Marquise Blair has plenty of work to do if he's going to carve out a role for himself in the Seahawks defense and make the team, a process that began with him signing Friday with the team that drafted him in 2019.

But just getting to this point, being back on a roster and on the practice field again, was an accomplishment in itself for Blair, whose promising career has been marred by injuries dating back to 2020.

After spending his rookie season as a special teams mainstay and backup safety, Blair appeared to be on his way to a breakout season in 2020 after a move to nickel corner. But after a standout training camp, Blair tore his ACL in Week 2 of the season. A different knee injury cut short his 2021 season, then Blair was released prior to the 2022 season. Blair bounced around that season between Carolina and Philadelphia, then after signing a future contract with the Eagles, he tore his Achilles in April while training to get ready for offseason workouts. That led to his release with a non-football injury designation, and thanks to a significant injury, Blair was without a team all of last season.

"It's been a long year," Blair said prior to Friday's practice. "I ended up tearing my Achilles last April, so I missed all of last season. So I've just been training to get back in the league."

Eventually, the call came from the person who drafted him five years earlier, with Seahawks general manager and president of football operations John Schneider inviting Blair in for a workout.

"John got me a workout and I came, and they signed me," Blair said. "I'm just grateful to be here and compete for a spot."

Blair didn't try to dramatize his injury history, but he did acknowledge it's been a tough few years.

"It's been a couple of injuries, it's just been being able to stay at it," he said. "It's been hard to wake up and be like, 'let's go rehab, again.' That's been the hardest part.

"It's been hard. It's hard to get back, feel good, to going back right back to rehabbing, to getting back to back to feeling good, to going right back to rehabbing."

But while the repeated injuries took their toll, both mentally and physically, Blair never considered the possibility that his career was over.

"No, I wasn't raised that way," he said. "I don't think I'll ever think about quitting until I just can't anymore."

During his first three seasons in Seattle, Blair showed considerable physicality and playmaking ability, as well as the versatility to play both safety spots and nickel corner. It's too soon to know how the Seahawks will use him in camp, but Blair is open to whatever Mike Macdonald and the rest of the coaching staff ask of him.

"Whatever they need me to do, I'm here to do," He said. "Whatever, special teams, I'll do whatever… I'll probably be at safety, but I'm willing to do whatever."