Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll is a man of many mantras, few that he talks about more than what he calls the second-year leap.
This is the idea that players perform significantly better in their second NFL season, after a year of getting used to the speed, power and overall daily grind of football at the highest level.
Many Seahawks players have very visibly taken this second-year leap, validating Carroll’s ideology.
One really prominent counter-example, at least recently, is Shaquill Griffin. Griffin had a strong rookie campaign, priming himself for a big-time leap in year two. However, significant weight gain, the added pressure of replacing Richard Sherman on the left side, and the distraction of having his twin brother on the team caused Griffin to slide backward in 2018.
Carroll’s mantra may still have applied to Griffin, just a year late.
Pro Football Focus released a list of the most improved player on each team in 2019, and Griffin – who made his first Pro Bowl in 2019 – was Seattle’s selection.
“Two seasons ago, Griffin recorded a coverage grade of 48.1 and an overall grade of 50.7” PFF author Ben Linsey wrote in the piece. “That’s not what you want to see out of one of your starting cornerbacks. However, 2019 was a different story entirely. Griffin earned a coverage grade of 77.0 that ranked 14th among qualifying cornerbacks, and it stemmed from his ability to make plays on the football. He forced incompletions on 14 of his 66 targets this season for a forced incompletion rate of 21.2% that ranked second among all cornerbacks with 50 or more targets.”
Although Griffin did not record an interception in 2019, a rarity for Pro Bowl corners, he was among the league’s best in coverage.
In a secondary that struggled with consistency throughout the year – thanks to a poor campaign from Tre Flowers and injuries at the safety spot – Griffin was a bright spot, and one that should continue to shine even brighter in 2020 and beyond.
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