The Seahawks defense has done a total 180 since the start of the season. During the first month of games, Seattle arguably had the worst unit in the NFL and was on pace to be the worst of all time in terms of yardage allowed. However, over the last four/five games, the unit has developed into one of the league’s best. Their run defense and coverage in particular have improved by leaps and bounds.
One area that this group is still struggling with is defending screen passes. The Packers were able to gain 123 total yards on just six of them with their running backs last week and they’re not the first or the second team that’s had a lot of success with screens against the Seahawks.
Second-year linebacker Jordyn Brooks has been an integral part of the turnaround but he’s been mentioned by head coach Pete Carroll as needing to do better in this department. Today, Brooks told reporters he may hit up his former teammate K.J. Wright for advice on how to defend them.
Jordyn Brooks on issues defending screen passes, says he may call K.J. Wright this week for advice. "K.J.'s The Screen Master. I'm trying to get there."
Says he may go watch film of how Wright defended screens when he was with #Seahawks.
(Can you tell they miss K.J. Wright?)
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) November 17, 2021
Wright somehow only made one Pro Bowl during his decade-long run in Seattle. However, he played at a high level the entire time. Perhaps the thing he did best was recognizing screen passes from the snap and snuffing them out behind the line of scrimmage.
As Bobby Wagner told the media during his conversation, for a long time even attempting a screen against Seattle was not smart.
Bobby Wagner talking about #Seahawks defense vs screen passes with K.J. Wright vs now without him:
"Any team that tried to run a screen on K.J., not smart."
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) November 17, 2021
File this one under preventable disasters. Wright was a free agent for most of this offseason after Seattle elected not to re-sign him. Eventually, he signed with the Raiders on a one-year, $3,255,000 deal.
It’s understandable that coach Carroll prefers to develop Brooks at this point in their respective careers. However, for the price it’s tough to argue that they couldn’t have used Wright in some fashion this year.
Meanwhile, Wright hasn’t gotten a ton of playing time in Vegas. He’s only played 50 defensive snaps for the Raiders over the last three games.
