Seahawks make no-brainer move with Shaquill Griffin
By Lee Vowell
The Seahawks appear to have moved Shaquill Griffin to left cornerback. This means Griffin will take the place of Richard Sherman in the structure of the secondary. This move should be no surprise. But what does it mean for the over defense?
Shaquill Griffin? It is now your LOB. The Seahawks have seemingly moved Griffin to left corner. In OTAs this week, Griffin has been playing the position that Richard Sherman used to play when he shut down receivers. Griffin was good in his rookie year, but now he will need to be great.
Sherman, of course, was a great corner for Seattle for years. He may have fallen off just a bit in 2017, but not by much. According to Pro Football Focus, Sherman had the lowest grade of his career last season with a grade of 82.7, just points worse than the year before. But prior to that his lowest year was 2016. In fact, Sherman has been digressing since 2014.
Griffin’s grade, though, was just 77.2. Sherman has never graded so low. But Griffin showed enough potential once given the starting chance that Seattle feels comfortable that he is the new Sherman. And actually, the Seahawks were getting more comfortable as last season went on with Griffin, allowing him to do corner blitzes and change up coverage.
Griffin ended up starting 11 games in his rookie season.
But Griffin stayed on the right side of the field even after Sherman’s season-ending week 10 injury. In Sherman’s place, Seattle re-signed Byron Maxwell. Maxwell graded at 84.0, so even better than Sherman. At least, he graded better in 2017.
Maxwell will stay in Seattle for 2018 too. But he will move to the right side. In Maxwell’s previous stint with the Seahawks (2011-14), he played the right only while Sherman always played left. So Maxwell will not be unfamiliar with what Seattle wants to do in his return to right corner. Having Maxwell on the right and Justin Coleman in the slot should only help to make the Griffin move even smoother.
Some of the receivers Griffin may be tasked with covering in 2018 are Keenan Allen, Brandin Cooks, Tyreek Hill and Larry Fitzgerald. That is a tough list but not the worst I could come up with. Griffin should be able to handle that group.
Related Story: Ranking Seahawks rookies in order of making team...
If he cannot, Seattle will be facing a long year.