Seahawks' Wealth of Riches in Secondary Creates Exciting Defensive Flexibility
RENTON, Wash. - Once the Seattle Seahawks wrap up their offseason program with three passing camp OTAs this week, "school will be out for the summer," so to speak, as players and coaches will go their separate ways until reconvening at training camp in late July.
But while the annual moratorium will provide an opportunity for everyone to recharge before camp opens in roughly six weeks, that doesn't mean focus will shift away from the upcoming season. In the case of Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, he will continue eagerly racking his brain trying to figure out how to best deploy a talented, versatile secondary further bolstered by the arrivals of first-round pick Devon Witherspoon and free agent signee Julian Love this spring.
“My wheels are turning. Yes, they've been turning, they aren’t going to stop either," Carroll told reporters after the conclusion of Seattle's three-day mandatory minicamp. "It doesn't matter how long a vacation this is, they aren’t stopping. This is really exciting."
Only a year ago, Seattle found itself in a far less ideal position in the secondary. After losing cornerback D.J. Reed to the New York Jets in free agency, veterans Sidney Jones and Artie Burns entered camp as projected starters with Tre Brown still recovering from a patellar tendon injury, while star safeties Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs were both working back from significant injuries that required surgery, creating no shortage of questions in the back half of the defense.
But much to the delight of Carroll, uber-athletic fifth-round pick Tariq Woolen quickly emerged as a standout in training camp, seizing hold of the right cornerback job early in camp and securing a Week 1 starting job. With Jones and Burns both nursing injuries and sidelined for most of August, journeyman Mike Jackson took advantage of his opportunity with a strong camp of his own, winning the starting left cornerback job out of nowhere.
Emerging as a star on the outside, the 6-4 Woolen tied for the NFL lead with six interceptions as a rookie, setting a franchise record, earning Pro Bowl honors, and finishing third in Defensive Rookie of the Year balloting. Across from him, Jackson started all 17 games and exceeded expectations, finishing with 75 tackles, 11 pass breakups, and two fumble recoveries.
Meanwhile at safety, Adams suffered a torn quad tendon in Seattle's season opener, ending the season for one of the Seahawks most dynamic defenders. But after a slow start, Quandre Diggs intercepted four passes in the final seven games and garnered Pro Bowl honors for a third straight season, while Ryan Neal filled in for Adams admirably, finishing in the top six in All-Pro voting.
Fast forwarding to the present, even with Adams' status uncertain as he continues to slowly work back from a severe injury, Carroll and his staff have no shortage of reasons for being giddy about Seattle's secondary loaded with talent and upside.
Holding a top-five pick courtesy of the Russell Wilson trade from the Broncos, the Seahawks selected Witherspoon fifth overall, pairing the consensus All-American from Illinois with Woolen to form a dynamic cornerback tandem. The incoming rookie will compete at left corner against Jackson, who has made it clear this spring that he won't surrender his starting job without putting up a valiant fight, racking up interceptions and pass breakups in bunches during OTAs.
"He had a great camp," Carroll remarked. "And he's stepped up for the challenge of it, had just a really productive, almost a dominant camp for us, and so that was great to see that. We need it.”
Interestingly, as Witherspoon eased his way back from a hamstring injury suffered during pre-draft training, even with Woolen sidelined recovering from minor knee surgery, the highly-touted defensive back has seen most of his action in the slot with Jackson and a fully-healthy Brown as the boundary corners.
While Carroll indicated the Seahawks shifted Witherspoon inside due to Coby Bryant's nagging toe injury that has sidelined him in recent weeks more than anything, he was equally impressive in coverage working against slot receivers inside for the Fighting Illini. This creates added schematic flexibility the team hasn't previously had with outside corners such as Richard Sherman, as he could see a handful of snaps per game sliding inside with Jackson and Woolen at the boundary in nickel and dime sets.
“We've seen him play on the slots, and it doesn't matter who he was playing, he covered everybody," Carroll said of Witherspoon's versatility. "So he's a special cover guy. His quickness and his instincts and all really lend to he could be an effective player there.”
With Witherspoon coming to town carrying lofty expectations and Brown shining this spring more than a year removed from a major knee surgery, Carroll anticipates the Seahawks will have intense competitions across the board at cornerback. Unlike previous seasons, if everyone can avoid injuries, the Seahawks may be more inclined to mix-and-match players in different sub-packages due to the quality depth at the position and varying skill sets.
As for the safety group, while Diggs has enjoyed a normal offseason and looks primed for a big 2023, Adams' health remains a major concern coming off his third significant injury in as many years. Considering the steep investment made by the franchise to acquire him in the first place, Carroll, general manager John Schneider, and company are keeping their fingers crossed he can return to pre-injury from as a disruptive All-Pro caliber playmaker.
But even after losing Neal to Tampa Bay in free agency after rescinding his restricted free agency tender, Seattle made sure to insure itself in the event Adams doesn't return as the same player and/or battles injuries again.
As part of an aggressive free agency period where the Seahawks spent significant money at all three levels of the defense, Schneider inked Love to a two-year, $12 million contract. Though some questioned the signing with Diggs and Adams carrying combined cap hits north of $30 million in 2023, the organization viewed him as more than an Adams replacement, foreseeing all three players thriving on the field together.
Only 26 years old, Love brings rare versatility to the equation, as he played more than 500 defensive snaps at both safety spots as well as slot cornerback in his first four NFL seasons with the Giants. Along with valuing his athleticism, ball skills, and tackling ability, Seattle was enamored by the former Notre Dame standout's high football IQ and communication skills, viewing him as the perfect sidekick to Diggs and Adams who can play at a high level all over the formation in a variety of roles.
Already knowing what Love provides on the field with rare positional flexibility as a single-high safety or box "money" linebacker, Carroll has loved what he has seen from the newest Swiss army knife added to the Seahawks secondary so far.
"He's got great sense, great awareness, presence. He totally gets football," Carroll said of Love after minicamp. "It makes sense to him, he's an excellent communicator, really a gifted smooth athlete with real quickness, and real quickness, and that comes from really great instincts. He looked great. I know that it's been obvious to Quandre [Diggs] that he's got a guy that really can command what's going on. And so they're sharing the duties and working together and growing. He's another guy who made a great first impression on us.”
Looking at the secondary as a whole, one may wonder how Seattle will manage to keep everyone happy with an abundance of starter-caliber players at cornerback and safety. Keeping injuries out of the equation, good players will undoubtedly be stuck on the sidelines without enough snaps to play everyone on defense.
But in today's pass-happy NFL, that's a great problem to have. Teams can't have too many capable coverage defenders with multi-position versatility and after fortifying an already outstanding unit with Witherspoon and Love, the Seahawks will be able to fully embrace Carroll's philosophy of always competing this summer with hopes of assembling their best secondary since the famous "Legion of Boom."
With countless options at his disposal and the wheels spinning ever expeditiously, Carroll has already started putting the pieces together this spring and can't wait to see how the final puzzle looks when the Seahawks open their season against the Rams at Lumen Field in September.
"It's going to be a real battle in camp, and I hope everybody stays healthy so they can put their best foot forward and all of that. But this is as competitive as we've been in a long time, and we expect to call on those guys. They're going to be covering people, they're going to be working hard, they're going to be in matchups and doing all the press stuff that we work so hard at and all that. These guys, they're going to bring it, and we'll see how much we can utilize it. But it's an area that I'm really fired up about.”
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