Anthony Bradford Wins Seattle Seahawks Job for ‘Best Performance’

Bradford’s announcement as a full-time starter may not seem like earth-shattering news, since the sophomore blocker from LSU started all eight of Seattle’s games and played 80 percent of the team’s offensive snaps. But getting a 20 percent share of snaps is rare in the NFL when it comes to the offensive line because teams don’t rotate players in the trenches often, and that’s still a significant amount of snaps he didn’t get this year from development. point of view.

With these options, Bradford has endured a difficult second season, especially in pass protection. He allowed 20 quarterback pressures and four sacks, which are the fifth-most and third-most among defensive backs in those two categories, respectively, according to Pro Football Focus’ chart. His pass blocking efficiency rate (95.6%) ranks 52nd among 55 qualified blockers at his position, and when removing screens, play action and plays with fewer than four rushers from the equation, he was even worse in “true pass sets.” with a score of 91.7. efficiency percentage.

But as Grubb noted Thursday, the Seahawks believe Bradford has been a more consistent player than Haynes and has made significant progress in recent weeks, citing his play on the practice field as a major factor in the decision to disband the platoon.

After allowing 18 pressures in the first six games, Bradford has given up just two hits and no sacks in the last two games, ranking 12th out of 47 defensive backs in pass block efficiency (98 percent) during that span. Playing with greater discipline as the season progressed, after being flagged as many as seven times in the first three weeks, he has not been penalized in any of the five games since.

While PFF’s grades may not match it, Seattle views Bradford much better as a run blocker than Haynes at this point. Earlier this season, Grubb indicated that Haynes needed to improve his play-making strength against NFL defensive tackles, admitting that Bradford was significantly ahead of him from that standpoint and implying that the coaching staff had much more confidence in the veteran to get the job done . line of scrimmage.

Instead of continuing to add their rookie to the lineup after seeing Bradford take another positive step forward after last week’s loss to the Bills, the Seahawks want to maximize his chances to grow and help build chemistry in the process.

“He’s just getting better,” Grubb explained. “I thought he did a better job of finishing the job. His execution was better and he had a really good week of training. I thought that was something that came out in the game. He certainly wasn’t perfect in any sense. He’s still being a young player, he’s working on things, but he’s getting tougher on the finish line, playing with a better level of pad play and starting to live up to some of the things we think he’s capable of.”

Long-term, the decision to keep Bradford as the starter right now doesn’t mean Haynes won’t develop into a starter over time, and it’s too early to characterize him as a third-round bust. Given Grubb’s harsh assessment of his strength early in the season, a full offseason of weight room work will be essential to his development, and Seattle can still envision a future where he and Bradford are on the roster together as full-time starters at every spot. defender .

But at this point, after giving him 104 snaps in the first eight games to show what he can do, the Seahawks clearly don’t think Haynes is ready for prime time just yet. Understanding the importance of having the same five blockers build camaraderie during games, choosing to move Bradford forward will likely give the team the best chance to win the rest of the schedule while also providing a well-rounded evaluation of the player for game time. future.

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