12th Man Mailbag

I get a lot of questions from fellow members of the 12th man. Mostly these are on twitter, and I answer them there, but sometimes I wish I had more than 140 characters to answer them. I also occasionally get a few that come in via email, and no one ever gets to see those.

Well, there’s an obvious solution to this problem, and that to answer these questions here on the website. I’m going to be answering questions like this about once a week for the foreseeable future. I

How are our young linebackers looking? -Ricefield via comments

Bobby Wagner looks solid, and will be the starter at MLB this year. Don’t expect him to play the position flawlessly though. He’s still raw, but learning quickly. Remember that even KJ Wright didn’t become a starter until week 3 last year, and he really didn’t progress from “capable” to “genuinely good” until about week 8. Wagner will require patience.

Korey Toomer has been a big disappointment so far. There’s no chance of him starting, and might only make the team because he’s athletic enough to be a standout special teams player. Hopefully he can turn his athleticism into potential production at some point, but it wont be early this season.

Who’s the nickel back this year? – Jason via email

Good question, and not as easy to answer as you might think. The Seahawks have 2 separate nickel defensive backfield looks. one with a safety, and another with a corner. The safety nickel will be Winston Guy, and I expect this to be the look that we see the most this year in terms of the nickel, probably 25-30% of the total defensive snaps.

The 3rd CB isn’t as easy to call. Marcus Trufant was probably the favorite before camp, but he hasn’t looked at good as you’d expect. Still, he’s an excellent tackler, and the only CB on the team that can play zone coverage competently. Tru has also gotten some work as the safety nickel back, so there’s some versatility there.

Roy Lewis is probably the fan favorite to win the job, but he had it last season and really struggled. He’s looked pretty good, but not great, in camp. He has to show that he’s improved significantly from last season to show he’s worthy of the job. He’s also healthy this season, and wasn’t last year, so there’s definitely hope, and that’s why he’s my favorite to win the job.

Walter Thurmond would be the ideal choice if he was healthy, but he not, and he wont be until at least week 6.

Can TO and Edwards both make the final roster? – Andrew via email

Sure they can, but I don’t think they do at this point. Rice, Baldwin and Tate all seem like locks. That means there’s just 3 more spots, and 10 people vying for it. If you keep both Edwards and TO, neither of whom will play special teams, then you’re limiting your roster to just 1 WR who will play special teams, and the same 1 spot on the roster for a young developmental player.

So while, yes, I do think it’s possible, I don’t believe that both TO and Edwards make the final roster.

If you have a question for next week’s mailbag, send it to 12thmanrising.fansided@gmail.com