NFL.com has wrong Seahawks cornerback picked to be great

Gil Brandt of NFL.com wrote a list of cornerbacks who could break out in 2019. But he picked the wrong one for the Seahawks and that is good.

This is the time of the year where people who write about the NFL like to make lists. I am guilty of it myself when I rank running backs, quarterbacks, free agents and so on. To be honest, there isn’t a lot to write about the Seahawks between minicamp and training camp. If there is something newsworthy to discuss, that news item is usually not a good one.

Gil Brandt of NFL.com, who knows a lot more about football than I ever will, wrote a piece this week giving a list of nine cornerbacks he thinks will “break out” this season. On the list, fortunately, is one Seahawk: Shaquill Griffin. It is fantastic that Brandt lists a Seattle player on his list, I just think he has the wrong one.

Griffin listed his season last year as “average.” It was actually well below average. Griffin was graded next to last among cornerbacks in 2018, according to Pro Football Focus. Seattle took Griffin because they thought he could be a number one corner, and maybe he will be, but I am beginning to doubt it. But I do not doubt that Tre Flowers has the size and ability to become a number one corner with the Seahawks and could do it as early as 2019.

Flowers made the transition from college safety to NFL corner in his rookie year. He has some moments early in the season when he played tentatively. Of course, he should. He was a rookie who never played cornerback and was learning how to do it as the season wore on. But Flowers did learn quickly and by the end of the season, quarterbacks stopped throwing his way nearly as much.

Maybe Flowers didn’t have any interceptions in his rookie season, but it is a safe prediction that this will change in his second year. Plus, Flowers is a beast of a tackler and the closest cornerback on the Seattle roster to Richard Sherman in this area.

It also wouldn’t be surprising to see Flowers eclipse Griffin as a coverage corner in 2019. Flowers might need to transition to left cornerback in 2020. This is not meant to disrespect Griffin, but Flowers could be the real break out corner for the Seahawks.