Ken Norton Jr. Extremely Impressed by Marquise Blair’s First NFL Start

The second-round pick shined during his first start, but the acquisition of safety Quandre Diggs could complicate his chances for playing time moving forward.

Despite losing a heartbreaker this past Sunday against the Ravens, first-year safety Marquise Blair performed beyond expectations as he caught the eyes of many along the Seahawks sideline.

Replacing injured starter Bradley McDougald, Blair recorded eight tackles along with a key drive-ending pass deflection against tight end Mark Andrews during his first NFL start. Following Blair’s impressive debut, defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. spoke very highly of his rookie safety after Wednesday's practice.

“When you watch the first starts in the history of first starts, over a long period of time, you’re very pleased with the direction,” Norton Jr. said. “He’s explosive. He understands what’s going on. Obviously, you can always improve. That comes with experience.”

While McDougald returned to practice in limited fashion on Thursday, the second-round pick out of Utah certainly made his case for a starting role at one of the safety positions moving forward. But it doesn’t appear that Norton Jr. is fully ready to make that commitment to Blair just yet.

“It’s hard to say. It’s just a matter of competition. It’s a matter of the fact that we’re banged up a little bit,” Norton Jr. said. “We’re going to get the two best guys out there ready to roll.”

In addition to McDougald, safety Lano Hill could miss several more weeks as he recovers from an elbow injury. Those injuries left the Seahawks extremely thin at both safety positions, which explains why general manager John Schneider completed another masterful trade acquiring versatile safety Quandre Diggs from the Lions on Tuesday.

Adding Diggs to the fold certainly makes things interesting within the Seahawks secondary. Speaking with the media on Wednesday, coach Pete Carroll made it sound like the team has no intentions of bringing Diggs in off the bench, which could spell doom for starting free safety Tedric Thompson.

Carroll has been extremely blunt in regards to the poor performance of Thompson since Sunday’s defeat against the Ravens, calling his blown coverage on a 50-yard pass to Myles Boykin "distasteful," which could pave a way to a starting gig for either Blair or Diggs moving forward.

Though Carroll remained non-committal about whether or not Blair will start, Seattle's upcoming Week 8 matchup in Atlanta on Sunday could very well be the opportunity the rookie needs to secure regular playing time over Thompson if he can continue to perform effectively as he did last weekend.

Even if McDougald is required to miss another game or two, Blair’s potential as a full-time safety along with the trade for Diggs should put the Seahawks in much better position until the seventh-year pro is fully healthy and ready to return. Once he's back, Seattle could have some decisions to make, but that's a good problem for a contender to have.