Which Seahawk was the biggest surprise in Thursday’s preseason opener?
Aug 9, 2019, 4:14 PM | Updated: 4:14 pm
Seahawks safety Ugo Amadi could start at nickel corner in Week 12. (Getty)
(Getty)
Seahawks quarterback Paxton Lynch stole the show in Seattle’s preseason win over the Denver Broncos, but it was another player who caught the attention of 710 ESPN Seattle’s Brock Huard: rookie defensive back Ugo Amadi.
You won’t believe how Ugo Amadi ended up in the PNW
The fourth-round pick out of Oregon played in just under 40 percent of snaps, splitting those between special teams and defense. Amadi described himself as a Swiss-army knife after being drafted in May, and proved to be just that for Seattle on Thursday — he was involved with punt returns, coverage as a nickel corner, and was also part of a blitz. He finished the night with one special teams tackle, one quarterback hit, and one pass defended.
“I don’t think anybody, or even the folks who watched practice the last three or four months around that building, would never have imagined that Paxton Lynch could be that efficient and that much of a playmaker, but to me the guy that’s going to impact this season was Ugo Amadi,” Huard said during his Blue 42 segment of Brock and Salk Friday morning.
“No matter where he was — with the ball in his hand, playing nickel, covering kicks and punts — he just played at a fast gear and played like a guy who has played a ton of football and wasn’t overwhelmed by that moment at all. When you get a young player who can actually communicate on the field and that’s not just so locked in and focused only on their job but are actually able to talk (that’s positive). He did a little drop into zone coverage and you could see him both before the snap talking to the safety behind him, and post-snap being able to take just that split second look around, not just dropping to a spot and not just going to one area because this is just where I’m supposed to be; he looked was working to get a feel of his surroundings.”
Listen to Brock Huard’s full Blue 42 segment in the audio clip embedded above, or hear the newest Blue 42 segments every weekday morning at 7:45 a.m. during Brock and Salk.
