Get ready for the Seahawks’ ‘Quill Griffin experience

The Seattle Seahawks would not start a rookie at cornerback early in the season. The Seahawks system is too hard to learn. But Shaquill Griffin is going to change that.

First of all, the name. Mr. Griffin from the University of Central Florida, drafted in the third round by Seattle, prefers to be called ‘Quill Griffin, according to many. The ‘Quill part is pronounced like “kill.” This is a pretty awesome name for someone who is part of the Seahawks’ Legion of Boom. For instance, “The Legion of Boom’s new ‘Quill is powerful.” Something like that.

Secondly, one of the guys in the featured photo of this article, Pete Carroll, knows a thing or two about coaching defensive backs. In fact, one could argue he is the best DB coach in football. If Carroll is “excited” about Griffin, then even the ever-optimistic coach is giving 12s a genuine reason to be, too. Carroll feels that the Seahawks have never had a cornerback with Griffin’s size and speed. Maybe this is hyperbole. Maybe it is not.

Thirdly, Griffin is the highest-picked cornerback that Carroll and John Schneider have taken in their time in Seattle. This could be that there were a bunch of potentially very good defensive backs in this year’s draft, which there were. Or that the Seahawks believe in Griffin’s singular ability. He fits their mold of corner.

Wait, there’s more…

Fourthly, Griffin has been really good in training camp so far. Carroll said, “…right now it is all about technique. And he has no problem with it. But he will get a lot better.” The Seahawks will play Griffin a lot in preseason games. If he does well in those games, it would be difficult to keep Griffin from playing a lot in the regular season.

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Fifthly (not sure that’s a word, but there we are…), Griffin will still be brought along a bit slowly. Jeremy Lane will probably still start out wide in a base set of two corners. But how many times do the Seahawks or any team really play with only four DBs at this point. In the Seahawks case, only 30 percent of the time does this happen. Seattle goes with three corners the majority of the time. This means if Griffin does well enough, he will be in on 70 percent of snaps. At least. Griffin seems to have supplanted DeAndre Elliott at this point. Neiko Thorpe is not in question really. DeShawn Shead is out for a while. Griffin is the guy. At this point anyway. In Monday’s scrimmage, Griffin was very good.

Plus, let’s be honest. Griffin is a charismatic guy. He is good at what he does. Seahawks fans want this guy to succeed in Seattle for a long time. We want him to be Richard Sherman four years after Sherman is no longer in Seattle. Griffin is hope for the future. But he is still ‘Quill-ing right now.