Seattle Seahawks vs. St. Louis Rams: 3 things to Watch for in Week 1
By Paul Frances
Aug 29, 2015; San Diego, CA, USA; Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman (25) and free safety Dion Bailey (37) gesture before the game against the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
Seattle has arguably the league’s best secondary in “The Legion Of Boom”, but it has a different look this season. With Kam Chancellor’s offseason holdout spilling over into the regular season and the departure of former starting cornerback’s Byron Maxwell and nickel corner Walter Thurmond.
The Seahawks have brought in corner’s Cary Williams, Tye Smith (Rookie) and Mohammed Seisay (Injured reserve) and safety Kelcie McCray this offseason.
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Cary Williams has been named as the starting right corner and it looks as if third year corner Tharold Simon will be the new nickel.
With no resolution in Kam Chancellor’s contract dispute the Seahawks have turned to Dion Bailey, a second year safety out of the University of California who impressed in preseason. Bailey will have big shoes to fill but I’m sure that the rest of the L.O.B will step up to help out.
The biggest issue for the Seahawks secondary is the readiness of returning safety Earl Thomas. Thomas has been injured since he separated his shoulder and tore his labrum during the Seahawks’ win in the NFC Championship Game.
He underwent surgery at the end of February 2015 and it was feared that he would miss the first three or four games of the regular season.
It was announced this week that Thomas will start in Week 1 against the Rams. This great news for the Seahawks as he is the leader of their secondary and his presence will be invaluable for the new guys.
The main concern for the Seahawks is that he doesn’t re-injure himself, but even if Thomas isn’t 100% fit he will still be as good as a lot of starting safeties in the NFL. This is my “Must Watch” for this week.
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