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Heading into the 2011 NFL draft most draft analysts had a middle to late round grade on Richard Sherman (4th-6th round). The Seahawks drafted him with the 23rd pick of the 5th round.
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Pete Carroll and Richard Sherman were not strangers going into the draft, in fact Carroll recruited Sherman out of high school.
In a strange twist Sherman thought it would be best for him to get away from the streets of Compton and into the prestigious academic halls of Stanford to show kids from his school you can succeed as a student as well as an athlete.
When Pete was recruiting Richard (a wide receiver in high school) he wanted him to move to cornerback, but at Stanford he played wide receiver for his first three seasons before making the switch to corner for his final two.
His size and physicality were a big part of the reason Pete wanted him at USC playing corner and a big part of the reason he was chosen by Seattle.
In Pete’s defense he looks for big corners who can shut receivers down at the line with their willingness to get physical with the receivers.
One of the knocks Sherman had coming out of Stanford was his ability to cover deep especially when trying to cover smaller, faster receivers.
Yes he has bit on a couple double moves in 2011, but he has done a pretty good job covering the deep ball so far.
Under The Spotlight
The end result has been another mid round gem found by Pete and John Schneider.
2011 Season
Richard started the season as a special teams contributor but season ending injuries to starting Seahawks cornerback Marcus Trufant and backup corner Walt Thurmond thrust Sherman into the starting role opposite Brandon Browner.
He was given an opportunity to show the Seahawks what he had and he has responded brilliantly.
Richard has an ability to all but lock down his side of the field and he keeps getting better every week. At this point he would have to regress for him to ever watch a game from the sidelines while healthy again.
The scary thing for other teams is that he is still relatively new to the position yet he is already running routes for the receivers.
Richard still makes rookie mistakes but when he cleans that up and catches a few more balls that he gets in position to catch he is going to be special.
By special I’m talking about the type of players who opposing offenses hate to face.
A guy who can take a receiver like Larry Fitzgerald and shut him down.
That’s the type of potential I see in Sherman and between his intelligence and Pete’s ability to get the best out of his players I see no reason to think he won’t meet that potential.
He’s also a great guy with a great head on his shoulders, so not only is he a guy you love to watch play he is also the type of guy you love to see succeed in this world.
The more I think about it the more I think my next jersey purchase will be 25.
Richard Sherman Profile:
Position: Cornerback
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 195 lbs
Birthdate: March 30, 1988
Birthplace: Compton, California
College: Stanford
