During the heyday of the Legion of Boom Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor could be counted on to deliver high level safety play in helping the Seattle Seahawks to two Super Bowl appearances and the complete destruction of the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII. However, over the past two years things have changed drastically, with Kam Chancellor suffering a career ending neck injury against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 10 of 2017, followed by Earl Thomas breaking his leg while playing the Cardinals in Week 4 of 2018.
Coincidentally, with yet another trip to Glendale scheduled for this weekend, Seattle is set to keep Lano Hill as the starter at safety, even as Tedric Thompson returns from a hamstring injury.
Pete Carroll said Lano Hill has played well enough to keep his starting job at free safety.
— Joe Fann (@Joe_Fann) September 25, 2019
Carroll added that Seattle is lucky to have two guys who can start there. He was referring to Tedric Thompson as the second player, not Marquise Blair.
For those fans who are wondering why the Hawks would opt to go with Hill over second round pick Marquise Blair, Pete Carroll noted a couple of weeks ago that at this point they prefer Hill’s experience in the system.
Carroll's comment on Blair basically his confirmation on Hill starting Sunday: "We don’t need to rush it. We are in good shape and we like playing with the experience when you can and we have some guys who have been around us who are a little bit ahead of him.''
— Seattle Chawks (@Seattlechawks) September 13, 2019
That’s not too much of a surprise given that Blair missed portions of the offseason after suffering a hamstring in May that kept him out of OTAs and June minicamp and also landed him on the PUP list for the first week and a half of training camp. As such, while the team certainly appears excited about his potential to contribute in the future, Carroll has been consistent since August that Blair needs to learn to play assignment sound football in order to see the field.
If that bust was on Marquise Blair, it illustrates Pete Carroll's main concern about the rookie.
— Joe Fann (@Joe_Fann) August 19, 2019
“He’s just got to learn what we’re doing, figure it out, and make sure that he’s really tight with all of his assignments and responsibilities,” Carroll said about Blair on Friday.
Thus, while Bradley McDougald appears to have one of the safety positions on lockdown, it looks as though the team is not locked in to a specific player at the other spot. This would certainly seem to indicate that fans could see Blair, Adrian Colbert or Ugo Amadi opposite McDougald at some point this season.