Seahawks defensive scheme continues to evolve

As the NFL adapts to the Seattle Seahawks’ defensive scheme, the Seahawks continue to evolve to try and keep opposing offenses off balance.

The Seattle Seahawks are tweaking their defensive scheme for the 2016 season. It won’t be a massive change, but the rest of the league is forcing Seattle’s coaches to evolve.

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Richard Sherman’s interceptions were way down last season. He had just 2 after averaging 7 per season the three previous seasons. Mostly, this was because opposing teams finally figured out that they needed to stop throwing deep to Sherman’s side of the field.

Instead, teams have figured out that they can dink and dunk the Seahawks to death by working the middle of the field. Tight ends have specifically been a major issue for Seattle’s defense.

So now the Seahawks are going to evolve. They’re going to continue to play cover1 and cover3 mostly, but we’re going to see more wrinkles, more variations, and more creativity.

This will start with the inclusion of Brandon Browner. Browner is a former CB, but his current role defies a position designation. He’s going to be part-CB, part-LB, and part-safety. His entire purpose on the roster is going to help the team solve its TE problem.

This isn’t the first time that Pete Carroll and his assistants have made significant changes to their defensive scheme. When they first arrived in 2010, they implemented the Leo/Elephant line with Chris Clemons and Red Bryant as the defensive ends.

Opponents adapted, and so the Seahawks defensive front had to evolve. Clemons and Bryant were replaced with Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett, and Seattle’s defense became more balanced.

Now the team must adapt again, this time in the secondary. Luckily, they have the right guys in charge to make the necessary adjustments. Pete Carroll has been a brilliant strategist since coming back to the NFL, and Kris Richard, a former NFL CB and DB-coach, knows how to get the most out of his players.

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Richard acknowledged that it was time for the Seahawks make some changes. “We are recognizing how teams were putting their packages together for us. Teams have come in and changed things up for us.”

This is still an extremely talented group of players. It is still a very good coaching staff. I have no doubt that the scheme evolution will lead to positive results.