RENTON — During his two tenures with the Seahawks, cornerback Byron Maxwell became known for his ability to force fumbles that he earned comparisons with Charles “Peanut” Tillman, whose 44 forced fumbles in his career are the most for any defensive back in NFL history since accurate stats began being kept in 1999.
Maxwell had four in 54 regular-season games with the Seahawks and another in the Super Bowl win over Denver (and seven in his 29 games with the Eagles and Dolphins).
Seahawks rookie cornerback Coby Bryant has already matched Maxwell’s regular-season total in just seven games, forcing four in a five-game span between Weeks 2-6.
“He definitely has a knack,” coach Pete Carroll said of the fumble-forcing ability by the fourth-round draft pick out of Cincinnati. “And we always talked about it. You’re looking for guys that have knacks. He’s just better at it than other guys.”
Bryant forced only four fumbles in 53 games at Cincinnati, where he earned the Jim Thorpe Award last season as the best defensive back in college football.
But Bryant has taken advantage of every opportunity this season to make a big play.
“It’s like you have to time it up perfectly,” Bryant said. “The ball carriers can sometimes be extremely vulnerable when they are about to go to the ground or when they don’t see you; I catch them when they don’t see me. That’s the perfect time to be able to punch and make a tackle at the same time, because the tackle is just as important.”
Bryant’s forced fumbles — the most in the NFL through seven games — got him early attention, but his value to the Seahawks might have been more evident in last week’s 37-23 victory over the Chargers.
Bryant, who became the starting nickel in Week 2 following a calf injury to Justin Coleman, played a career-high 68 snaps last weekend, off the field for just three plays.
But he didn’t just play the traditional nickel spot (covering the slot), though he did that a lot — 57 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus.
He also played seven snaps as essentially a weakside linebacker when the Seahawks were in their dime scheme (six defensive backs), three at outside corner and even one lined up as an edge rusher.
Bryant finished with five tackles, an assist and a quarterback hurry. Though he allowed five receptions, they went for just 37 yards as the Seahawks largely kept the Chargers offense bottled up, holding them to 4.8 yards per play
It was a performance that showed Bryant could be a future star, with teammate and fellow rookie corner Tariq Woolen.
“It didn’t even faze him,” Carroll said of Bryant’s playing time against the Chargers. “It wasn’t like he was overloaded or nothing. But gosh he is getting better.”
Drafted with the thought that he’d be an outside corner like Woolen, the Seahawks moved Bryant to nickel midway through training camp, thinking it might be the best use of his skills while allowing them to get their best cornerbacks on the field together.
Woolen’s quick emergence undoubtedly played into that decision, and with veterans capable of playing the outside, Bryant’s quickest path to play was at nickel.
Bryant had never played nickel and acknowledged there was a learning curve.
“Just the space,” he said of the difference working inside instead of outside. “I’m getting more routes now, and I’m dealing with faster guys as well versus on the outside when you are getting a handful of routes. But I like the challenge, and I’m just going to keep on working.”
It began ominously in the season opener against Denver when Bryant was beaten for a 67-yard touchdown pass from Russell Wilson to Jerry Jeudy — one of just two snaps he played.
Bryant said he never lost faith.
“Absolutely,” he said when asked if it was easy to move on from that play. “Even the greatest give up touchdowns, and that was the biggest thing about the leaders here. They never got on me about it. They encouraged me to keep working, keep getting better, things like that happen; just continuously growing and like I said, just keep getting better each week, learning from the mistakes, and [homing] in on the small details.”
Bryant said nerves might have played a role in that game, but he now says that play might have been the best thing to happen.
“Honestly, me being a rookie, that’s what rookies need to be,” he said. “Humbled and to learn from those experiences, so when the next year’s rookies come in I can give them that experience or that example. So those days like that, you keep on growing and just keep getting better and trusting in myself.”
Carroll says Bryant is beginning to look like an old pro at his new position.
“He’s just going to keep on getting better, and he’ll see more opportunities to make more plays,” Carroll said. “You really can take chances at that spot, and a guy that can do that can be a big factor in run, pass and in pressure. He was raw from the start.
“We’re seven weeks old, and he’s extensively better than he was from when we were starting this thing up. He’s taking advantage of it. The other part of it is he has already demonstrated that he is a tremendous playmaker. He’s already knocking the ball out a bunch. We are just getting warmed up here.”