How adding Kyu Kelly, Drake Thomas make Seahawks and 71-year-old Pete Carroll even younger
The newest Seahawks continue the team’s trend.
To get younger. And to get Pete Carroll teaching more.
One of two new guys reminds Carroll of a Seattle legend.
The Seahawks claimed rookie cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly and rookie linebacker Drake Thomas off NFL waivers Wednesday. Kelly and Thomas go onto the team’s active roster for the start of the regular season.
Kelly (6 feet, 193 pounds, 32-inch arms) was a fifth-round pick by the Baltimore Ravens this spring. He was a four-year starter and second-team All-Pac-12 at Stanford.
The Seahawks are loaded at cornerback, and in the defensive secondary, in general. It’s their deepest and most-talented position group. It has 2022 rookie Pro Bowl cornerback Riq Woolen, Pro Bowl veteran Quandre Diggs, $70 million safety Jamal Adams, versatile Julian Love and Coby Bryant, plus Tre Brown and 2022 starter Michael Jackson battling to start opposite Woolen. Devon Witherspoon, the fifth pick in this year’s draft, will re-join the competition at left cornerback and primary nickel, slot corner. That is, whenever Witherspoon returns from the hamstring injury that’s sidelined him for more than three weeks.
Yet Carroll thinks enough of Kelly he cut veteran former Pittsburgh first-round pick Artie Burns off Seattle’s roster Wednesday. Burns signed back to the Seahawks’ practice squad later in the day.
Actually, Carroll thinks so much of Kelly that he reminds the veteran coach and former defensive back of someone.
Someone immortal around this team.
“Kelly in particular, we saw him all through the process and I really liked what he looked like as a cover guy,” Carroll said. “He hits well — and reminds me of another Stanford corner I’ve seen back in the day.”
Wait....what?
Yes, Carroll drafted Richard Sherman, a cornerback with 32-inch arms from Stanford in the fifth round, for the Seahawks in 2011. That worked out OK.
“Kind of long and is really in control, body-control-wise, and all of the stuff. That was really cool,” Carroll said of Kelly.
Thomas is an undrafted rookie signed this spring by Las Vegas, from North Carolina State. He was the Raiders’ leading tackler at inside linebacker their final two preseason games. Many around that team were surprised when Las Vegas waived Thomas Tuesday among the team’s final preseason cuts.
The Seahawks like the 5-11, 228-pound Thomas for what he showed on special teams in preseason games this month. Seattle is essentially replacing Jon Rhattigan and Ben Burr-Kirven with Thomas on its kick and kick-coverage teams.
The team waived Rhattigan Wednesday to clear roster room for Thomas. Seattle cut Burr-Kirven, the former Washington Huskies linebacker, Tuesday.
The Seahawks have Bobby Wagner, Jordyn Brooks back from a torn ACL in January and Devin Bush as their primary inside linebackers.
“Thomas, he’s a ballplayer. Really instinctive, really natural, and finds the football really well,” Carroll said of Thomas. “He hits with everything he’s got. He’s not the biggest guy but brings everything he’s got and is a very effective special teams guy as well. He looks like an exciting guy to add to the mix in hopes that he can find his way into special teams right off the bat and then work his way from there.”
Youth renews Pete Carroll
Adding two more rookies give the Seahawks 22 first- and second-year players on their 53-man roster. That’s 41.5% of the team that is either a rookie or in his second season.
All 10 of Seattle’s draft picks this year made the team. Eight of nine choices from the 2022 draft remain with the Seahawks, for 18 of 19 draft picks still on the roster. The lone one not on the team is wide receiver Bo Melton, a seventh-round pick last year. He’s on Green Bay’s practice squad.
“It’s interesting, because we feel new. There is a newness about us,” Carroll said. “You can feel it and it’s been maybe part of the excitement all along.”
It reminds Carroll of his 2012 and ‘13 Seahawks teams with Sherman, Russell Wilson, Bobby Wagner and others in their first and second NFL seasons. They then went to consecutive Super Bowls in the 2013 and ‘14 seasons.
“We had pretty good success when we we’re a young team,” Carroll said. “So I’m OK with all that.”
The coach who turns 72 in two weeks is renewing his commitment to teaching. At most practices, he is in the defensive-back drills, in particular, teaching his step-kick technique in press coverage and pulling players aside in between scrimmage plays.
All his young players have refreshed Carroll. He runs his 100-yard sprints during special-teams drills, including this month in 95-degree sun.
“That’s Pete. He’s the ageless wonder,” quarterback Geno Smith said. “He’s one of those guys that when you look at him, he motivates you every single day. You see your head coach out there running sprints, it doesn’t matter how old he is, he’s getting it.
“It’s hot out here and he’s working as hard as we’re working. When you have a head coach like that it’s not hard to come to work and give it your all.”
Carroll also plays scout-team quarterback in goal-line drills against the defense, smiling and pump-faking his way to touchdowns and smack talk to his players.
“It is maybe part of the reason I’ve been so jacked about this, because I’m constantly teaching,” Carroll said.
“To get it and settle in, I’ve been working hard at it, which is fun for me to do that. It’s fun for me the way we look at things and how we approach stuff. I’ve felt the eagerness of the guys that they’re learning and they’re growing and so, all of that I’ve liked it.”
Carroll is relying on Wagner, 33, plus 32-year-old quarterback Geno Smith, Diggs and his veterans to amplify his messaging and teaching.
“It definitely calls on the guys who are in leadership positions,” Carroll said. “They can tell they need to speak up. They can tell they need to share their thoughts and ideas and their outlook on stuff as it gets delivered and is out there in the ether for our guys to grab onto.
“So, they have sensed the responsibility to carry the message and help these guys be part of what we’re doing.
“All of that has just been a good rich process getting here and can’t wait to see how we crank it up once we get playing.”
Sutherland’s next step
A league source told The News Tribune the Seahawks and undrafted rookie defensive back Jonathan Sutherland have talked about him returning to the team after he satisfies terms of his injury settlement.
Brady Henderson of espn.com reported Sutherland got a six-week injury settlement. That means he cannot pass a physical and return to the Seahawks until three weeks after that, in week 9 of the season.
With Witherspoon out, Sutherland had been alternating with Bryant at nickel back in the starting defense before he injured his calf coming out of the second preseason game Aug. 19. He missed the final preseason game last weekend at Green Bay. The Seahawks waived him with an injury designation on Tuesday among their final preseason cuts.
This story was originally published August 31, 2023 at 1:24 PM.
