3 Seahawks 2022 draft picks with best chance of being Rookie of the Year
By Lee Vowell
The Seattle Seahawks 2022 draft class seems like a good one. Three players actually might have a good chance at being the NFL Rookie of the Year.
Maybe I should rephrase that last sentence and change it to Rookies of the Year. See, the Associated Press actually gives out an award to both a rookie offensive and a rookie defensive player. While Pepsi (yes, the soda company), gives out a more general Rookie of the Year award.
If you are a defensive player, good luck winning the Pepsi award. Since the company started sponsoring the award in 2021, only two defensive players have won. This makes the Associated Press awards a bit more palatable.
The good thing for Seahawks fans is that we can watch a bunch of rookies play all over the field in 2022 and a bunch of them could have immediate impacts. The three players that follow have legitimate chances to be Rookie of the Year winners. (And I am not even including first-round pick Charles Cross. Cross might be great, but an offensive lineman has never won the Pepsi award or the Associated Press one.)
Three Seahawks that could be Rookie of the Year award winners in 2022
Seahawks cornerback Coby Bryant
Bryant does something or at least is capable of doing something, that will earn him some attention. That is, he can take the ball away from opposing offenses. In college, Bryant had 9 interceptions and forced 4 fumbles. While a player might be great, unless that do something a fan can watch over and over on a highlight video, that great player might not be noticed.
This is probably one reason that an offensive lineman has never won a Rookie of the Year award. Most times, if someone noticed an offensive lineman it’s because they have done something bad. But Bryant plays a position that is more flashy simply because there is a lot more one-on-one work.
Bryant has played really well in training camp and he has a very good chance to be a starter for Seattle in Week 1. He will make mistakes this year because all rookies do, but he also might just cement his status as a lockdown corner for the Seahawks for the next six seasons or more.