Field Gulls
Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald gave a slew of updates on Wednesday, involving injured players and less-injured players. But an announcement of a different sort squeaked through, further complicating the news regarding Riq Woolen.
After two games filling in, Derion Kendrick is in the mix for an intriguing roster shake-up.
Just days after a report “leaked” about teams expressing interest in trading for Riq Woolen, Brian Nemhauser asked straight up if the above positional shift might be an option.
That shift would be Derion Kendrick – with two interceptions in two starts, and many more pass breakups besides – could outright become the slot corner. Now let’s be very clear: the question was phrased if Kendrick could “compete” for nickel, which is why Macdonald said the “short” answer is yes. That’s because Kendrick is not competing with Devon Witherspoon.
But Witherspoon is a monster many places, and has been an effective outside cornerback before.
Additionally, Macdonald’s defense uses false pressure packages, blitzes cornerbacks, and rotates traditional positions so often, it’s why guys like Spoon and Nick Emmanwori are high on his priority list.
No, the competition is really between Josh Jobe and Riq Woolen for the second outside corner position. Or, more accurately, the “competition” (which is a bit of forecasting guesswork right now) is if the combination of Kendrick, Witherspoon, Emmanwori, and Jobe is better than Woolen, Witherspoon, Emmanwori, and Jobe.
It’s not a 1-to-1 trade out, it’s a full shift-to-your-left rotation that would bump Woolen down the depth chart.
Hence the reports. As noted by most of the Seattle beat, probably put out by the team itself to gauge interest, as they have seen this coming.
Here’s where this gets tricky. Half those guys have spent significant time on the injury report already this year. For the record, I am not in favor of trading Woolen due to NFL injury attrition reasons. Take a half a second to look around the league this year; the Seahawks are one of the healthier teams at the moment. Do not mess with that. Also, do not take depth for granted. If Woolen were to become ‘depth’ after this week, that is an incredible place to be as a secondary.
It’s just that, with a guy who is particularly like Riq Woolen, where focus and attention to detail are not innate, sitting on the bench probably doesn’t help.
Still. Mike Macdonald remains one of the foremost head coaches in today’s NFL that will actually tinker with snaps and starting rosters in significant ways midseason. If he says yes, this is happening. Expect some new looks on Sunday.
