Seahawks 25 best players, #18 Alex Collins
By Dan Viens
The Seattle Seahawks roster is generally regarded as one of the best in the NFL top to bottom, but what about the talent level within the roster? Our co-editor Dan Viens takes a shot at ranking the team’s Top 25 players in order.
(PART 7 OF 25 IN A SERIES)
NFL Network does their Top 100 NFL players list every year, and this off season we’ve seen our share of analysts taking a crack at ranking the best rosters in the league. As we enter into the dog days of the off season, with the start of training camp still over a month away, I wanted to see what it would look like if I tried to rank the best 25 players the Seahawks have.
It was harder than I thought.
The top 10 was pretty easy. I would suspect most would end up with the same 10-12 names in some order or another. After that it gets dicey.
Among the challenges, how do you figure in the rookies and players who have never played a down in Seattle?
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My criteria was wide-ranging. Sometimes I went with pure talent, and other times I gave more weight to the players importance to the team. And in certain cases the players role…….played a role in my ranking. When in doubt, however, I would just ask myself “who’s the better player?”
So here we go……
The 18th Best Player On The Seahawks Roster Is….
#18: Alex Collins, RB
Fellow rookie RB C.J. Prosise (#24 on our list) is getting more attention, but Collins may end up having the bigger impact, especially early in his first season.
With incumbent Thomas Rawls still sidelined as he recovers from his broken ankle, it was Collins who took most of the first-team reps for the Seahawks during OTA’s, showing off the overall package of skills that allowed him to top 1,000 yards rushing all three years he was at Arkansas.
Collins has the size, footwork, and breakaway speed to be an every-down back in the NFL. He had some ball security issues for the Razorbacks, but improved in that department every year. His ability to stutter-step and change direction while running at full speed makes tackling him a nightmare. And, while he’s no Marshawn Lynch even with the dreadlocks, he’ll put his shoulder down and run over you if need be also.
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If Rawls isn’t 100% by the season opener, Collins will likely be the starter. Prosise, for all his talents, is ticketed for a more specialized third down role. Collins is so good that Christine Michael will have a hard time making this roster…….again. And a Rawls, Collins, Prosise three-headed RB monster is going to be an exciting one to watch the next couple seasons.