Seattle Seahawks: Neiko Thorpe re-signing offers crucial special teams help

The Seattle Seahawks recently re-signed unrestricted free agent cornerback Neiko Thorpe, securing a crucial special teams player.

Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times recently reported that the Seattle Seahawks have re-signed Neiko Thorpe. Details regarding Thorpe’s new contract have yet to be released, but this is a subtle yet significant signing for the Seahawks.

Thorpe, a former four-year player at Auburn, went undrafted in 2012. He joined the Seahawks in 2016 and has been with the team since. While Thorpe is a defensive back, he hardly sees any playing time on the defense and his contributions mostly come on special teams, where he was a co-captain in 2018.

Although the 29-year old visited with the Buffalo Bills, something about Seattle enticed him to re-sign.

In 2018, Thorpe finished the season with seven combined tackles, most coming on special teams, and a fumble recovery, also on special teams. The gunner also played an important role in chasing down Michael Dickson‘s punts and helped the rookie reach Pro Bowl status. Winning the field position battle can be huge in close games, which is why this signing has value for Seattle.

Thorpe doesn’t take a lot of snaps at corner and there’s no reason to anticipate that changing in 2019, but Seattle must feel a little bit safer having him and Akeem King back after Justin Coleman left in free agency.

The Seahawks still need to look for a star cornerback in the next one or two seasons though, as that’s what made the team so great a few years ago. It seems unlikely they’ll go for one in the draft this year considering other needs are more pressing, but Seattle should not be complacent at the cornerback position.

The move to re-sign Thorpe was announced the day after Seahawks free agent safety Maurice Alexander signed with the Bills. Alexander was the seventh Seahawk to leave the team in free agency, joining Coleman, Earl Thomas, Mike Davis and others.

Seattle has done a fairly good job at re-signing key free agents and finding some solid replacements for players who chose to leave, but their offseason will still be defined by the draft in April.