard, too. We have some young guys that we are excited about. But it’s going to call on Cliff Avril, first and Cliff will be back in a couple of weeks and he is in good shape to make it back. Clem’s going to make it back, we won’t know about him for a while, we will  have to figure that out when the time comes. I liked the fact that Cliff was here because it gave us a cushion for Clem. That changed a little bit for the first month of the season, for sure.’’

Carroll indicated Avril’s condition won’t be long-term, saying:  “It hurts. Ask him about it. The plantar fascia thing is a real uncomfortable thing, you juist have to wait it out. It’s something that you can come back from. It’s not a problem, you just have to wait it out and he’s real anxioius to go and he is doing very wellin his rehab and he runs some this week for the first time. It just takes another couple weeks.’’

The other off-field issue of the day was the news of the recent arrest of backup QB Josh Portis on suspicion for driving under the influence.

Intriguingly, Portis had a solid day throwing the ball as he split reps with Brady Quinn behind Russell Wilson.

And the other notable absentee was RB Marshawn Lynch, who has simply chosen not to participate for now, as is his right under the NFL guidelines as these are technically voluntary workouts. Carroll said that Lynch “may” participate before the OTAs end June 6. “This is voluntary. That’s the rules and the guidelines are all set up to be. Clem is rehabbing and he is not here, and Marshawn is not here. We miss them. We’d like them to be here. This is a lot of fun. .. He’s in very good shape. He came in 10 days ago and he’s in very good shape. He’s working an intense program in his area and he is benefitting from it. We’d love to see everybody here.’’

In a few other notes. …

— Tight end Anthony McCoy suffered an ankle injury of undetermined severity late in the practice.

— Also out or limited were rookie RB Christine Michael (hamstring) and CB Tharold Simon (foot).

— Asked his first  impressions of the rookies who participated, Carroll said: “That they came out of the work that we have done understanding what is going on long enough to go out and compete a little bit today.  (WR) Chris Harper was out there catching balls and (TE) Luke (Willson) did a real  nice job today — you could see some things that he did. (C) Jared Smith, he had his troubles jumping into a two-minute drill during his first day of OTAs, but he made it through it. So we are benefitting from the mini-camp and the time they have spent with us so far and we are ready to let these guys compete and continue to throw them in there and see what they can do.’’

— Here are Carroll’s first impressions of Percy Harvin: “Percy did great. The benefit is that the fact he has been with (offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell) in Minnesota and that background, he has jumped right into the system of things.  He already knows quite a few of the nuances and things. We’ve adjusted some things but he’s already begun to take control of that. Very explosive. He took the ball and turned it up a couple of times today and he’s just lightning fast. You can see why he’s such a factor catching it and running it and in the kicking game.’’

Some of the Seahawks’ recent off-field issues could hurt the team not only on the field  but in the pocketbook.

NFL.com is reporting this afternoon that the league could fine the team for having multiple players suspended in a season for violating the league’s drug, steroid or personal conduct policies.

As the story states:

“There are financial consequences for a team that has multiple players suspended in a season under those policies,” league spokesman Greg Aiello said regarding the rule.

It was not specified if Seattle has or will be fined following defensive end Bruce Irvin’s suspension for violating the league’s PED rules, which was announced Friday.

The team could fall under the league’s remittance policy since multiple players recently have been suspended for violating banned substance rules.

Seattle has had six players suspended for PED violations since 2010. Cornerback Richard Sherman had his suspension last season overturned on appeal.

Per rule, a team would be fined a portion of the salaries of the players that have been suspended based on an agreed-upon formula.

Today marked the official debut for Seattle’s prime off-season acquisition, receiver Percy Harvin. Harvin and quarterback Russell Wilson each addressed the media after today’s initial OTA. Here is some video of each:

First, Harvin:

Next, Wilson:

Following Seattle’s first OTA of the season Monday afternoon, Seahawk coach Pete Carroll met the media for the first time since it was revealed that DE Bruce Irvin would be suspended for the first four games of next season for using performance enhancing drugs, and that backup QB Josh Portis had recently been arrested on suspicion of DUI.

Carroll addressed the issues head-on in a rather impassioned opening statement that ran almost five minutes, saying that dealing with such matters is “a challenge for us,” and that it is also important to let the public know that “it’s serious, it’s real serious and we need to let you know that we understand that.”

Here is a transcript of the highlights, as well as some video below:

“As these stages come along at OTAs, it gets us closer to football and it brings to light how difficult it is to do what we do and to do it really well and the challenges that go along with it.  This is an exciting young football team and these guys are at a point where they have worked really hard to grow together and establish the kind of makeup on the team that gives you a chance to do good things, and coming off of last year all that is part of what’s going on.

“But with that also comes the responsibility to handle it well and over the years I have seen what it takes to be consistently on top and to be on top and to stay on top and to keep winning and endure all that goes along with that. It takes a giant commitment and guys have to really be in it for the right reasons to do things right, and so a couple  of things came up today in the media that gets out about our guys, some issues that we have had — this is a challenge, this is a challenge for us, this is a challenge for the league.

“The league is doing everything they can to try to figure out how to help guys make it through these young careers that they have from teaching and instructing and also the punitive side of it, and they are doing a really good job. And they are in it for the right seasons, and we are too. We go beyond what the league does. We go well past what the guidelines ask us to do as far as working with the young guys and trying to give them the direction, trying to give them the counseling. We have people on staff here specifically to work with our individual guys, because I really see this as an individual challenge.

“We try to bring each kid as far along as we possibly can to make them available for the opportunity that they have, and each one of them is a different story. Each one of them, it’s a different road that we travel. Even though we go together they all have to figure out how to do this right. And so I see this as a challenge for us to be at the cutting edge of why guys  make choices, and why guys will jeopardize their opportunities. The league understands that, we understand it. We have been working for years and years with young people and we continue to still face issues that we want to try to deal with in a different way.

“So it’s a very, very important opportunity for us in a sense to try and figure it out and to help these guys so they can get what they deserve. Unfortunately you go wrong and you get popped and that’s how this thing works and I’m really disappointed that we have to deal with anything like this. But there are going to be other issues, too, and we are going to have to deal with them.

“With Bruce we are going to try to help him along as best we possibly can. He has made an enormous commitment to try to do the right thing and he made a mistake. He admitted to it and he owned up to it to his teammates and he owned up to the staff and he owned up to it to everybody. He wants to do right and show that he can. We are going to see that through and see if we can’t get that done for him.

“It’s no different than I would do for my own son. I would do everything I can to teach him, to prepare him, to let them understand what the pitfalls are and then you hope and you pray that your kids make the right decision  when they are faced with options. And then when they make a mistake you take them back under and you try to lead them along and show them and hope that they can learn from the issues that they have had to face and we get stronger and we get better for it. We’ve got a lot of challenges coming up.

“It ain’t easy. But we will find out where our commitment is and how close we can stay and how directed we can be to taking this as far as we can and that’s really my challenge every day and I expect that we are going to have to encounter more stuff and we’ll see if we can do it really well as we move forward. That’s a big statement and whether you get the whole point of it, I don’t know. But it’s serious, it’s real serious and we need to let you know that we understand that.’’

Seahawks backup quarterback Josh Portis will be arraigned May 28 for driving while intoxicated, after being arrested on May 5.

Portis was pulled over at 9:26 p.m. on May 5 after he was observed driving 80 miles an hour in a 60-mile-an-hour zone exiting the Mount Baker Tunnel on eastbound I-90 in a 2008 Range Rover.

A report from the Washington State Patrol says the officer noticed “a strong odor of intoxicants coming from the vehicle” and that the driver “had watery bloodshoot eyes.”

Portis later submitted to two breath tests and registered blood alcohol concentration readings of .092 and .078. The legal limit in the state of Washington is .080. He was charged with a gross misdemeanor.

The arraignment will be in the Redmond Courthouse.

Portis is expected to compete with Brady Quinn and Jerrod Johnson for the backup job behind Russell Wilson. Johnson  had a solid showing at the rookie mini-camp two weeks ago.

Portis was re-signed by the Seahawks in April to a two-year contract with a base salary of $480,000 in 2013.

He spent all of the 2011 season on the team’s roster, and spent 12 weeks last year on the practice squad before being released in November. He has yet to play in a regular season game.

The Seahawks and Portis’ representatives had no comment Monday.

The Seahawks are set to begin their organized training activities today in Renton.

A quick reminder that the Seahawks will  begin OTAs (Organized Team Activities) on Monday.

Seahawks.com had a good breakdown earlier this week of where the team is in its off-season program.

Not all of  the workouts are open to the media, but we will cover those that are.

As the linked story notes, the Monday OTA is the first of 10 in which the offense and defense are allowed to practice against each other.

The OTAs are spread out through June 6. The team then holds a mandatory minicamp June 11-13 before the veteran break begins on June 14.