A month ago, Nehemiah Pritchett looked like the kind of player who could get squeezed off the Seattle Seahawks’ roster. He had done little in his first two seasons, and this season felt like his last real shot to stick.
Two games into the year, the conversation has flipped. Pritchett has not just hung around - he has forced his way into the picture as one of Seattle’s biggest early surprises, and maybe even a player who can quiet the team’s cornerback search.
The Seahawks brought in Trevon Diggs late in the offseason and also added Terrion Arnold, with Diggs on the practice squad and Arnold on the Commissioner's exempt list. But after another strong showing in a dominant win, the question is obvious: do they still need either one if Pritchett keeps playing like this?
Seattle’s defensive personnel is still taking shape, but some pieces look set if everyone stays healthy. Devon Witherspoon, Ty Okada, Julian Love, Nick Emmanwori, and Josh Jobe are the expected starters, and with rookie Bud Clark out for the season, those jobs should remain stable the rest of the way.
The one spot that had seemed open was CB2, and that uncertainty is where Pritchett has made his move. Jobe will keep starting, but Aden Durde and Mike Macdonald clearly like to mix and match on defense, which means there should still be room for different contributors.
Pritchett’s early numbers are hard to ignore. Through two games, he has allowed just three catches on five targets for 25 yards, an average of 8.3 yards per reception.
Opposing quarterbacks have posted a 33.3 passer rating against him, and he has already collected one interception and one key pass breakup. He also has two run stops, and his tackling has looked much sharper than it did in past seasons.
Pro Football Focus has him as the league’s fourth-best cornerback through two games with a 79.9 grade. That kind of ranking is early and comes with all the usual caveats, but the tape backs up the numbers.
For a Seahawks defense that continues to look like the league’s most suffocating unit, standing out is no easy task. Still, Pritchett has done enough to make the preseason buzz feel real.
Beating out Noah Igbinoghene for a roster spot raised eyebrows at the time. Now it looks a lot easier to defend. He still has a long way to go to secure his future in Seattle, but he’s already given the Seahawks a reason to believe they didn’t need to get involved in Terrion Arnold’s complex situation after all.
They already had their guy.
In Other News...
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Seahawks Just Saw Their Biggest Concern Exposed In First Loss
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Seahawks Already Face A Rashid Shaheed Debate They Did Not Want
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For a Seahawks team trying to sort out its receiver usage, that creates an awkward early-season question. If Shaheeds role stays this small, Seattle may have to reconsider how it deploys its wideouts and whether his usage should be adjusted to get more out of a player the club clearly expected to matter more. [Read more 🡒]