Seahawks planning to fix nickel issue with a new role for bigger — better? — Marquise Blair
The Seahawks have picked up a potential longer-term option for their competition at nickel defensive back.
But Marquise Blair remains the favorite.
Not just of Seahawks fans.
“For the most part, we’ve got to figure out Marquise,” coach Pete Carroll said this week of his 2019 second-round draft pick, during an online Zoom call from Seattle’s COVID-19 training camp.
“He’s the one that’s going to get the opportunity to get in on the slot and do some stuff that puts him in a position to be really active, and be a part of the pressure packaging and some real aggressive part of the play.
“So, that’s cool for him.”
And, potentially, way cool for a Seahawks pass defense. The former home of Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas and the Legion of Boom plummeted to 27th in the NFL against the pass last season.
Seattle claimed defensive back D.J. Reed off waivers Wednesday from San Francisco. The 49ers had put their fifth-round draft choice from 2018 on the reserve/non-football-injury list because of a torn pectoral muscle before they waived him this week. The 49ers didn’t think he’d be ready to play until at least late November. Reed stays on Seattle’s non-football-injury list and for now counts on the 80-man roster.
At 5 feet 9, Reed doesn’t fit Carroll’s prototype for long, tall cornerbacks outside. Inside at nickel, as the fifth, extra defensive back in passing situations, is a more logical fit for Reed in Seattle. He could also be a longer-term option as a kickoff returner. He returned 11 kicks for San Francisco in 2018 as a rookie.
The Seahawks had 5-foot-9 rookie Ugo Amadi as their nickel back at the end of last season.
All last year, they didn’t get their money’s worth at nickel.
In 2017 and ‘18, Carroll loved standout nickel back Justin Coleman so much Seattle stayed out of base 4-3 defense and in five defensive backs with two linebackers on more than two-third of all defensive snaps. That was similar to the rest of the pass-happy league. Nickel has become most teams’ essentially base scheme.
The Detroit Lions loved Coleman’s work so much they paid him $9 million per year in free agency before last season. It was an NFL record for a nickel back.
Coleman left behind a mammoth void the Seahawks never effectively filled last year.
Seattle used Akeem King, Kalan Reed and Amadi, their rookie draft pick from Oregon, at nickel during training camp last year. They signed former Cleveland Browns starter Jamar Taylor to compete with them.
The Seahawks dropped from 11th in the NFL in total defense in 2018 to 26th in 2019. Seattle allowed 382 yards and 25 points per game last year. In 2018, with Coleman at nickel on more than 60 percent of their defensive plays, the Seahawks allowed 30 fewer yards and three fewer points per game than they surrendered last season.
Amadi played nickel in the opener, Seattle’s escape past Cincinnati. Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton, whom Cincinnati let go of at season’s end, threw for 412 yards on the Seahawks’ secondary that day.
Taylor played nickel in Week 2 at Pittsburgh, and in parts of eight other games. He failed, too. The Seahawks cut him in November. They gave the nickel job back to Amadi, and to King.
Meanwhile, Seattle played base 4-3 with four defensive backs far more than any other NFL team.
In 2019, the league was in base defense with four defensive backs for just 28.2 percent of snaps. Teams were out of base and used five or six defensive backs on 72.8 percent of plays last year, per an analysis by Pro Football Focus.
The Seahawks? They were out of base defense with extra defensive backs just 31.2 percent of the time. Every other NFL team used extra DBs at least 30 percent more than Seattle did in 2019.
Carroll and defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. did that because they trusted veteran, Super Bowl-winning linebackers Bobby Wagner, K.J. Wright and Mychal Kendricks more than they trusted the new guys at nickel.
The final game of the season showed how treacherous it was for the Seahawks to play nickel. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay targeted Amadi for key pass completions late to seal Seattle’s playoff loss to the Packers in January.
After that loss, through the offseason, Carroll mentioned wanting to have varied—specifically, bigger—options to compete with Amadi for the nickel job in 2020. More trust in a bigger nickel back could lead Seattle back to playing more nickel and less base defense again this year.
Blair is bigger.
He’s going to get the chance to prove whether he’s better, beginning next week when training-camp practices begin.
Blair is 6-1. He plays at about 200 pounds. He was a thumping hitter two seasons ago as a safety at the University of Utah. The Pac-12 suspended him twice for vicious hits on opponents. His college defensive coordinator called him “nasty.” Seahawks general manager John Schneider has called Blair “a silent assassin.”
To say Blair is anxious to land a full-time job in Seattle’s defense is like saying this COVID-19 season may be a tad unique.
Casually ask him what he does to relax, and Blair glares.
“It’s my job. I do my job,” he said last season, incredulously.
“Relax? I can’t relax.”
Blair turned 23 last month. He has two young children at home. His son, Ezekiel, turned 2 this offseason. His daughter, Ivelle, is 13 months old.
“I’ve got something else to live for,” Blair said. “I’ve got something else to provide for.”
Blair impressed Seattle’s coaches during last preseason as an aggressive rookie strong safety.
But veteran Bradley McDougald was too steady to remove from the strong-safety spot last year. After Tedric Thompson kept giving up big plays at free safety from that opener against the Bengals onward, McDougald began playing more there. When McDougald missed a game in October against Baltimore, Blair made his first NFL start, at strong safety. Blair also started the following game, at Atlanta.
“He deserves to play,” Carroll said in October.
But then Seattle traded for Lions captain Quandre Diggs to replace Thompson at free safety. Thompson went on injured reserve to have shoulder surgery and was eventually released this offseason. McDougald went back to strong safety, Blair to the bench and Amadi to nickel to end last season.
Two weeks ago the Seahawks sent McDougald and two first-round pick to the New York Jets for All-Pro safety Jamal Adams.
Now Carroll is looking for ways to play Blair, Diggs and Adams.
Blair at nickel would be an intriguing way.
“As we’ve already pointed out,” Carroll said, “Marquise has the whole structure to his game that we’d love to fit in.”
This story was originally published August 5, 2020 at 4:05 PM.
