Russell Wilson hugs Tyler Lockett, other Seahawks, Seattle fans loudly boo 3 before opener

About two hours before kickoff, the first paying fans filed into Lumen Field.

Many were booing.

Russell Wilson was on the field below those boos. He hugged Seahawks wide receiver Tyler Lockett, still a friend and one of Wilson’s former favorite targets.

Wilson talked briefly with Geno Smith, the veteran backup who has replaced him as the Seahawks’ starting quarterback since Seattle traded Wilson to Denver in March.

For a time, Wilson and Smith threw with their backs to one other, both with headphones on, facing opposite directions at midfield.

Wilson hugged tight-ends coach Pat McPherson and other Seattle staffers. Then he resumed his new job, warming up on the Denver side of the field to lead the Broncos into a season opener like no other Monday night.

At the end of early warmups, about 90 minutes before kickoff, Wilson attracted a pack of camera persons moving around him as he exited the field. He stopped in the tunnel leading to the Broncos’ locker room to talk to fans hanging over the tunnel’s railing, most of them wearing Denver orange.

Wilson appeared to sign some Broncos number-three jerseys.

When Wilson came back out in full, white Broncos uniform with his trademark number 3, he got booed again. More loudly and for longer this time.

The 33-year-old Seahawks draft pick from 2012, the only quarterback to win a Super Bowl for Seattle, excitedly skipped from one pregame drill to another.

Recently retired linebacker K.J. Wright was on the field. He was wearing his neon-green number 50 Seahawks jersey, to match the uniforms Seattle was wearing for the opener. Then he was on the ledge high above the south end zone of the stadium raising the team’s 12 fans’ flag just before kickoff.

That was minutes after Wilson led the Broncos onto the field for kickoff. The boos then were the loudest yet.

On the other side of the field, retired Super Bowl-champion running back Marshawn Lynch made his rounds through Seahawks. Lynch talked his former Seattle teammate Will Tukuafu, now a Seahawks quality-control coach. Lynch was so social we even greeted the team’s kicker, Jason Myers.

Lynch also talked on the bench during early warm-ups with Ken Walker.

The Seahawks’ rookie running back wasn’t warming up for the game because he was inactive for the opener. The second-round draft choice remains delayed in his new role sharing the rushing load with lead back Rashaad Penny. Walker has missed most of the last month recovering from a procedure to fix a hernia.

Seattle’s other inactive players Monday night: starting left guard Damien Lewis (still out with an ankle he sprained last month), cornerback Artie Burns (injured groin), recently acquired cornerback Isaiah Dunn, long snapper Tyler Ott and defensive tackle Myles Adams.

Phil Haynes started at left guard for Lewis, as he has in practices for weeks.

Ott injured his shoulder last week in practice. Coach Pete Carroll said Ott, who joined the team to snap for kicks in 2016, may need surgery.

The Seahawks elevated former Jacksonville long snapper Carson Tinker from the practice squad to snap for kicks Monday night. He’ll take over for regular long snapper Tyler Ott, who was ruled out for the game with a shoulder injury.

The Seahawks also elevated linebacker Tanner Muse from the practice squad to play special teams against the Broncos.