The preseason didn’t go the best way the Seahawks wished by way of wins and losses as they dropped all three of their observe video games, however it was clear to former NFL receiver Michael Bumpus {that a} handful of Seattle’s nine-man rookie draft class have earned the precise to start out come Week 1.
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Actually, Bumpus mentioned Monday on Seattle Sports activities’ Bump and Stacy that he expects a number of rookies to start out when the Seahawks host the Denver Broncos within the season opener.
“4 beginning rookies Week 1,” Bumpus instructed co-host Stacy Rost.
So who made the reduce?
“We’re beginning on the left deal with place. This man was gonna begin if he even when he had probably the most horrible preseason within the land, however he didn’t,” Bumpus mentioned. “He had ups and downs, smiles and frowns – that’s Charles Cross. He’s going to be there. No. 9 choose within the draft. You throw him into the fireplace.”
Cross was tabbed because the Seahawks’ left deal with of the longer term again in April when Seattle used the first-round choose it acquired from Denver to nab the Mississippi State product. Cross has run with the Seahawks’ first-team offense all offseason, and he began all three preseason video games and infrequently performed effectively into the second half.
Subsequent up?
“After which we’re going to the opposite facet (of the offensive line), Abe Lucas,” Bumpus mentioned. “He had a extremely good preseason pancaking dudes left and proper trying just like the muscle on the market.”
Lucas, an Everett, Wash., native who starred for the Cougs at WSU, was Seattle’s third-round choose and actually stood out in the course of the preseason for his play at proper deal with.
Bumpus thinks the 2 younger tackles would be the Hawks’ lone rookie starters on offense, which leaves two rookies to start out on protection in opposition to the Broncos.
“Tariq Woolen would be the beginning nook,” Bumpus mentioned.
Woolen was the Seahawks’ fifth-round select of UTSA and was seen by many – Bumpus included – as a “venture” in his rookie season. Woolen, who’s 6 foot 4 and has lengthy arms, ran a blazing 4.26-second 40-yard sprint on the NFL mix, however he began his school profession as a receiver and entered the NFL with barely two years of expertise as a defender.
Resulting from accidents to extra veteran gamers forward of him on the depth chart, Woolen began all through the preseason and performed lots on Seattle’s protection.
“We’re watching him and I’m like, this man appears OK. And his athleticism makes up for lots,” Bumpus mentioned. “He may not be the quickest together with his hips, he may not be capable to learn offenses the best way {that a} veteran can, however if you end up that dimension and you’re that quick and you’re that lengthy, you’re gonna put your self in place to make performs.”
The opposite anticipated rookie starter can be the opposite defensive again Seattle drafted: Cincinnati’s Coby Bryant.
A fourth-round choose, Bryant was the Jim Thorpe Award winner because the nation’s high defensive again in 2021. Bumpus thinks Bryant would be the workforce’s go-to nickel cornerback to start out the 2022 season.
“If they arrive out the very first play they usually’re in nickel, that’s going to be Coby Bryant,” Bumpus mentioned. “He began exterior, he made the shift to the nickel spot – he’s by no means performed that place earlier than – however to me he’s appeared higher than Justin Coleman. Artie Burns has been banged up, Marquise Blair has had his ups and downs in the case of tackling. Coby Bryant has been probably the most constant in that nickel.”
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