The defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks are being featured on the HBO series “Hard Knocks” for the first time in franchise history, and it didn’t take long for someone to stir the pot.
Last Friday, Seahawks linebacker Derick Hall put offensive lineman Bryce Cabeldue into a chokehold and body-slammed him during a fight in practice that was shown on the first episode, which debuted on Tuesday night. Cabeldue and linebacker Tyrice Knight shoved one another before Hall brought Cabeldue to the ground.
Following Wednesday’s practice, Hall acknowledged that things got out of control, but he said he and his teammates have since made up.
“At the end of the day, we all love each other,” Hall said. “We’re a team. We are a brotherhood. At the end of the day, it happened out here. We go in the locker room, you know, ‘Hey man, I apologize, that was beyond the line of where we’re trying to go, where we trying to get.’ And we move forward.”
During the episode, defensive coordinator Aden Durde revealed to coach Mike Macdonald that fullback and special teams captain Brady Russell had egged Hall on. According to Durde, Russell said Hall, who signed a $42 million, three-year contract extension in June, had changed because of his new deal.
When asked if the players involved in the fight had smoothed over the situation, Macdonald said they had.
“Yeah, the guys have been great,” Macdonald said Wednesday. “The guys have been awesome.”
Macdonald said he is proud of his team for the way it has handled itself and was presented in the episode of the long-running docuseries, barring a “couple of fun exceptions.” Hall agreed with the coach.
“I think it shows who we are as a unit, as a team, right?” Hall said. “Things happen out here on the football field, obviously, as you saw in the episode.”
Hall was also featured off the field. He arrived for the Seahawks’ first day of training camp in a souped-up truck that he modified himself. The 6-foot-3, 254-pounder drove his truck over an HBO camera, smashing it.
“I ran [it] over, and they were like, ‘D-Hall, did you feel something when you rolled in?’” Hall said. “I’m like, ‘No.’ And then they showed me the camera and it was just smashed. So, I was like, ‘Dang, I apologize.’ I know it’s unique, it’s authentic, but I did smash the camera.”
Much like that incident, Hall is moving on from the fight. Even though he was captured during a tough moment, he has enjoyed being part of the show.
“I love it. I love it,” Hall said. “I think that’s a big piece of what they’re trying to do. Again, it just shows who we are as a team. What guys do outside of football. A lot of people see us in this limelight as professional athletes, and what we do on the field, and these media sessions, different things like that. So, I think it’s pretty cool.”
Reporting by The Associated Press.
