GREEN BAY, Wis.—The Seahawks took part in a joint practice with the Packers on Thursday, a day that started with players taking part in a unique Green Bay tradition, then continued with a physical practice between the two NFC squads.

"First, want to thank Matt (LaFleur) and the Packers organization for hosting us," Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. "Been great hosts so far. It was cool to see the guys come down the road here, getting ready for practice with all the kids on the bikes. It's been a great experience for us, and I thought we had a great practice. Got a lot of good stuff that came out of it and there'll be a lot more on tape when we get to watch it, so look forward to that. Then get ready for our game on Saturday. Good stuff."

Here are five observations from Thursday's practice:

1. Jaxon Smith-Njigba is a very tough cover.

Throughout Seahawks training camp, third-year receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba has looked like a player who is ready to take his game to an even higher level than he was at in 2024 when he earned Pro-Bowl honors while also tying the franchise record for receptions in a season.

And practicing against a different opponent, Smith-Njigba was arguably even more impressive, making catches all over the field against a talented Packers defense, including multiple touchdowns in red zone drills.

"It's been great," quarterback Sam Darnold said of his growing chemistry with Smith-Njigba. "All the time that we put in after practice. If something doesn't necessarily click during practice, we're always, 'All right, let's get that after practice.' That's the way we've been doing things in training camp, and it's obviously been paying off a little bit, so we're going to continue to do that and work the timing of different routes."

2. The defense finished strong after some early struggles.

Perhaps it was the time difference, with Thursday's practice began at 8:30 a.m. PT, or maybe it was a lack of traction—several players changed cleats after slipping early in practice—but the day didn't get off to the best start for the Seahawks defense.

"We did some good stuff. You're going against a team that you haven't seen and haven't really prepared for, so our guys reacted to their formations and movements well," Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. "Took us a couple of plays to get our feet settled, get used to the surface. Situational football did some positive things. There'll be more that comes up when we watch the tape."

Said defensive lineman Leonard Williams, "I'm going to have to watch the tape to know for sure, but we started off a bit sluggish. We're going to have to get used to traveling and starting fast. We picked it up towards the end and finished pretty strong."

But as the practice went along, Seattle's defense stepped it up, including a great session of seven-on-sevens in the red zone that featured multiple pass breakups from Riq Woolen, one from Shaquill Griffin and another from Nehemiah Pritchett.

"Red zone skelly, the guys were on it," Macdonald said. "That was a great period for us, but you're running your stuff and seeing how you guys execute and make calls in real time, which is great to see."

The secondary also produced multiple pass breakups during a two-minute drill late in practice, with Woolen, Griffin, Pritchett and Josh Jobe all getting in on the action.

"In that two-minute drive, without watching film, towards the end of practice, I think they didn't catch a ball for the first five or six plays," Williams said. "That was all secondary. I'm looking forward to seeing what else they did on film."

3. The starting line should be settled soon.

While Jalen Sundell remained with the starting offence at center on Thursday, Olu Oluwatimi, the starter for the second half of last season, is working his way back to full participation after being sidelined by a back injury. His return should help the Seahawks make a more complete evaluation and bring them closer to naming a starter at center, and also at right guard, where Anthony Bradford appears to be in command of the competition.

"We'll probably make an announcement," Macdonald said. "Probably sometime next week."

4. Rookie TE Elijah Arroyo had one of the best plays of the day… again.

In what has become something of a reoccurring theme in this year's camp, rookie tight end Elijah Arroyo turned in one of the better catches of the day, leaping in the back of the end zone to secure a one-handed catch over Packers linebacker Quay Walker.

"He's been doing it all camp," Darnold said. "He's been making incredible catches like that, so it didn't necessarily surprise me. Incredible play, though, when he went up there with one hand, that big mitt, I knew that it was over a 50 percent chance of catching it. It was an incredible catch."

5. Practice got "a little chippy" on a few occasions.

While the vast majority of Thursday's practice featured good competition between the two teams, tempers flared on a few occasions, with coaches and players having to step in to break up some skirmishes.

"It gets a little chippy, and when you get big people, it's because everyone's trying to figure everything out," Macdonald said. "Our guys, they stay composed after those things, came back down and executed the second half of practice, so that was good to see."

Asked if he was concerned about those moments or if it's just part of having joint practices, Macdonald said he was "somewhere in the middle" of those two thoughts.

"It's hard to tell what happened," he said. "Who said what? You want your guys to defend their guys. There's a line whether we go past the line, I don't think we did, which is good. Our guys stayed composed, but some of these things do tend to happen, and however it gets started, who knows how it works? Hopefully it's not our guys, but people are going to react to a certain extent. Our guys handled it pretty well."