New players, same question: Do the Seahawks have enough at cornerback? – Seattle Seahawks Blog
RENTON, Washington – Bless Austin and Sidney Jones IV are in. Ahkello Witherspoon and Damarious Randall are out. DJ Reed went from right to left.
The Seattle Seahawks’ cornerback situation is very different from a week ago.
But the question with this group at the start of the regular season on Sunday is the same as before the training camp – is it good enough? Because it remains to be seen how much better they are now after all these changes.
To sum up the cast, the Seahawks acquired Jones in a deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars before cutting Randall, John Reid, and two other cornerbacks while establishing their initial 53-man roster. Then they traded Witherspoon for the Pittsburgh Steelers, deeming him expendable once he switched from the alleged starter on the left to a backup.
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You essentially traded Witherspoon for Jones if you factor in the player profiles and details of those trades. The 2022 sixth round vote they gave Jacksonville is roughly the same as the 2023 fifth round they got from Pittsburgh. Witherspoon’s departure will save them $ 1.5 million in 2021 and money what they owe Jones.
While the Seahawks prefer the guy they just traded for, how much upgrade can they expect Jones (who was scheduled as a backup in Jacksonville) to be over Witherspoon (who they signed as a starter)?
Austin is a fascinating addition. He spent all summer taking on first-team representatives for the New York Jets and was to resume the starting role he held for parts of his first two seasons. That was a surprise when the Jets gave up on him last week.
He should be familiar with Seattle’s plan as Jets trainer Robert Saleh runs a version of Pete Carroll’s defense. It looks like a big corner of Seahawks (6-foot-1,198 pounds). It doesn’t have great speed, but it has the confidence one would want in a position that requires a short memory.
“I’m the real deal,” Austin said this off-season. “It’s no secret. Click on the tape and press play. Of course I made mistakes, but there are also a lot of games in this field that other corners of this league don’t make.”
On the other hand, Austin was struck off a team that wasn’t loaded in the cornerback either, and it wasn’t financially motivated as he did relatively little as an election for the sixth round in 2019. Interestingly, Austin didn’t play in any of the Jets’ preseason games for a “personal reason” but was still on the sidelines. It was not claimed after it was abandoned.
Bless Austin is the size the Seahawks are in their corners, but will he be able to contribute at a high level in Seattle? Rich Graessle / Icon Sportswire
Carroll cited Tre Flowers’ strong summer as a reason for Reed’s move from the right, where they had been fighting for the start. Obviously, Witherspoon’s inconsistent play also played a role. Reed missed the time with a hip strain, which gave Flowers more chances to show off year 3-4 growth.
“He knew he was against it,” Carroll said of Flowers. “He fought DJ who kind of took his place last year and DJ who was kind of beaten up gave him the opportunity to really show himself and he took advantage of it. I love the way DJ plays. He is really aggressive, he’s really intoxicating, he’s a good tackler and just a really good ball player, he can play either side wherever we need him and he played both last year.
“I didn’t let Tre play much on the other side and I didn’t want to move him. It really happened that way.”
Reed and Flowers are the likely starters now, although Flowers’ demeanor seems weak as the new guys are on his neck. The Seahawks also requested waivers from Nigel Warrior and have selected Tre Brown as a rookie for the fourth round. Reid and Michael Jackson are on their training team.
“These guys are still against it, they still have people fighting for places now,” Carroll said last week before Austin was signed. “Sidney doesn’t come here to stand. He wants to play. In time, when we get him used to what we’re doing and all that, then he’ll fight too, and you’ll see Nigel and … you’ll see a few other things going on here too. “
The Seahawks’ cornerback depth looks solid. They have enough experience in their top 4 from Flowers (37 career starts), Reed (10), Jones (14) and Austin (16). But if they were sure that there would be above-average starters this season, they would not have had to compete for the starting place or would have been shortened or swapped.
Austin, unlike Witherspoon, is known for his physicality and willingness to attack. One NFL talent reviewer described Jones as tough and instinctive. So the newest corners of the Seahawks could be an upgrade in the toughness department.
That doesn’t make her Stephon Gilmore, the off-season dream of Seahawks fans. The New England Patriots have put Gilmore on their list of physical incapacities so he won’t help anyone in the cornerback situation for at least the first six games. The Seahawks met with Richard Sherman to discuss a possible reunion prior to his arrest in July, although it is not clear how likely that would have been even before his personal troubles. He is also 33 years old and has injury concerns.
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Without a Pro Bowl-caliber player like Gilmore, LOB-era Sherman, or even Shaquill Griffin, the Seahawks could be vulnerable to the strong receiver corps (Tennessee’s AJ Brown and Julio Jones, Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen, the Rams’ Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp) and Master Game Caller (Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay) will compete against each other in the first month of the season.
The good news? If the Seahawks’ pass rush is as strong as it looks on paper, that would take some pressure off the corners. A Pro Bowl security duo made up of Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs, as well as a strong tandem at Nickelback with Marquise Blair and Ugo Amadi, could also help smooth out deficiencies in the perimeter. That could also be Seattle’s Cover 3 scheme.
And you can never rule out General Manager John Schneider adding an impact to Cornerback just before the close of trading.
Will they have enough without one?
– Information from ESPN’s Rich Cimini has been included in this story.