“When Jamal Adams is brought on a blitz, it puts more pressure on the back end (of the defense) and in your coverage to be more stable,” said 710 ESPN Seattle’s Jake Heaps.
As the former Seahawks QB continued to explain, it means Seattle’s DBs have to utilize more man-to-man coverage as opposed to the zone coverages head coach Pete Carroll tends to favor.
That turns into a personnel issue for Seattle.
“When you look at the Seahawks’ cornerback room, I don’t think that you can say definitively that you can feel confident that this group can hold up at a high level in man-to-man coverage,” Heaps said.
If they want to continue a high percentage of blitzes (with Adams), there’s one guy that I think they need to go target,” Heaps said. “While Stephon Gilmore is somebody that really intrigues me for this organization to bring in – he is a good man-to-man coverage corner, he’s a guy that is instinctual in zone coverage, and I do believe that he could transfer over to the Seahawks’ scheme – I’m also concerned about what he did last year. His play declined after a defensive MVP year (in 2019), and I am just nervous that if you bring on Stephon Gilmore, you are getting him on the downslope of his career.
“How about trading for someone that is on the uptick of his career and that is currently upset with his organization and is reportedly (coming up) in trade talks? And that is Miami Dolphins corner Xavien Howard.”
“If you want to lean into Jamal Adams’ strength, why not go and get one of the best man-to-man corners in the game?” asked Heaps. “Somebody that is in their prime, that could be a lock-down corner, a guy who truly can find the ball, get their hands on the ball, turnovers, takeaways – what Pete Carroll seeks after. If you’re going to make a splash move, why not go truly all-in and go after Xavien Howard?”
