Film Breakdown: Seahawks LB Jordyn Brooks Exhibiting Stellar Growth in Rookie Season
With just one game left to play in the 2020 regular season and an eighth visit to the playoffs in nine years coming up for the Seahawks, coach Pete Carroll has been ecstatic about the contributions of the team's rookie class on the path to an NFC West division title.
Most notably, after a slow start to his first NFL season, first-round pick Jordyn Brooks' rapid ascent at weakside linebacker has coincided with Seattle's defensive resurgence over the past six weeks. Logging more consistent playing time when the team is in base 4-3 formations, the former Texas Tech star's speed and tackling skills have been evident flying sideline-to-sideline to make plays.
With five starts under his belt since returning from a knee sprain in Week 7, Brooks had registered 47 tackles and a pair of tackles for loss in the Seahawks past 10 games. He established a new career-high by racking up 11 tackles in a 17-12 loss to the Giants in Week 13 and may have produced the best game of his young career in last week's division-clinching win over the Rams with eight tackles on just 28 snaps.
"He played great, he really did," Carroll said on Monday. "He was physical and he was tough and really saw things well. We had to change, adjust some things during the game to fit stuff up, which he was able to do and do well."
Three of Brooks' biggest plays came on a critical third quarter goal line stand for Seattle. Los Angeles had First and Goal from the Seahawks' two-yard line and the rookie blew past tight end Tyler Higbee's block for a two-yard tackle for loss on running back Malcolm Brown. Two plays later, he helped stuff Jared Goff on a quarterback sneak and he finished the drive wrapping up Brown again just short of the end zone to force a turnover on downs.
Viewed by many scouts as his biggest deficiency entering the league, Brooks also performed very well in coverage against the Rams' bootleg and crossing route-heavy passing attack, allowing zero receptions and consistently taking away throwing lanes for Goff in his zone responsibilities.
"He's an impacting football player, he's really good and he really handles the game well and he can communicate well and you don't feel like you're talking to a pup that's all wide-eyed and all that," Carroll commented. "He's really tuned in and can make sense of the adjustments and stuff like that, which is really important obviously to play well."
Poised to make a splash in his first NFL postseason, what's been the key to Brooks' recent emergence? Corbin Smith and Matty Brown dive into the rising linebacker's game film from Sunday's win to check out his run fits, tackling, and execution in coverage.
