Huard: Nickel CB Justin Coleman ‘best defensive player on the field’ in Seahawks preseason opener
Aug 13, 2018, 2:28 PM
Seahawks nickel CB Justin Coleman (right) nearly picked off Andrew Luck last Thursday. (AP)
(AP)
Brock Huard’s assessment of football doesn’t always match up with that of Pro Football Focus. But when it came to the defensive side of the ball in the Seahawks’ preseason opener last Thursday against the Indianapolis Colts, they were in agreement.
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“Justin Coleman was the best defensive player on the field,” Huard said of the Seahawks’ 25-year-old nickel cornerback, who also received the highest defensive grade from the game by Pro Football Focus. “Justin Coleman was all over it. When you see a guy, especially in the preseason, playing that nickel position just being hip to hip with everybody – you’re not game-planning, you’re not scheming, you don’t really know what the offense is going to do or what some of their tendencies are, so it really becomes about your speed, your quickness, your instincts.”
Coleman, who had two interceptions last season (both returned for touchdowns), nearly had another pick off of Colts quarterback Andrew Luck early in Thursday’s game. Huard pointed out that Coleman’s 73.7 passer rating against was fifth among all nickel corners in 2017, and highlighted how big it has been for him to solidify the position for Seattle.
“That position had become a really challenge area post-2013/14,” Huard said of nickel cornerback. “Once Byron Maxwell left (after the 2014 season), you tried to replace that a number of different times. You brought free agents in, you tried to develop your own, and there just wasn’t anybody that was a difference-maker until last season.”
The Seahawks of course come into 2018 with significant turnover in their secondary, which includes the departure of All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman, and Huard said it can only help the younger corners to have Coleman’s presence on the field.
“Man was he all over last Thursday night. That’s a very positive sign. With the inexperience you’re going to find at one corner and even Shaquill (Griffin) in year No. 2, to have a guy you feel good about in the slot is very beneficial.”
You can hear Huard’s full assessment in the Blue 42 segment of Brock and Salk’s Monday show.
