Seahawks 2023 Offseason Primer: Safety

Now that the 2022 NFL season is over, it’s time to look ahead to an offseason that will help shape the Seahawks’ fortunes in 2023 and beyond. With free agency kicking off next month and the draft following in April, Seahawks.com is taking a position-by-position look at where the team stands prior to the start of the new league year. On Monday, we kicked things off with quarterback, and today we focus on safety. Check back Wednesday when we turn our attention to running back.

The Seahawks spent training camp preparing to unveil a three-safety look that would become, if not their base defense, a regular package that would, among other things, help maximize Jamal Adams’ playmaking ability.

Unfortunately for Adams and the Seahawks, however, Adams suffered a season-ending injury in the first half of Seattle’s opener against the Broncos, scrapping those plans. Josh Jones, who had a strong camp and preseason, took over a starting spot as Ryan Neal recovered from an ankle injury, then Neal eventually took over that role, playing the best football of his career, though a knee injury did sideline him again late in the season. In all, the Seahawks started five different players at safety alongside Quandre Diggs, who started every game at free safety: Adams, Jones, Neal, Teez Tabor and Johnathan Abraham.

“It did affect us, because we had a real plan in how we wanted to utilize him,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said of Adams’ injury. “He’s a terrific ball player and he would be a big factor. That’s the design of the scheme, it was all set up with that in mind. I’m not blaming anything on that, we will take advantage of that when we have him again. He will make the most of it.”

Diggs, meanwhile, played every defensive snap during the 2022 season, a remarkable feat considering he suffered a dislocated ankle and broken leg in the final game of the 2021 season, leading to offseason surgery. And while Diggs wasn’t one to make excuses, it was clear he was not at his best until later in the season when he once again looked like one of the NFL’s top safeties, helping him earn Pro Bowl honors for the third straight season.

“That’s a remarkable turnaround for him to get back,” Carroll said. “He had a bad injury right at the end of the season. Just to get back out there and to be playing is one thing, but to have the confidence that you can hit it, plant, drive, and do all of the things that you need to do is another thing. It took him a while, I think, for him to gain…