NFL draft preview: Post-Thomas, Chancellor, Seahawks need to think more about safeties
For a long, glorious time, the Seahawks didn’t need to think about any real need to draft safeties.
Those days are like Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor.
Long gone.
Seattle recently waived free safety Tedric Thompson. That was after the Seahawks had to trade for Quandre Diggs in the middle of last season to replace Thompson trying to succeed Thomas. Now Bradley McDougald, Chancellor’s effective replacement at strong safety, is entering the final year of his contract. Diggs’ deal ends after 2021.
It’s not exactly safety first for Seattle in this NFL draft April 23-25. But it’s not safety last anymore.
“I think just like every position, you’re constantly looking to tweak it and figure out how to get better— whether it’s at strong safety, free safety, you know?” general manager John Schneider said.
“Obviously, we want to get better. If I told you that we were satisfied with the performance (in 2019 in the secondary), I’d be lying. We all need to get better.”
It’s likely the Seahawks are going to draft defensive backs next week. They have selected 19 of them in Carroll and coach Pete Carroll’s first 10 drafts running the franchise.
But it’s less likely Schneider and Carroll are seeking a safety at the top of this draft. It is not deep in ready-to-play talent at the position. Eight cornerbacks and as many as nine wide receivers may get drafted before the third safety, well into the second day.
Plus, the Seahawks drafted Marquise Blair in the second round out of Utah last year. He showed promise during the 2019 preseason as a hard-hitting strong safety who can effectively cover a lot of area in the back.
Blair got three starts from late October into early November. That was after Carroll benched Thompson for continually giving up big plays. It was before Diggs arrived and was ready to take over with McDougald as the starting safety pairing for the rest of the season. Blair is the heir on the roster if Seattle does not re-sign McDougald after 2020.
McDougald is a salary-cap charge of $4.1 million the team could save by releasing him. But he’s been an invaluably sure tackler in the open field, particularly on third downs, for Seattle. Releasing him would create a problem the Seahawks don’t need. It’d be a largely blind dice roll on Blair in the deep middle of a Seahawks defense that is already lacking a pass rush and finished 26th in the NFL overall in 2019.
Ugo Amadi is another safety, more of a free, Seattle drafted last season. He finished 2019 as the primary nickel defensive back on passing downs. Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers victimized him on key plays late that sealed the Seahawks’ playoff loss to the Packers in January.
Carroll said at the league’s scouting combine in late February he’d like to get more competition with Amadi for the fifth, nickel DB job. The coach wants varying sizes in that competition, bigger than the 5-9 Amadi.
If the Seahawks are going to draft a safety this month, a bigger one whom they envision playing nickel would be the likely choice.
TOP SAFETIES IN 2020 NFL DRAFT
1. Xavier McKinney, Alabama
2. Grant Delpit, LSU
3. Antoine Winfield, Jr., Minnesota
4. Ashtyn Davis, California
5. Kyle Dugger, Lenior-Rhyne
Grant Delpit would fit a bigger-nickel profile, though that would likely mean Seattle drafts him at 27 instead of trading down in round one yet again. He’s considered a first-round pick. Schneider has traded Seattle’s original first-round pick in eight consecutive drafts.
Delpit is 6 feet 2, 213 pounds. He did a little bit of everything, and all of it exquisitely, at LSU. Strong safety. Free safety. Outside coverage. A tackler closer to the line of scrimmage. And, yes, an inside cover guy against slot receivers and tight ends. The Seahawks love versatility, and Delpit defines that. The question will be if he is still available late in round one or into round two, which Seattle is likely to trade back into to give them two second-round picks.
For later rounds, Brian Cole from Mississippi State is 6-2 and 213 pounds. Many regard him as a big nickel back for the NFL.
He is uniquely older than most draft prospects. He was rated by some as the number-eight recruit in the country as a wide receiver—in 2015. He caught one pass as a true freshman in his only season for Michigan that year. Then he transferred to East Mississippi Community College. He redshirted a year there, then signed with Mississippi State for the 2018 season.
Cole was something of a cornerback/safety hybrid in the Southeastern Conference. Part of the reason he’s regarded as a late-round pick is lack of plays on the ball. He knocked down just passes and had two interceptions in his major-college career, which spanned 17 games over the 2018 and ‘19 seasons.
This story was originally published April 15, 2020 at 10:30 AM.
