Dion Bailey gets second chance to make first impression with Seahawks

It has taken five years and a position switch, but Seahawks safety Dion Bailey is finally getting a chance to play for Pete Carroll.

It was supposed to happen in 2010 when Carroll recruited Bailey to USC. Then Carroll took the Seahawks’ coaching job. It was supposed to happen last year after Bailey signed with the Seahawks as an undrafted free agent. Then Bailey was hurt less than a week before the first preseason game, ending his training camp.

On Friday, though, Bailey gets his second chance to make a first impression. It will be his first game, preseason or otherwise, and you’re going to be seeing a lot of No. 37 against the Broncos.

Some of that is circumstance with Earl Thomas still recovering from shoulder surgery while Kam Chancellor remains absent because he’s unhappy with his contract. The rest of that is a tribute to Bailey, who has climbed up Seattle’s depth chart, seeing time with the first-unit defense in practice this week.

“He’s always been a playmaker,” Carroll said.

That stood out earlier this week when Bailey raced to the sidelines and made a leaping interception of a pass intended for tight end Anthony McCoy.

It was the kind of play that shows what a natural fit he is at safety and makes you wonder why he ever played anywhere else.

Yet Bailey was a linebacker at USC. It wasn’t by choice, more out of necessity. He was a recruit that coach Lane Kiffin inherited, a player that Kiffin’s coaches asked to change positions for the good of the team as it played in a conference where defenses were trying to keep pace with the likes of Oregon.

It certainly wasn’t for Bailey’s benefit. He weighs 211 pounds as a pro, and he was never big enough to distinguish himself as an NFL prospect while playing linebacker.

Bailey earned his degree at USC in less than four years, and chose to enter the draft in 2014 with a year of eligibility remaining. It wasn’t about believing he would be a high draft pick, but that he wasn’t going to gain anything by playing another year at USC.

He signed with the Seahawks and was ready to compete for a spot until that ankle injury ended his training camp last year. He spent a chunk of the season on Seattle’s practice squad.

Now he finds himself near the top of the depth chart at a position he always should have been playing, and on a night that tight end Jimmy Graham will make his Seahawks debut, it’s players like Bailey who have the most to gain.

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