I was talking with my brother recently and we were discussing the Jamal Adams trade and his potential impact. Seattle has previously had three players at the safety position that I consider "special." Kenny Easley, Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor. Now, with Adams, we have a fourth.
Imagine all four in their prime. Which two start?

Ken Easley and Kam Chancellor would be a monster duo...

The Seahawks have been very fortunate with the safety position. They have had quite a bit of really good to great ones. Here are some others -

Lyle Blackwood
Autry Beamon - He had 6 INTs in 1977 season
John Harris
Keith Simpson
Nesby Glasgow
Eugene Robinson
Lawyer Milloy
Robert Blackmon
Darryl Williams

I really felt like Ken Hamlin had a chance to be very special......until that stupid fight downtown

Well, you have 3 strong safeties and one free safety, so Earl Thomas is in by default. Then the choice is who to accompany him.

Kam proved it on the field with Earl, so that's inarguable. We have no examples of the others playing with Thomas, so we can't really know how they would have done.

I think the best pairing if you ignore FS vs SS would be Easley/Adams. They both give you incredible range, hard hits, football savvy, and good hands. In fact, I give Adams the nod over Thomas in that pairing simply because of Earl's stone hands.

Easley played free safety at times. He certainly could hold it down. Easley and Kam would be a seriously dangerous combination. I'm not putting Adams in there yet, though he is very good.

Easily and without even seeing him.. Adams

Earl and Kam.

I'm taking the sure thing. We've seen it, we know how it worked out, and I'm not gonna mess with success - regardless of how great the other two are.

In freelance? Easley - Chancellor, but I believe that Adams has the chance to be a monster, as he too plays smart ,and has the IT factor in coverage...IF he's used right, I think he's going to be another Easley/Chancellor type safety, and I can't wait to see the kid in action.

Maelstrom787 wrote:Earl and Kam.

I'm taking the sure thing. We've seen it, we know how it worked out, and I'm not gonna mess with success - regardless of how great the other two are.

I agree with you. I honestly think Earl Thomas is underrated as a player. Everyone acknowledges that he's great, but I put him in the top five all-time at the position.

Seattle has had a good number of safeties in their history.

I remember Darryl Williams destroying the Raiders..

One of the most lethal hits I’ve ever seen!

And it was amazing!

None like it today!

Grahamhawker wrote:Easley played free safety at times. He certainly could hold it down. Easley and Kam would be a seriously dangerous combination. I'm not putting Adams in there yet, though he is very good.

I voted Easley and Chancellor.

I don’t think any receivers or tight ends wanna see this duo,

Both will lay the wood!

hawkfan68 wrote:Ken Easley and Kam Chancellor would be a monster duo...
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Those two were my picks as well. More than monster-KaBOOM! All I can think of is “ouch”. Can you imagine the pain dealt to opposing teams? Crazy!

Earl & Kam @ Safety.

Place Adams @ Will, and Easley @ Nickle, and play with all 4 of them at the same time.

Ronnie Lott is widely regarded as possibly the greatest safety to ever play the game.

Ronnie Lott considers Kenny Easley the greatest safety of all time.

That's good enough for me.

Maulbert wrote:Ronnie Lott is widely regarded as possibly the greatest safety to ever play the game.

Ronnie Lott considers Kenny Easley the greatest safety of all time.

That's good enough for me.

It was amazing to watch Easley dominate a game -- devestating tackles on the opponents' best RB or WR, a hit and a fumble or an interception at a key time, breaking a KR for a TD -- sometimes in the same game.

A tragedy that injuries forced him to retire,

chet380 wrote:

Maulbert wrote:Ronnie Lott is widely regarded as possibly the greatest safety to ever play the game.

Ronnie Lott considers Kenny Easley the greatest safety of all time.

That's good enough for me.

It was amazing to watch Easley dominate a game -- devestating tackles on the opponents' best RB or WR, a hit and a fumble or an interception at a key time, breaking a KR for a TD -- sometimes in the same game.

A tragedy that injuries forced him to retire,

Easley could play with speed of a CB and hit of a LB, having Kam as the Intimidator and Easley as the Enforcer in one back field would make Tatum and Atkinson look like powder puff girls. The league would outlaw tackling after one season.

I remember the 1983 playoff game vs the Dolphins where Easley sidelined Mark Duper and Mark Clayton on consecutive plays. He was a beast out there.

In 84, Easley had 10 INTs for the season. No DB since then has more than 10. QBs stopped throwing Sherman's way when he had 8 INTs. Easley's territory was the entire field - you couldn't avoid throwing his way.

Easley and Bam Bam for me.
You know a lot on here never saw Easley going by
the vote totals,all I can say is they missed out.

IndyHawk wrote:Easley and Bam Bam for me.
You know a lot on here never saw Easley going by
the vote totals,all I can say is they missed out.

Could you imagine Browner, Sherman, Easley, and Kam with Coleman as the Nickel.

That would be unethical.....

LargentFan wrote:

Maelstrom787 wrote:Earl and Kam.

I'm taking the sure thing. We've seen it, we know how it worked out, and I'm not gonna mess with success - regardless of how great the other two are.

I agree with you. I honestly think Earl Thomas is underrated as a player. Everyone acknowledges that he's great, but I put him in the top five all-time at the position.

Yep. Earl is the perfect free, in my mind. Rangy, gets to the ball in a hurry, and has that "it" factor. He could have been a great corner, too. He's the locked in choice for me.

The real choice, for me, comes in with picking the safety to accompany him. But, why mess with what is one of the best safety tandems to ever do it? No disrespect to Easley, who was otherworldly good... but a bird in hand is worth two in the bush, and there's no reason to try to improve on a close to perfect duo.

That said... boy, I'd love to see a prime Earl and prime Easley tandem work together.

Maelstrom787 wrote:Yep. Earl is the perfect free, in my mind. Rangy, gets to the ball in a hurry, and has that "it" factor. He could have been a great corner, too. He's the locked in choice for me.

The real choice, for me, comes in with picking the safety to accompany him. But, why mess with what is one of the best safety tandems to ever do it? No disrespect to Easley, who was otherworldly good... but a bird in hand is worth two in the bush, and there's no reason to try to improve on a close to perfect duo.

That said... boy, I'd love to see a prime Earl and prime Easley tandem work together.

That was my vote, too. I would love to see them play together, though if I had to choose today between a player like Easley or Kam, it would be a hard decision.

No Brian Russell huh?

Throwdown wrote:No Brian Russell huh?

Expected Terrell too.

Maelstrom787 wrote:

LargentFan wrote:

Maelstrom787 wrote:Earl and Kam.

I'm taking the sure thing. We've seen it, we know how it worked out, and I'm not gonna mess with success - regardless of how great the other two are.

I agree with you. I honestly think Earl Thomas is underrated as a player. Everyone acknowledges that he's great, but I put him in the top five all-time at the position.

Yep. Earl is the perfect free, in my mind. Rangy, gets to the ball in a hurry, and has that "it" factor. He could have been a great corner, too. He's the locked in choice for me.

The real choice, for me, comes in with picking the safety to accompany him. But, why mess with what is one of the best safety tandems to ever do it? No disrespect to Easley, who was otherworldly good... but a bird in hand is worth two in the bush, and there's no reason to try to improve on a close to perfect duo.

That said... boy, I'd love to see a prime Earl and prime Easley tandem work together.

Having an Easley in his hay-day was LIKE having two guys out there making extraordinary plays, AND in fact, there was an announcer who ACTUALLY asked, " Are There Two Guys Out There Wearing The Number 45 Jersey?

scutterhawk wrote:

Maelstrom787 wrote:

LargentFan wrote:

Maelstrom787 wrote:Earl and Kam.

I'm taking the sure thing. We've seen it, we know how it worked out, and I'm not gonna mess with success - regardless of how great the other two are.

I agree with you. I honestly think Earl Thomas is underrated as a player. Everyone acknowledges that he's great, but I put him in the top five all-time at the position.

Yep. Earl is the perfect free, in my mind. Rangy, gets to the ball in a hurry, and has that "it" factor. He could have been a great corner, too. He's the locked in choice for me.

The real choice, for me, comes in with picking the safety to accompany him. But, why mess with what is one of the best safety tandems to ever do it? No disrespect to Easley, who was otherworldly good... but a bird in hand is worth two in the bush, and there's no reason to try to improve on a close to perfect duo.

That said... boy, I'd love to see a prime Earl and prime Easley tandem work together.

Having an Easley in his hay-day was LIKE having two guys out there making extraordinary plays, AND in fact, there was an announcer who ACTUALLY asked, " Are There Two Guys Out There Wearing The Number 45 Jersey?

Kenny was not quite as fast as Earl, quick yes, smarter yes, that step Earl had in foot speed possibly would easily be negated by how smart Ken was as well. That and nobody would go where he was or Kam, like I said if you had Browner on the other Corner could you see them trying to pick on Sherman.

Earl & Kam

Great duo. Like Jordan and Pippen!

Easley and Kam.

Earl was weak in the tackle. He'd shoulder chuck guys, but not wrap up. If Easley got his hands on you, it was over.
Also, Earl is small and can't cover big WR/TE.

That said, I think Adams will eclipse Kam. Kam only played at a high level for ~4 years. Adams and Diggs may make us all think it's 2013 again...

Easley said in an interview around HOF time that his best position was FS.

That 84 secondary as a whole was very good. Dave Brown and Keith Simpson starting at corner and Easley and Jon Harris at the safety spots. IIRC Simpson was the SS when Easley was drafted and moved to corner......

For those of you too young to remember (or maybe not even born), they would bring in 8 DB's at times with three DL's and the DB's blitz from every angle..... very "Bandit-esqe" I would encourage anyone to go find some of the 84 team's games on youtube.

I have deep love for Kam and Earl but I am going to have to go with Adams and Easley.

I feel like they are more versatile. Earl and Kam are specialized. Adams and Easley can legitimately be monsters at either safety position. This would allow you to keep the D guessing more.

irfuben32 wrote:I have deep love for Kam and Earl but I am going to have to go with Adams and Easley.

I feel like they are more versatile. Earl and Kam are specialized. Adams and Easley can legitimately be monsters at either safety position. This would allow you to keep the D guessing more.

I agree. Easley was a beast. Adam's actually reminds me of him. We are lucky to have had both.

This list is null and void until I see Etric Pruitt on this god damn list.

I'm late to this party. But you wanna talk about four great safeties? I see this list is missing two lethal sets of running mates from years past. Reggie Tongue and Marcus Robertson, and Deon Grant and Brian Russell.

No Tedric Thompson, list can't be taken seriously.