Well, if reporters standing on the side thought it was boring, imagine what the players involved must have been thinking. No offense to special teams coach Bruce DeHaven, but working on the nuances of kick and punt coverage is, well, kind of a snoozefest, especially on a stunningly beautiful afternoon. Even coach Mike Holmgren looked like he wanted to be somewhere else, standing on the side chatting it up with Julian Peterson.

DeHaven instructed the players, in helmets and shells, on the finer points of the weave on kickoff coverage, but there are only so many atta-boys to be offered for properly running behind a guy the right way.

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There is another new player on the field, though this one is an old player. With Chris Gray announcing his retirement (officially he was placed on the IR) -- which must make Ben Claxton feel a bit more secure -- the Seahawks signed defensive lineman Kevin Brown, who was here for the mini-camps but was released when the roster had to be trimmed to 80. With Chris Cooper and Larry Tripplett sidelined and Red Bryant out for the preseason, there was an immediate need for some help along the defensive front. Brown is wearing N0. 60.

Interception was the play of the day. Though there have been relatively few during this training camp, there were three in a span of about 5 minutes on Monday. First Deon Grant intercepted Matt Hasselbeck, then Kelly Jennings stepped in front of a Hasselbeck pass, after which Lofa Tatupu laid a pretty good pop on T.J. Duckett that brought cheers from his teammates. Finally, Marcus Trufant intercepted a deep Hasselbeck pass intended for Nate Burleson to complete the trifecta. After that, as you can imagine, the D backs started talking a lot of junk, particularly Deon Grant.

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The Seattle Seahawks' veteran center Chris Gray just announced his retirement because of what he said was a low-back spine injury. He said the doctors didn't really give him a choice about retiring because if he injured it again he risked paralysis.

Gray said he was told on Saturday at the scrimmage about the diagnosis, and that he has spent the past 36 hours coming to terms with it. He said he is doing pretty well right now but the past day and a half have been very tough. He said his summer has been filled with football since the 6th grade, and this will be the first time he will not be doing that.

Gray said he suffered the injury while hitting the blocking sled on the second day of camp. "After 20 years of hitting a sled, I guess something finally had to give," Gray said. He said he had absolutely no indication the injury was this serious. He said he had some tingling in his legs but just thought he had a lower back strain. He said he was shocked when the doctors told him what had happened.

For his immediate future, he said he is going to do perhaps some marketing for the team. "Kind of like what Brett Favre is doing," Gray said. "Except I won't be getting $20 million." He said he thinks the offensive line is in fine hands and he doesn't think they need his help with coaching, but he told the organization he would do whatever he could to help out.

So what's happening around the NFC West this morning? Here's a quick look.

Seattle Seahawks

Frank Hughes writes about the plethora of injuries the Seahawks are dealing with after Saturday’s scrimmage.

Scott Johnson of the Everett Herald takes a look at the defensive end rotation, and how Patrick Kerney and Darryl Tapp might see less snaps with rookie Lawrence Jackson in the mix.

CBS Sports Clark Judge offers a pretty thorough report on the Seahawks’ quest for another deep playoff run in Mike Holmgren’s last year, as Judge makes a stop in Seattle over the weekend.

An interesting note from ESPN’s Mike Sando: The Seahawks will log a league-high 34,766 in ground and air miles in traveling to two exhibition games and eight regular-season games.

The fall out from Carolina receiver Steve Smith sucker punching former Seahawks cornerback Ken Lucas earned Smith a two-game suspension starting the regular season.

Photos from the fight can be found here.

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Here is their release:

SIRIUS NFL Radio - the only radio channel devoted to the NFL 24 hours a day, 365 days a year - will broadcast live from Seattle Seahawks training camp in Kirkland, WA today, August 4.

Veteran SIRIUS host Adam Schein and former NFL defensive back Solomon Wilcots will host “The SIRIUS Blitz” live from 9 am – 12 pm PT, exclusively on SIRIUS NFL Radio channel 124.

The visit is part of the fourth annual SIRIUS NFL Radio Training Camp Tour, which features live on-site broadcasts at all 32 NFL team training camps from July 26 – August 14. SIRIUS hosts will provide an expert look at every team, interview players, coaches and franchise executives, and evaluate everything from the performances of fresh-out-of college rookies to the intense head-to-head competitions for starting roles. All shows air exclusively on SIRIUS NFL Radio.