2017 NFL Draft Seahawks: Seattle Takes Tedric Thompson

With their only pick in the fourth round (so far) of the NFL draft Seattle takes another safety

Thompson is a ball hawk. He had seven interceptions and 16 passes broken up in 2016. Thompson is a lot like Washington’s Budda Baker. He was well coached in college and should be a candidate for immediate playing time. Even if a lot of that time is spent on special teams early in his career.

The issues with Thompson would be that he is not overly fast and lacks elite athleticism. Thompson also has had a history of injury concerns. That said, he has a nose for the ball and we all know how the Seahawks absolutely love that in a player. In fact, one issue with the backups in Seattle last year is that they waited for the play to develop. That hesitation caused passes to be completed over the deep middle that normally would not. Earl Thomas makes a big difference, obviously, and is irreplaceable. Whoever takes Thomas’s place when he is injured needs to be more fearless than Steven Terrell, for instance, was in 2016.

Thompson will not have any fear. He will come up in an attempt to make a play. If Thompson smells the ball in his direction, he feels it is his right to own the ball. Thompson is not a hitter like fellow draftee Delano Hill, though. He is more Thomas than Kam Chancellor.

This is a good thing, though, for Seattle. They now have fairly comparable players to Thomas and Chancellor as newly drafted backups. Seattle needs new energy and talent. With Thompson and Hill, they have that.