He made two plays during Wednesday's practice, showing quite clearly his explosiveness in breaking toward the ball. In particular his reaction to recognize an out-route toward the sideline by Doug Baldwin, break on the ball and deflect it away neatly encapsulated the athletic explosiveness.

Thurmond is not an exceptionally tall cornerback like 6-foot-4 Brandon Browner or 6-3 rookie Richard Sherman. He is 5-11, but has a large wingspan, and is an explosive athlete. Seattle chose Thurmond in the fourth round of the 2010 as he was coming off a knee injury in which he suffered three torn knee ligaments during his senior season of 2009. Prior to the injury, he was regarded as a second, perhaps even late first-round choice.

Thurmond played well in training camp last season, in fact better than many expected considering he was not yet 12 months removed from the injury, but he has said that this year it truly feels like his explosiveness is back. That was evident on the practice field. Thurmond participated in the first three practices once the Seahawks began training camp, but had been out for more than two weeks because of an ankle injury. Coach Pete Carroll did not rule out the possibility Thurmond could play Saturday night in Denver in the Seahawks' third exhibition game.

Notes
• LB Aaron Curry returned to practice Wednesday after sitting out Tuesday because of a knee injury. Starters David Hawthorne and Leroy Hill did not practice.

• SS Kam Chancellor and DE Chris Clemons were other starters who did not practice.

• WR Kris Durham had a strong day of practice, including an impressive reception during a one-on-one coverage drill focusing upon fade routes. Durham returned last week after missing more than a week because of a hamstring injury. He looks like he's getting his legs underneath him this week.