It's been a long time since the Seahawks have had a hammer in the secondary ("The Hammer"), but things could change with the arrival of former Rutgers S Courtney Greene.
This four-year starter has a ton of ability, but as you might expect from a seventh-round pick, he has a hefty downside with plenty of room to grow.
Greene is the first safety taken in the draft for GM Tim Ruskell, and 'Hawks fans have plenty of reason to hope he develops into a future starter.
To continue...
Courtney Greene
6-0
218 pounds
College stats:
The skills
Physically, Greene is about as solid as you could hope. He has good size at 6-foot, 218 pounds, and his 4.52 40-yard dash was amongst the best at the combine. He also has very good strength and quickness.
In coverage, he's going to make the big hits and was a tackling machine at Rutgers, finishing his career with 386 tackles.
However, he tends to bite hard on double moves and play actions. He'll need to make a ton of improvement on discipline and coverage skills so the 12th Man won't be cursing his name for giving up big plays.
Rookie projection
Seattle has gone with Deon Grant and Brian Russell at safety the past two seasons, and things don't look like they will change this year.
That leaves room on the bench, where Jordan Babineaux has his roster spot on lockdown as he has for the past five seasons. If Greene is going to make the team, then he will have to beat out third-year pro C.J. Wallace and second-year pro Jamar Adams for the fourth spot.
All three players have a similar skill set with Greene perhaps possessing the most upside due to his range and quickness. He also had a better college career. Still, experience may be enough for Wallace and Adams to beat him out.
As it is, Greene shouldn't be expected to make the opening day roster, but injuries will likely give him some playtime:
8 tackles
0 sacks
0 interceptions
The long projection
Greene began making plays day one at Rutgers, but he'll likely have a much longer road ahead of him in the NFL.
The main concern is that he may have already peaked in college. He failed to show marked improvement in college from year to year and actually had a down year as a senior.
If he can't improve on his coverage and become more than a heavy hitter over the middle, then Greene will struggle to just remain in the NFL during his career.
By adding Greene, Ruskell got good value in the seventh and hedged his bet that one of Greene, Wallace and Adams may develop into more than just special teams players.
If everything falls into place, Greene could develop into a very good starter with the ability to play deep coverage and up close to the line of scrimmage, better than either Grant or Russell.
Reach Jeff Richards at nextseasonsports@gmail.com
