David Moore Color Rush Jersey , the future at free safety in Seattle is a curious thought. Tedric Thompson stepped in for Thomas, following the All-Pro’s season-ending injury in Week 4, and started the rest of the way except for two weeks missed through injury. Thompson’s performance was up-and-down, with the downs ranging from glaring to catastrophic. Most would like to see the Seahawks address the position this offseason and find Bradley McDougald a long-term partner on the back-end. (On the topic of McDougald, let’s address this now: Signing or drafting a strong safety and moving McDougald to free safety is not an option. Yes, McDougald is the best safety currently on the roster and would provide the best play at free safety as it stands. However, a full-time move to free safety would require a drastic change in scheme by Pete Carroll. That’s simply not happening.)Though Thompson may not have instilled confidence in a fan base that has spent nine seasons watching Hall of Fame play at free safety, that doesn’t necessarily mean the coaching staff is in agreement. From the beginning of Thomas’s holdout in August through to the end of the season, Pete Carroll spoke of Thompson as though he’s the long-term plan at free safety. Importantly, he also consistently spoke of how important it was for Thompson to have confidence in his game. The message from Carroll, particularly in training camp, boiled down to: Thompson produces in practice, sees things so well, but he isn’t reacting accordingly. That idea of reacting slowly showed up in games, as time and time again his game speed appeared to be deficient. Whether that’s a matter of confidence in anticipating and reacting to the ball https://www.theseahawksfanshop.com , or simply a shortcoming in his athletic ability, is an important question to answer. If it’s the former, perhaps Thompson can become a reliable free safety in Carroll’s defense. If it’s the latter, it really is a fatal flaw in this scheme. By now, we know a large part of what makes Thomas one of the greatest safeties, ever, is his out-of-this-world range. That stems from uncanny anticipation, but it’s aided by his athletic ability. Prior to the 2010 NFL Draft, Thomas ran a 4.37 40-yard dash, with a 1.49 10-yard split. Thompson, meanwhile, ran a 4.6 40-yard dash with a 1.63 10-yard split prior to the 2017 NFL Draft. That tiny difference in burst of .14 seconds can make all the difference when needing to move from the middle of the field all the way to the sideline, with the ball mid-flight. If Thompson doesn’t possess the range to be a true centerfielder in Carroll’s defense, then he cannot be depended upon to play that spot for 16 games in 2019. It would be a betrayal to both the scheme and the roster; the defense has collapsed before without the correct player at free safety, and it will again. Unfortunately for Seattle Seahawks Customized Color Rush Jerseys , they’re in a position where they may have to roll with Thompson in 2019, regardless of whether his previous struggles come down to confidence or a lack of athletic ability. For as loaded as the draft is along the defensive line, it’s quite shallow at safety. In the top-60 or so, an argument could be made for two proper rangy free safeties: Delaware’s Nasir Adderley and Alabama’s Deionte Thompson. However, both players have flaws in their games that could cross them off the list. Adderley is a slight 195 pounds—their threshold is 205, and here’s what Carroll had to say about Thompson’s body type prior to the 2018 season: “He’s 208 pounds right now, same weight as guys we’ve had play there in the past.” Adderley is the best safety in the draft, but he isn’t the best safety for this defense. Meanwhile, Deionte Thompson’s awareness and anticipation is lacking—would it make sense to spend a top-50 selection on a player whose shortcomings are similar to the player he would be replacing in Tedric Thompson? The options aren’t much better in free agency, either. The safeties headlining the class—Landon Collins, Tyrann Mathieu, Lamarcus Joyner—are more of box safeties than deep-middle roaming defenders. Tre Boston would make the most sense among the group, but that would be much more of a stop-gap than a long-term solution.All this goes back to how poorly the Seahawks handled Thomas’s situation. Judging by all of their actions up to this point, we know Seattle was quite sure they weren’t going to extend Thomas as early as last offseason. We also know the Cowboys were/are interested in Thomas. The best free safety in last year’s draft, Jessie Bates Seattle Seahawks T-Shirts , is a legitimate centerfielder and would’ve fit into Carroll’s defense wonderfully. The Seahawks could’ve, and likely should’ve, moved on and used the extra selection last year to select Thomas’s successor. Instead, Seattle’s hands are tied, and their defense is tied to the development of Tedric Thompson and a trait he simply may or may not possess. Mandatory minicamp got underway for the Seattle Seahawks on Tuesday, and head coach Pete Carroll provided some updates on a few players who were not there for health reasons.Fifth-round rookie..." />Skip to main contentclockmenumore-arrownoyesHorizontal - WhiteField Gullsa Seattle Seahawks communityLog In or Sign UpLog InSign UpFanpostsFanshotsSectionsSeahawksOddsAboutMastheadCommunity GuidelinesStubHubMoreAll 322 blogs on Horizontal - WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections VideosCoffee and CigarettesGame AnalysisThe Numbers GameCigar ThoughtsFiled under:Latest NewsSeahawks injury updates: Ben Burr-Kirven recovering from sports hernia surgeryNew,9commentsPDTShareTweetShareShareSeahawks injury updates: Ben Burr-Kirven recovering from sports hernia surgeryPhoto by William Mancebo/Getty ImagesMandatory minicamp got underway for the Seattle Seahawks on Tuesday, and head coach Pete Carroll provided some updates on a few players who were not there for health reasons.Fifth-round rookie linebacker Ben Burr-Kirven only did walkthroughts due to sports hernia surgery that he underwent six weeks ago. Carroll added that he’s currently working on his conditioning. Also out were second-round safety Marquise Blair and sixth-round running back Travis Homer, both of whom have been dealing with hamstring strains. Seattle’s safety pairing in Blair’s absence was Tedric Thompson (FS) and Shalom Luani (SS).As for the non-rookies, left guard Mike Iupati wasn’t in action because of a turned foot, so he was given a rest. Wide receiver Amara Darboh, who reportedly does exist and is on the Seahawks roster, is still battling a sore knee and they’re just looking to make sure he’s healthy in time for training camp. On the topic of sports hernias, defensive tackle Jarran Reed underwent surgery for that earlier this year, and he was back in action as a full participant. It’s his first practice since Seattle’s playoff loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Two notable Seahawks on the mend are TE Will Dissly and DE Ezekiel Ansah. Dissly had a catastrophic patellar tendon tear that was reminiscent of what happened to Jimmy Graham. Carroll’s latest update on Dissly’s progress isn’t really a major one https://www.theseahawksfanshop.com/hats , but a man sure can dream that Will would be available to play come Week 1. “He’s on schedule,” Carroll said (via Seahawks.com). “We’ll get to camp and figure out what it means in camp. He’s running, catching balls and doing stuff in the workouts and all that, so he’s making good progress. We think there’s no reason for him not to be on schedule when we get back to camp, which would mean we’d not rush him, so we’ll take a few weeks in camp before we would think to cut him loose.”As for Ansah, who reportedly could miss the start of this season due to a shoulder injury, it’s a lot more wait-and-see.“We’re going to wait, these six weeks coming up will be crucial,” Carroll said. “We have a really specific plan set up for him. He has a little traveling he has to do to go home (to Ghana), but other than that he’ll be working with our guys throughout. Then we’ll just see when camp comes, we’ll take the camp to get it done though I’m sure. I don’t think we’ll rush him. There won’t be a need to start him up right out of the chutes, and we’ll see how he goes in the weeks to follow.”