The Seahawks have spent the first week of camp giving Robbie Ouzts a look at tight end, but that does not automatically mean the team is plotting a major shift for 2026.
Early training camp is where overreactions go to thrive. A player works with a different group, takes a few reps at a new spot, and suddenly everybody starts trying to draw a full-season blueprint from it.
Seattle has already been through that kind of exercise before. Last summer, guard Christian Haynes took a few snaps at center, and for a brief moment it looked like it might solve multiple problems.
It didn’t. Jalen Sundell took the job, Olu Oluwatimi became the backup, and Haynes settled back in as a reserve guard.
Ouzts now finds himself in a similar conversation.
John Schneider raised some eyebrows when he used a fifth-round pick on the Alabama tight end in the 2025 draft. Most evaluators saw him as a sixth- or seventh-round player, and some thought he might not get drafted at all.
Schneider, though, had room to be aggressive because he had loaded up on draft capital and ended up adding eleven new players in that draft. That flexibility let him take chances, including Jalen Milroe in the third round and Ouzts in the fifth.
The Seahawks also had a pretty clear plan for him. Ouzts was not drafted to be a conventional tight end in Seattle. Klint Kubiak, then the offensive coordinator, planned to use a fullback on anywhere from 25 to 50% of the team’s offensive snaps, and Ouzts had already done plenty of work in the backfield and in a wing role at Alabama.
His rookie year, though, never really got off the ground. Ouzts was injured early and missed time, then finished the season with 12 games played and 138 offensive snaps. He flashed as a lead blocker, but when the Seahawks needed blocking help in key spots, Kubiak often turned to AJ Barner and Eric Saubert instead.
That is why the early camp usage is getting attention now, even if it probably should not be overread. Ouzts has been working as an inline tight end, and with Brian Fleury now running the offense, there are obvious questions about whether Seattle will keep leaning on a fullback the way it did last year.
If Fleury does want fullback looks, it is still not a given that Ouzts is the guy. Brady Russell, another former tight end, worked at fullback last season as what was supposed to be insurance behind Ouzts.
Russell also looks like a roster lock because of what he brings on special teams. If the Seahawks trim back the fullback usage, Russell could be the cleaner fit and Ouzts could be pushed into a different battle altogether.
That is where the blocking-tight-end idea comes in. Some fans have already started wondering whether Ouzts might have to win a job in that role, much like Nick Kallerup did last season.
That remains possible. But there is a difference between a camp wrinkle and a settled answer.
For now, Ouzts taking tight end reps is just that: a camp wrinkle. Mike Macdonald has shown he values players who can do more than one thing, and giving Ouzts work there could simply make him more useful if injuries force Seattle to use him at that spot later in the season.
In July, it is a note to keep in the file. If Ouzts is still lining up on the line in preseason games, then the conversation changes.
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