Seahawks need Bradley McDougald to be a leader in 2018

The Seahawks could conceivably be without Earl Thomas. And probably Kam Chancellor. 2018 needs to be the year Bradley McDougald is great.

Seahawks fans, are you ready for no Earl Thomas and no Kam Chancellor? You might want to be. And to be honest, I am a fan too, of course, and I want both Thomas and Chancellor back. Just imagine. A secondary with Thomas, Chancellor, Bradley McDougald, Shaquill Griffin and Justin Coleman, among others? That is LOB quality, right?

But the reality is that Seattle may only have three of those guys playing. Thomas could holdout. Chancellor could never come back from injury. Those two are as much possibilities and Thomas and/or Chancellor playing in 2018.

And McDougald might just be a huge benefit. Not only is he a good player; He is also appreciative of the chance to play in Seattle. McDougald understood, as the Seahawks told him after the 2017 season, that he would be a high priority for the team to re-sign. John Schneider and company backed that up by making McDougald an offer earlier and, well…re-signing him.

With Thomas holding out, McDougald has been the first-team free safety in mandatory OTAs. Delano Hill has been playing the strong safety spot. This not only means Hill is getting experience with the first-team, it also means that McDougald is teaching him the job.

Carroll’s thoughts

After practice on Wednesday, Pete Carroll said about McDougald

"Bradley has really taken the lead, and just as he did last year when he played, he just picked right up and came in. He has started a lot of football games in the league, he’s got a lot of background and it shows. He’s very confident and he’s a good communicator and he helps people, just like our guys need to, so he has just embraced that from the first day. So that’s not a problem at all."

And there are some important words there. “He is a good communicator.” McDougald “helps people, just like our guys need to…” Read between the lines and Carroll is giving McDougald praise and also saying he is putting team-first. Thomas isn’t doing that right now.

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McDougald was very good last season after Chancellor went down. Thankfully, McDougald has the skill-set and talent to play both safety positions. He may not be as good as Chancellor or Thomas, but he is certainly good enough to be a starter. More importantly, he is becoming a leader and someone the team can trust. That may be more important now than even how well he plays.