Why can’t the Seattle Seahawks cover anyone?
Andrew Elderbaum
|
Filling holes
Trading away draft capital to fill holes with players who are getting expensive compounds the problem. It meant the Seahawks couldn’t afford to overpay to keep Griffin. Worse, there are no draft picks (which may not matter since they missed on nearly every DB drafted) to try and replace him. The strange thing is they’ve drafted well with almost every other position group.
It seems like Caroll just wants a physical prototype and thinks he can convert them into starting caliber corners. Tre Flowers and Marquise Blair were college safeties, who Pete overestimated his ability to coach up. Flowers is gone, and Blair has been a non-entity at safety and nickelback.
They’ve done the same thing on the offensive line with project after project, that hasn’t worked either. At a certain point, the strategy has to change.
Giving cornerback D.J Reed a shot to start on the outside was a concession to the team’s lack of real options at the position this season. Reed, who excelled as a slot corner last year, has predictably struggled as a starter in his new role.
The sad part is that a case can be made that a struggling Reed is the Seahawks’ second-best defensive back. This is also a problem since their best is Quandre Diggs and not Jamal Adams.
The Prez’s Struggles
Adams’s struggles can also be traced back to the corner problems. Last season the Seahawks could leave Griffin on an island, and that meant Adams could be closer to the line. The Prez was better in run-support and was lethal on the blitz.
This year he’s been chasing receivers who blow past him half the time. The other half, he sits in coverage, not making plays. This isn’t what the Seattle Seahawks brain trust had in mind when he signed that huge extension.
Compounding the issue is Seattle’s front seven can’t generate pressure when receivers run around open as soon as the quarterback completes his dropback.
The linebackers can’t be as aggressive against the run when they have to fall back into coverage, or the Seahawks have to play with six defensive backs on the field. Their inability to defend the pass makes them easy to run on, and voila, the Seattle Seahawks have the last-ranked defense against both.