David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
The other day I wrote an article about how Walter Thurmond III is going to break out for the Seattle Seahawks in 2013. I was lucky enough that Thurmond himself took the time to communicate with me about his off-season and thoughts for the upcoming year. Today I am going to elaborate on how he is going to play an instrumental role for the Seahawks this season.
The only things standing between Thurmond and a potential Pro Bowl appearance, in my opinion, are Brandon Browner (a very good player in his own right) and health. Browner is currently entrenched as a starting corner along with Richard Sherman, who in my opinion has emerged as the best in the NFL, even if Skip Bayless is too idiotic to understand the quality of play of the people he interviews.
There is also the issue with Thurmond and staying healthy. However, anyone who saw the play in which he was hurt in Cleveland in 2011 will admit that it was a violent collision that would have severely injured most other players, too.
Where there is smoke, there is usually fire, but with that injury for Thurmond, it would be like my having been in an auto accident (his knee at Oregon in ’09) and then having a tree fall on my car during a tornado, parked in the driveway, and blaming it on my being accident-prone behind the wheel (his fibula/anle injury at Cleveland in’11).
I realize he was placed on injured reserve this past season, but even his head coach, Pete Carroll, said that a main reason for the hamstring injury this past year was that he was never able to get back to “full balance” from the violent fibula injury (and multiple surgeries) the year before.
We are about to embark on a season where Thurmond is healthy coming into the year.
In my 30+ years as a die-hard fan of the Seahawks, I have never seen a team as talented as the 2013 team is going to be.
Most teams can’t stand an injury to more than one of their superstars and still expect to win the Super Bowl. However, the Seahawks will be able to win the final game in New Jersey next season even if they lose their starting quarterback (since Matt Flynn is such a capable back-up), or either of their Pro Bowl caliber cornerbacks (since Thurmond is that good).
These Seahawks are going to be loaded and when you have a Pro Bowl talent like Thurmond who is currently expected to be depth, at least to start the season, you know you’re in for a special season.
If you’re looking for other tidbits of information directly from Thurmond – the best receiver he said he has ever faced is Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals. Ironically, I remember watching a game a couple of years ago and Thurmond seemed to stick to Fitzgerald like glue when they were matched up against each other.
This was also the moment I realized how special he was going to be. I had been a fan before, but seeing him against Fitzgerald made me extra excited about his potential.
Thurmond is also in the mix to be returning punts for the Seahawks this season. One way or another, he is going to make an impact and when he does, most people are going to wonder where he came from, except for a few of us.
