Seahawks should take Deionte Thompson to replace Earl Thomas

The Seahawks need a replacement for Earl Thomas. Drafting Deionte Thompson might just be the answer.

Earl Thomas is no longer a member of the Seahawks. The great safety left as a free agent and signed with the Ravens. Seattle needs to find a long-term replacement for him. In 2018, Tedric Thompson and Delano Hill did not prove to be worthy answers to who starts at free safety in Seattle.

One replacement for Thomas could be University of Alabama safety Deionte Thompson. Thompson has the same type of skill set that Thomas provides. Both players are fast and have a knack for getting the ball. As a junior last season, Thompson forced three fumbles and had two interceptions. His lack of interceptions doesn’t mean that Thompson can’t get more; It means opponents were afraid to throw deep against Thompson. Sound familiar?

I am not saying that Thompson is ready to replace Thomas week one. Even Thomas needed some seasoning before he became a future Hall of Fame player. But Thompson has nearly the same kind of speed that Thomas does and that helps him cover the entire field. Speed, of course, covers up all kinds of weaknesses like inexperience.

Thompson does need to tackle better, though. This is one area where Thomas is glaringly better than Thompson. Thomas is smaller than Thompson but Thomas is also a bigger hitter. He once broke Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski‘s rib on a tackle.

When the Legion of Boom was truly great, they not only took away passing routes they also put fear in opposing receivers crossing from sideline to sideline. Not one of the current members of the Seattle secondary appear to hit with the same kind of force that Kam Chancellor and company did. Richard Sherman was and is an excellent tackler as well.

Maybe Thompson won’t fix everything. He might never be an intimidator. But he has the speed to make the field smaller for an opposing quarterback. Seattle got beat more deep last year than in previous seasons without Thomas. Drafting Thompson to replace Thomas may be the most logical answer.