Battle-Tested Nehemiah Pritchett ‘Making Heck of a Case' for Expanded Role in Seahawks’ Defense

In the heat of a smoky eighth training camp practice on Monday, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett walked up towards the line of scrimmage on the left side of the formation tasked with one of the toughest assignments in the NFL: trying to cover Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Smith-Njigba initially took an inside release, working his way down the hash before cutting back outside on a corner route. Staying with the reigning Offensive Player of the Year in phase, Pritchett hung in the receiver’s hip pocket out of Smith-Njigba’s stem, putting himself in solid position to be able to make a play on the football.

However, as Smith-Njigba seemingly did to every cornerback who tried to cover him last season, the All-Pro gained a couple steps of separation with his elite quickness out of his break, becoming more than open enough for Sam Darnold to pull the trigger from the pocket. After a subtle push off on Pritchett that may or may not have been flagged in a game situation, he hauled in a long pass from the quarterback and turned up the sideline for a 50-yard touchdown.

Such is life trying to contain the NFL’s receiving yardage leader, something Pritchett knows all too well from battling against him in practice during his two-plus seasons in Seattle, including getting torched in a one-on-one rep in Tuesday’s session. But for the third-year defender, who finds himself entrenched in a competition for the No. 3 cornerback spot this summer, learning to play the game with short-term memory has been critical, understanding that those experiences on the practice field against Smith-Njigba, speedster Rashid Shaheed, and others in a deep Seattle receiving corps will best prepare him for what he will face on Sundays.