DANNY AND GALLANT
Bumpus: Jordyn Brooks ‘can make the jump’ to being a ‘top dog’ for Seahawks in 2021
One of the players who will be under the most pressure for the Seahawks in 2021 is linebacker Jordyn Brooks, the team’s 2020 first-round pick.
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Brooks enters his second NFL season as the unquestioned starter at weakside (WILL) linebacker, and with K.J. Wright remaining unsigned, it appears Brooks is set to see his snap count increase in a major way in 2021.
Seth Galina of Pro Football Focus thinks that Brooks is up for the challenge. In an article ranking the top-15 second-year breakout candidates in the league who could become stars, Galina ranked the young linebacker No. 5.
On 710 ESPN Seattle’s Danny and Gallant, former NFL receiver Michael Bumpus was asked if he believes Brooks can take that big of a step forward in 2021.
“Do you think we could see Jordyn Brooks make a quantum leap this year?,” Danny O’Neil asked.
“I think we can,” Bumpus said. “He’s going to get way more snaps this year and he’ll be out there a lot more than he was last year.”
As a rookie in 2020, Brooks had 57 tackles, two tackles for loss and two pass breakups while playing 32% of the Seahawks’ defensive snaps.
As noted earlier, Brooks, in some ways, is replacing Wright on defense as he’s been the team’s longtime WILL linebacker. Bumpus said he took a closer look at Wright’s career progress when thinking of what Brooks can do going forward.
“The first thing I did was compare him to K.J. what did K.J. do? How did K.J. progress?” he said.
Well, Wright had 60 tackles as a rookie in 2011 and increased that number to 98 in 2012. In 13 games in 2013, Wright had 80 tackles and then from 2014 to 2019, Wright had 100 or more tackles in five of his next six seasons.
“Then I look at their games. I see Jordyn Brooks as probably the more athletic linebacker when it comes to him or K.J., but K.J.’s the better linebacker,” Bumpus said. “He’s got his wits about him, he’s smart, he understands leverage. But just pure athleticism, I look at Jordyn Brooks and say, OK, that guy has the tools to make it happen.”
Brooks is known for being fast and hitting very hard. Bumpus also thinks his overall style of play is very effective.
“He plays reckless right now and when you’re young, you’re reckless,” he said. “You’re going to throw your face into every tackle, you’re going to set edges. Your game is just different. You look like you’re going to roll the dice a bit more, and I think he has that in him. He’s explosive, he’s one of the fastest backers I’ve seen in a little bit on this team, so I think he can make the jump. I’m completely confident in what Jordyn Brooks can do … There’s nothing in his game that makes me think he can’t be one of the top dogs on this team and maybe in a couple years, in the league.”
Listen to the full discussion at this link or in the player below.
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