Injuries Present 'Great Opportunity' For Seahawks' Cornerbacks in Atlanta

Down three cornerbacks against Atlanta's prolific attack, the Seahawks will be counting on Nehemiah Pritchett and two practice squad corners to fill the void.

Aug 26, 2023; Denver, Colorado, USA; Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Tyler Johnson (14) is tackled by Denver Broncos cornerback Faion Hicks (29) in the first quarter at Empower Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images / Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

RENTON, Wash. - With injuries piling up in the secondary, the Seattle Seahawks will be without starters Riq Woolen and Tre Brown when they square off with the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, leaving the team incredibly short-handed on the road against one of the top offenses in the NFL.

But while the Seahawks will have to weather the storm without Woolen, Brown, and Artie Burns, who landed on injured reserve on Tuesday with a toe injury, coach Mike Macdonald thinks highly of the team's depth at the cornerback position, which will be put to the ultimate test dealing with an explosive Falcons attack featuring Kirk Cousins and a stable of talented receivers in Drake London, Darnell Mooney, and Kyle Pitts.

With injuries comes opportunity in the NFL, and among those who will be called upon to help pick up the slack with Seattle down three veteran corners, rookie Nehemiah Pritchett will make his first career start and Josh Jobe and Faion Hicks will make their team debuts as practice squad elevations, providing the chance to impress in a tough road environment.

"We'll make a couple of moves tomorrow," Macdonald said on Friday, offering more clarity than usual on practice squad call ups on a travel day. "Faion [Hicks] will come up. Josh Jobe will come up and play. The other guys on the roster will get a great opportunity to go out there and show what they can do. I'm excited to see them play."

Jumping into the starting lineup for the first time, Pritchett will draw a difficult first assignment covering the likes of London and Mooney. But if there's reason for optimism, the fifth-round pick out of Auburn has been thrust into game action on defense each of the past two weeks due to Seattle's injury issues in the secondary, so Sunday shouldn't be as much of a pressure cooker for him as it could have been thanks to those experiences.

Logging 39 defensive snaps in three games so far in his rookie campaign, Pritchett's overall coverage numbers have been rock solid, as per Pro Football Focus, he has only allowed three completions on eight targets for 52 yards. He produced a crucial third down pass breakup late in the fourth quarter of a Week 5 loss to the Giants, giving Geno Smith and the offense one last shot to tie or win the game, though that deflection came one drive after he got burned by Darius Slayton and lucked out when Daniel Jones overthrew the receiver in the end zone.

Tackling has been a bit more problematic for Pritchett, who has three missed tackles on fewer than 40 snaps and posted an ugly 60 percent missed tackle rate. He will have to be much better in that area against Atlanta, which ranks in the top 10 in yards after the catch through six weeks.

With Pritchett exclusively being a boundary cornerback, the Seahawks will have to do some mixing and matching in the slot, with Witherspoon still seeing some action sliding inside in nickel and dime packages. Coming up from the practice squad, though he hasn't played any regular season defensive snaps in the NFL, Hicks may be the best option to play inside in nickel sets when Witherspoon moves back outside, while Jobe will be the better option as a second outside cornerback.

A position-flexible defender, Hicks played 274 snaps in the nickel role for Wisconsin at the college level and has played nearly 100 snaps inside during preseason play over the past three seasons with the Broncos, Saints, and Browns, though none of those snaps came this past preseason in Cleveland. He also should see some action on special teams, which he has previously done in two regular season games when he played for Denver earlier in his career.

When Witherspoon does slide into the slot, the 5-11, 190-pound Jobe should provide Seattle with a fairly experienced option to line up across from Pritchett. The former Alabama standout played 255 defensive snaps for Philadelphia over the past two seasons, spending the majority of that time on the outside. His performance proved to be a mixed bag in coverage, as he allowed 17 receptions and three touchdowns on 30 targets with four pass breakups, yielding a 113.8 passer rating.

Considering the opponent, having to rely on Pritchett, Jobe, and Hicks to play significant snaps isn't an ideal scenario for the Seahawks as they try to snap a three-game losing skid. But Macdonald embraces the next man up approach regardless of position and with all three coming off a week where they received all of the practice reps, while it remains to be seen how he will deploy them, he's eager to see how they respond when opportunity knocks in Atlanta.

"If Spoon's not at nickel [cornerback], then you would see some other guys you might not have seen but have been repping there. We'll leave the combinations, let them figure that out at this point. But Spoon will play nickel at some point. Other guys will play nickel as well. They've all gotten those reps, so we should be ready to go."

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