Ex-safety praises Richard Sherman’s football smarts
Jan 23, 2014, 5:47 PM | Updated: 5:52 pm
By Brady Henderson
John Lynch played at Stanford before beginning a 15-year NFL career that included nine Pro Bowls, two first-team All-Pro selections and one Super Bowl title. He’s a finalist for this year’s class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
 Richard Sherman |
It’s safe to say he knows a smart defensive back when he sees one, and he sees one in Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman.
“I’ve played a lot of football, I’ve been doing this broadcast business now for six years,” Lynch told “The Herd” on ESPN Radio Thursday, “and absent of the quarterback position, I’ve never been around a more intelligent football player.”
Lynch, now a color commentator for NFL games on FOX, met with Sherman before Seattle’s playoff game against New Orleans. The two spoke in-depth about playing cornerback, and what Lynch said struck him about Sherman runs counter to the perception some have of the brash cornerback, especially since his emotional postgame interview made him the center of the nation’s attention.
“The way he talked me through the way he plays bump-and-run technique, the way he studies, his preparation,” Lynch said. “It sounds like all these quarterbacks that you talk to – the Peytons, the Breeses – in terms of there’s a method to the way they prepare, they out-prepare their competition. The things he’s aware of on the field. You think it’s just a one-on-one, mano y mano position, but with the great ones – I played with Champ Bailey when he was in his prime. He could take out his guy on that half the field but then see everything else on the field.”
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