SEATTLE -- For a few hours Thursday morning, Seahawks linebacker Aaron Curry didn't feel locked out. Being around teammates, and even a few guys from other NFL teams, provided a bit of normalcy in an otherwise abnormal offseason.
"Workouts like this today are helping me get over the fact we're not playing football," Curry said. "It's just tough without doing it."
Curry and about 35 other players gathered inside the University of Washington's indoor practice facility for a planned but informal workout. It was spearheaded by Seattle running back Justin Forsett, but the mix of players was far from Seahawks specific.
There were those who are under contract and likely to be key players for the Seahawks whenever the season begins: Curry, Forsett, quarterback Charlie Whitehurst, cornerback Marcus Trufant, linebacker David Hawthorne and offensive lineman Max Unger.
There were a handful of college kids, including former Washington linebacker Mason Foster -- drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- and safety Nate Williams.
Then there was arguably the largest group -- the free agents, most of whom were connected with the Seahawks last season but face an uncertain future. At the top of the list was quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, but others such as offensive linemen Sean Locklear and Chris Spencer, safety Lawyer Milloy, defensive tackle Craig Terrill and defensive back Jordan Babineaux also participated.
"I think it was more, 'We're all locked out,'Â " Whitehurst said of the practice's purpose. "It was just get together, get some work and try to get better."
Whitehurst's presence was notable considering he's the only quarterback under contract with the Seahawks for the 2011 season. He flew in from Atlanta to participate in the largest gathering of Seahawks or Seattle-based players so far, although the workouts have been going on informally for a couple of months.
Hasselbeck has been the leader at many of those practices since he lives in the Seattle area year-round, but his future with the Seahawks is unknown.
"I'm always looking for a chance to get together with the guys I'm going to throw to," Whitehurst said. "I don't know if it matters what position you play, but the guys who came felt it was important. Quarterbacks, obviously every opportunity we get, we're going to take it."
The workouts likely will continue, at a time when the Seahawks normally would be in the midst of minicamp and prepping for their final month of rest before training camp in late July. No one has a good sense of when the NFL lockout might end, with Unger saying he has heard a resolution could come in two weeks and in the same breath saying the entire season could be missed.
"It's just weird not playing football right now," Unger said. "We'd normally have just less than a month of offseason and then we'd be off 'til fall camp. ... I don't really know, man; that stuff is up in the air. There is a lot of red tape to cut through."
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press
