The Seattle Seahawks will be playing without one of their two star cornerbacks in tomorrow night's home game against the San Francisco 49ers, the team's first NFC West opponent of the season. The team just announced that third-year cornerback Riq Woolen has been ruled out for Thursday's prime time matchup.
It's another big blow for a defense that was already shorthanded. Outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu is reportedly going to be placed on injured reserve so he's out, rookie Byron Murphy II has been ruled out as well and edge rushers Derick Hall and Boye Mafe plus free safety Julian Love are all listed as questionable this week.
Who's next man up for Seahawks?
So, who will step into the starting lineup with Woolen out against San Francisco? In previous years, that job would have fallen to veteran corner Mike Jackson. However, he was traded to the Carolina Panthers before the season started for a seventh-round draft pick who wound up getting waived. Instead, the Seahawks will likely look to their fifth-round draft pick, Nehemiah Pritchett out of Auburn. He is listed as the next man up on the depth chart behind Woolen at the right boundary position.
Pritchett will be making his first start in the NFL, but he's not wholly without experience. Last week when Tre Brown was struggling in coverage against New York Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton, Seattle eventually took Brown out of the game and put in Pritchett. He did much better than Brown, allowing three catches on six targets for a 79.9 passer rating. For what it's worth he earned an average 59.6 grade on 10 snaps in coverage from Pro Football Focus.
If Pritchett should have major issues against the Niners receivers or get injured himself, then the next-next guy on the depth chart is undrafted rookie Dee Williams, who has been working exclusively on special teams so far as a returner.
More Seahawks stories
Mike Macdonald says it's fair to question Seattle's usage of star RB Ken Walker
NFL picks Week 6: Experts favoring 49ers over Seahawks for TNF matchup
Ryan Grubb comments on awful playcalling performance against the Giants
