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Seattle Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor missed all of the 2015 training camp, preseason, and two games while holding out for a better contract that was never coming. The Seahawks ended up losing both of those games, and four of their first six, before recovering in time to make the playoffs for the fifth time in Pete Carroll’s six seasons as head coach. Now Chancellor isn’t missing a day of camp (despite being on that same contract) and just sounds happen to be back with a Legion of Boom that once again includes Brandon Browner.
"It's the NFL. But more importantly, it's the brotherhood. ... And (now) it feels like the (Super Bowl) 48 year. Everyone's bringing that intensity and it feels like everybody's out to prove something."
The Seahawks went 13-3 that season, tying their best record as a franchise, while leading the NFL in points and yards allowed on the way to a 43-8 Super Bowl victory over the Denver Broncos. (Which to be fair, probably propelled John Elway and the Broncos towards winning Super Bowl 50 with an elite defense that in a lot of ways strived to mirror what Seattle had done to them.)
That year, Chancellor played in every game, finishing second on the team in tackles with 80 solo and 54 assists, plus three interceptions, 12 passes defensed, and a forced fumble. I think I’ve also mentioned several times on Field Gulls that Chancellor was probably the MVP of that playoff run, totaling 35 tackles and two interceptions in three games. ProFootballFocus has changed the ability to see these stats, I believe, but Chancellor just utterly dominated every defensive player in just about everything during that postseason.
And now he says that he feels that way again about the team.
It’s easy to write that off as just about any player or coach saying “Hey, this feels like our best season ever” because why would you want to say that it doesn’t? Fans get excited, players get excited, momentum begets momentum. But I’m sure there are other reasons, like the return of Browner - who now finds himself backing up Chancellor after playing beside him in 2013 - and the brief appearance of Chris Clemons. Also: Because the team looks to be really damn good again.
I don’t know if the team will ever be that good again, but I’m definitely willing to hear the argument that they are about to be. Especially from one of the captains.