Coby Bryant wastes no time showing why the Seahawks drafted him

It took Coby Bryant exactly 28 minutes of preseason football to show why he’s a member of the Seattle Seahawks.

While avoiding the urge to extrapolate too much to the regular season, Bryant demonstrated that he belonged; he met another touted rookie in the end zone; and he introduced himself assertively to various ball carriers for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Twice is nice, but he wasn’t quite done. This is on the next possession, on third down, and the stop gives the Seahawks offense two minutes to play with before halftime. (Spoiler: they used it wisely.)

Bryant was tasked with covering Steelers sensation George Pickens on an end zone route in the first quarter. It ended with Pickens celebrating six points. But there’s more to the story.

Picture first:

Analysis next: The Seahawks rookie turns his hips at the right time, accelerates almost enough, and then hand fights with Pickens almost enough, and then almost gets his hand up to mess with the ball as it arrives.

Three almosts. Fix one of the three and that’s sufficient to negate the touchdown, which was masterfully thrown and caught, something Bryant can’t exactly control.

On the Josh Jones dropped pick-six, Bryant is in the picture. He probably makes the deflection if Jones doesn’t waltz into the throwing lane.

Bryant drew big-time compliments from the announcing duo of Michael Robinson and Michael Bennett too, after his third open-field tackle of the second quarter:

Bennett: “This defense needs versatility and Coby Bryant brings it.”

Robinson: “Coby Bryant — yeah, the guy is a ballhawk, he just told us he has a knack for being around the football.”

A related detail is the Seahawks defense went without an interception from a cornerback until Week 17 last year.

Bryant, who stands 6-foot-1, 198 pounds, will be paired at outside corner all month with Tariq Woolen, another rookie, another big DB (6-4, 205). Fans who care enough to watch preseason will get glimpses of the future, which could be upon us faster than we think. Tre Brown isn’t fully healthy yet and the team doesn’t have a significant investment tied up in Sidney Jones.

But if Bryant blossoms, we really should’ve known from the start. Look at the initials.