Seattle Seahawks: Predicting team leaders in statistics for 2019
By Samuel Teets
Interceptions
Earl Thomas tied with McDougald for Seattle’s team lead in interceptions last season. The now Ravens safety played in just four games. Needless to say, the Seahawks secondary is a toss-up when it comes to creating turnovers because they don’t produce many.
Besides McDougald and Thomas, the only other Seahawk who finished with multiple interceptions was cornerback Shaquill Griffin. With so many players clustered so close together, and a few new faces entering the fray, this is probably the hardest category to pick.
Seattle started McDougald at strong safety last season where he served as the enforcer and energizer in the secondary. Tedric Thompson, a second-year former fourth-round selection, started at free safety while Griffin and rookie converted safety, Tre Flowers, started as cornerbacks.
Justin Coleman, who departed in free agency, also saw some starts but was primarily a slot corner. The Seahawks drafted hard-hitting safety Marquise Blair in the second round and versatile defensive back Ugo Amadi in the fourth round. Amadi can play in the slot but he’s also taking snaps at safety in Seattle’s rookie minicamp.
The selections of Blair and Amadi undoubtedly raised red flags for both McDougald, who will likely start opening day, and Thompson, whose position seems to be on the line. That being said, it’s kind of hard to predict statistical outcomes when you don’t know who’ll actually be starting. For that reason, I believe Griffin will lead the team in interceptions.
The third-year corner has improved gradually since entering the league, and, even though he recorded both of his 2018 interceptions in the same game, I expect he’ll make a statistical jump as a junior in the NFL. Besides, as 2018 showed, he might only need three interceptions to lead the team.
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While 2019 will be an interesting and fun season for Seahawks fans, it will also be a precarious one. Pete Carroll is a great coach, but that doesn’t change the facts that this team has gone through tremendous turnover and is loaded with young, inexperienced players. 2019 will be just as much of a test as last year was and it will be just as important, if not more so.