Brooks – not Metcalf – is ‘safe bet’ to be Seahawks’ new Pro Bowl regular
Jul 4, 2022, 9:41 AM
Seahawks LB Jordyn Brooks awaits a snap to Packers QB Aaron Rodgers on Sunday. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Seahawks legends Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner are no longer with the franchise, and those two 2012 draft picks earned a combined 17 Pro Bowl nods during their Seattle tenures.
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It was essentially a forgone conclusion that Wilson and Wagner would earn Pro Bowl nods each and every season, thus assuring the Seahawks were represented at the Pro Bowl. But with those two now on different teams, which Seahawks player will be the team’s new perennial Pro Bowler?
Former NFL wide receiver Michael Bumpus made his pick during Friday’s Bump and Stacy on Seattle Sports 710 AM, and it’s likely not who you’d think.
“Now, we could easily say it’s going to be DK Metcalf, right? He’s been to the Pro Bowl already in 2020 (when he had) 1300 yards and 10 touchdowns. He can be a Pro Bowler,” Bumpus said of the star wide receiver. “But there’s one guy who controls his own destiny more than DK.”
Metcalf, Bumpus said, is reliant on both good offensive line play as well as the play of the quarterback in order to put up big numbers. Uncertainty at those two spots, namely at quarterback, has Bumpus picking a member of Seattle’s defense to be the Seahawks’ new regular Pro Bowler.
“I’m gonna go with Jordyn Brooks,” Bumpus said.
Brooks, a linebacker who the Seahawks selected in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, played a good amount as a rookie that year before taking on a much larger role last year.
Brooks started all 17 games for the Seahawks in 2021, recording 184 tackles, a new franchise record, while playing over 1,100 defensive snaps.
With Wagner gone, Brooks will have an even larger role as an inside linebacker who will be the Seahawks’ defensive play caller on the field.
Bumpus is confident Brooks can earn a Pro Bowl nod with his play.
“All Jordyn has to do is make these tackles, get downhill. We’ve seen linebackers play on poor defenses and still get selected for the Pro Bowl because they can control their own destiny,” he said. “They need those defensive linemen to hold up guys for them every now and then, but worst come to worst, Jordyn Brooks can rally to the football and make plays and do it all on his own whereas DK has got to rely on the quarterback. We don’t know the quarterback situation. Eventually I think DK is going to be a Pro Bowler every year for about three to five years. But right now if we’re gonna pencil (someone) in every year for the next three or four years, the safe bet is Jordyn Brooks.”
Listen to the full second hour of Friday’s Bump and Stacy at this link or in the player below.
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