Seahawks trade back, gain pick, select Oklahoma cornerback Tre Brown in NFL draft
The Seahawks traded down, gained a pick—and got the cornerback for the future they need.
In terms of size, he’s different than the standard Pete Carroll prototype.
In terms of speed, he’s a perfect fit.
With starting cornerbacks from 2020 Shaquill Griffin and Quinton Dunbar gone in free agency and the team’s returning candidates to start not under contract beyond 2021, Seattle selected cornerback Tre Brown from Oklahoma in the fourth round of the NFL draft Saturday.
“Man, it was like a dream come true,” Brown said Saturday from his home in Tulsa.
Brown is the 10th cornerback Carroll and general manager John Schneider have picked in 12 drafts leading the Seahawks.
All have been selected in the third round or later.
Five feet 10 and 185 pounds doesn’t fit the Carroll mold at cornerback.
But running 4.42 seconds in the 40-yard dash does.
Plus, 5-9 D.J. Reed opened Carroll’s and Seahawks’ eyes with a shorter CB last season
Brown played mostly outside cornerback as a three-year starter at Oklahoma. With an eye on his height and possible fit in the NFL, Brown played inside as a slot, nickel defensive back at the Senior Bowl showcase for league scouts in January.
“I’ll play wherever they want me to play,” Brown said.
“My range is pretty wide.”
He skipped playing in Oklahoma’s bowl game to end last season, to get ready for the Senior Bowl and the draft.
Before selecting Brown, the Seahawks moved down eight spots to 137th overall in a trade down with Tampa Bay. Seattle gained the Buccaneers’ compensatory draft choice at the end of round six, pick 217 overall later on Saturday.
That bumped the Seahawks from three picks in this draft to four, still the fewest in team history.
Seattle selected speedy wide receiver D’Wayne Eskridge in the second round Friday night.
The team also had a choice Saturday in the seventh round, at 250th overall.
Brown said he knows all about Seattle’s Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, and the secondary that led the Seahawks to becoming the NFL’s best defense and Super Bowl champions a half-dozen years ago.
“I’m very motivated,” Brown said. “We need to create that real sort of like the Legion of Boom. ...
“We are going to be really special.”
Brown said he is familiar with the step-kick technique, the unique way Carroll has his cornerbacks jam, turn then run with receivers immediately after the snap off the line of scrimmage.
Brown credits Oklahoma assistant Courtney “Chip” Viney with teaching with the basics of the step-kick. He said Viney drilled him on running with receivers at a 45-degree angle off the line to stay “on top” of them, that is, not get beaten deep.
That’s Carroll’s number-one rule for his Seahawks cornerbacks: do not get beat deep.
The Seahawks have had far more success teaching rookie draft picks and free agents the step-kick from their first day in the NFL (Sherman, Byron Maxwell, Griffin) than they have importing veterans from other teams to have them learn a new NFL way (Cary Williams, Dunbar).
There’s more than just defensive back to Brown’s game. He fits another Seahawks need.
He also was known as a special-teams ace at Oklahoma. He had a season averaging more than 23 yards per kick return for the Sooners.
He was also a punt returner and a gunner on Oklahoma’s punt-coverage team, the guy assigned to get down the field fastest and hit the opposing return man first.
“I take pride in my special-teams play,” he said.
“I’m going to try to destroy you.”
Brown is from Tulsa and won a football state championship at Union High School there.
It’s the same hometown of Seahawks wide receiver Tyler Lockett. Brown’s father went to school with Lockett’s dad, Aaron.
He knows about the Seahawks from the Lockett family.
“It’s a great place to be,” Brown said. “You just do everything right and do everything well.”
This story was originally published May 1, 2021 at 10:50 AM.
