Three Seattle Seahawks rookies who could make an instant impact

Rookie impact player No. 3 - Defensive Back Nehemiah Pritchett

The Seahawks' kick and punt returning duties had been handled by DeeJay Dallas for the past three seasons. With Dallas leaving Seattle in free agency to join the Arizona Cardinals, the Seahawks will need to find a new kick return man this year. The Seahawks have been needing to find a return man who can provide them a spark for a long time now. In his time as the Seahawks' returner, DeeJay Dallas had an average punt return of just 9.4 yards and a kick return average of 23.8 yards.

Hopefully, with an open competition for kick and punt returners this summer, the Seahawks will find a better return man going forward. Nehemiah Pritchett who Seattle selected with the 136th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, has potential as a kick returner. After running a 4.36 40-yard dash time at this year's NFL Combine, Pritchett showed how fast he can be. His 40-yard dash time finished in the top 10 among all NFL draft prospects at the combine in 2024.

Nehemiah Pritchett has had experience returning kicks in college, as he was Auburn's kick return man throughout his time with the Tigers. Pritchett was the Tigers' primary kick returner during his junior year at Auburn. With an average kick return of 31.3 yards per return during the 2021 season.

The Seahawks are likely going to have an interesting competition which could also include players such as Kenneth Walker III, DK Metcalf, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. However, picking a depth player in Nehemiah Pritchett to return kicks would make more sense, because Seattle likely will not want to put those starters in harm's way.

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