These five Seahawks are primed for great seasons

Bradley McDougald is the pick for number four

Wait a minute. Bradley “won’t-even-be-a-starting-safety” McDougald? That guy?

Yes, that guy. McDougald will be extremely valuable in the secondary as a backup to the starters, but also as the key piece to a big nickel package. Here, just read what Pete Carroll had to say on the subject.

"“There are ways for us to play a bigger nickel group, and we’re wide open to that flexibility and with Earl and with Kam,” Carroll said in March. “We played over 800 snaps of nickel last year, the most we’ve ever played by far, and there’s different opportunities in early-down situations to vary your groups, which we’ve done sometimes in the past already. We’re open to the competition of it and what the players bring. If they can bring something, hopefully we’ll identify it and we’ll figure out how to tweak things so we can do that. There’s a lot of opportunity for us.”"

Speaking specifically about McDougald, Carroll also said:

"“He’s a good football player. Played really aggressive and tough, was excited about coming here to help us out. Shoot, I think he’s a great guy to add. He has the kind of mentality in guys we are looking for. Has a chip on his shoulder, wants to prove it, he has always had to do that—make his own way. So he’s coming in here to battle with us. It’s a great addition. He has been good enough in the past to move guys around on their own team. There’s a chance we can be creative with some stuff and we’ll look forward to figuring that out.”"

McDougald had 87 and 91 tackles playing both safety positions during his last two seasons with Tampa Bay. Now imagine an offense facing Chancellor, Thomas, Sherman and – well, we’ll get to that last spot soon enough – and having McDougald there as well. Let’s not forget, Chancellor hasn’t played in all 16 games since 2013, and Thomas of course missed time last year.

Is McDougald as good as those two? No, but he isn’t that far off. And as a supporting member of the Legion, he’ll have a huge impact. The Seahawks know all too well the impact he can have on a a game. Just check your memory bank for the Thanksgiving weekend debacle in Tampa. I for one am glad to see McDougald on our side.