Gesichtspflege » Earl Thomas is done in Seattle. I know

Mychal Kendricks Jersey , that’s still a very painful sentence to read and it was tough writing it too; but the truth really does hurt. The front office tried to trade him for a 2nd round pick last offseason. Thomas has missed time in each of the last three seasons through injury. The relationship is seemingly broken beyond repair. Without Thomas, Pete Carroll got creative last year with his scheme, playing more two-high coverage and disguising things better. Ultimately, the Seahawks’ safety group became more interchangeable and versatile, defying the prototypes of the “strong” and “free” monikers. The coverage schemes were in some ways more passive. For Seattle’s defense to be at its most dominant, having a true center fielder to cover the deep middle third of cover 3 is preferable. Thomas’ prescient range is generational and at a Hall of Fame. What if John Schneider tried to give Carroll more range back there? What if he wanted to upgrade the hesitancy and bad tackling of Tedric Thompson? What if he wanted to add more team speed on the back end?In each draft, there are a small amount of safeties that meet the “rangy enough for NFL single-high” requirement. Last year, for instance, Derwin James, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Jessie Bates flashed it. In their rookie seasons, only James showed the sideline-to-sideline, arm-beating talent. The draft before, Malik Hooker hinted at that too.2019’s safety class is particularly weak, and there are only two prospects whose tape shows sideline to sideline potential in the pros. Deionte Thompson and Nasir Adderley are the two players we’ll be looking at this week in “Draft on tape.”Deionte ThompsonDeionte Thompson was the consensus first safety off the board coming into the season. Draftniks had him firmly in their top 10. But two blown coverages in the college football playoff against Oklahoma and Clemson saw his stock fall. Personally, I feel placing the blame solely on Thompson’s shoulders for those mix-ups is foolish.Alabama’s coverage was strangely “bad” all year, with persistent blown assignments and missed communications. The way Thompson played both assignments told me that he was playing what he thought was right, rather than being blind to an obvious key or failing to execute the right technique.His play throughout the season confirmed this, given he often did his job to the regimented degree that you expect from a Nick Saban-coached, starting safety. He played with a clear understanding of the Crimson Tide’s scheme. Smaller space rangeFrom a Seattle Seahawks perspective, for them to take a safety high Steve Largent Color Rush Jersey , they must put fantastic range on tape. Thompson flashed impressive range in the tighter areas of the field. From hashmark to hashmark against slower vertical crossers, he could run with them and undercut them. He picked up vertical seams. He got over the top of deep sideline routes from two-high. Stuff in Thompson’s immediate vicinity would be blanketed by the 21-year-old (22 in February) and swatted incomplete. (Deionte*, my apologies)Man coverage and matchingThompson’s ability to cover in tighter spaces extended to man coverage, where Saban’s matching placed him in man-to-man assignments. He could get over the top of routes playing in two-high, but also rotate downwards as a safety. As a down safety, he covered receivers’ routes with impressive physicality, footwork, patience and route recognition.Range limitationsBy this point, you are probably asking why on earth the Seahawks shouldn’t draft Deionte Thompson? Answer: his range isn’t “crazy” or even sideline to sideline, like some analysts have claimed. Sure, Saban’s scheme demands that his middle of the field safety plays primarily from hashmark to hashmark, meaning that seam routes will hold them there and limit the range potential. Yet, even with that limiter factored in, Thompson’s range still disappointed from the plaudits he’d received. He wasn’t helped by limited burst or long speed—I’d be shocked if he ran quicker than the 4.5s. His tape is full of “nearly” plays that he’ll get further away from making in the NFL. Minkah Fitzpatrick managed to make some of these plays. Thompson couldn’t. It wasn’t just from single-high positions; he struggled trying to get to the honey hole in a “palms” assignment too. (Take all of #2 vertically unless #2 goes out in first 5 yards, then take all of #1 vertically). None of this looks like a safety who Seattle would take relatively high. Hit powerThompson is a vicious safety who was always trying to get a hit in on the ballcarrier and punished receivers catching in the weak spots of the defensive coverage. Encouragingly, he led with his shoulder rather than his head when going for the oncoming train impact.Dangerous and ineffective tacklingHowever, his tackling technique needs refinement and is borderline dangerous. He does not maintain a near-hip relationship when approaching the ball-carrier, resulting in overaggressive pursuit angles. He lunges into tackles, resulting in misses and little wrap. He ducks his head into tackles, resulting in an increased risk in paralysis and missed targets. Better angles Patrick Kerney Color Rush Jersey , footwork and form is needed. In summary...not a SeahawkIn summary, Thompson’s flashes don’t outweigh the fact he hasn’t put on tape pure single-high safety traits. He’s a high football IQ player that will make plays, but his best fit is as a two-high safety who can be moved around in the NFL. If Seattle wants to take a shot at a rangy single-high safety, they should aim for the lofty heights of Mount Rainier and look at the raw Nasir Adderley. I covered him in this Draft on tape. The Seattle Seahawks are going back to the playoffs. Will they be satisfied with that fact alone, or are they going to go all-in to try and beat the Arizona Cardinals to secure themselves a better seed? The instinct I often hear from fans is that they never want to see Pete Carroll rest players, but given the injuries facing the team right now I can’t imagine it will be in their best interests to completely ignore the benefits.That being said, a loss could also be detrimental to their chance of winning in round one.As I wrote in the announcement of the Seahawks making the playoffs, Seattle could still drop to the six seed if they lose and the Minnesota Vikings get a win over the Chicago Bears. That’s unlikely given that the Seahawks are heavy favorites over a Cardinals team that is lining up to pick first overall next year and that the Bears are a very good team that knows it could be playing for a first round bye, but it is still possible.And if Seattle loses, the Vikings win, that tells me that they’d be playing the Bears in Chicago rather than the Cowboys in Dallas. The matchup against the Cowboys seems more favorable.Which players might Carroll want to consider sitting?Well, D.J. Fluker was active but didn’t start as the team is still concerned about his injury. He was forced into action after an injury to J.R. Sweezy. Another offensive lineman on the mend is Germain Ifedi, who missed the start and was replaced by George Fant. The team probably wants to sit Fluker and Ifedi to get an extra week of rest. Then we’ll see the status of Sweezy moving forward. The question then becomes: if the team is starting Ethan Pocic and George Fant and other backups, will they want to keep Russell Wilson behind them for long?Doug Baldwin is another question mark. He came up huge vs the Chiefs but he’s been hurt all year. Some more time off for him seems beneficial. A week off for running backs Rashaad Penny and Chris Carson seems like a conclusion that is foregone.On the defensive side of the ball, Bradley McDougald was questionable going into the game. Jarran Reed missed some pratice this week and came out of the game against Kansas City. Frank Clark was also on the injury report, as was K.J. Wright who has missed most of 2018. Tedric Thompson missed the game and it would be surprising to see him come back against the Cardinals given that Carroll seemed a bit cryptic about his injury and he was the first player ruled out.The Seahawks no longer need to beat Arizona to get into the playoffs, but implications still exist. Will they sit some starters, should they, and what starters are the first on your list to get a week off?