NFL Seattle Seahawks

Seattle Seahawks: Cooper Helfet’s Time Has Finally Come

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By @The12thDude

Seahawks' tight end Cooper Helfet

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Cooper Helfet is a familiar name to Seattle Seahawks fans, but the third-year tight end has spent his career bouncing on and off of Seattle’s practice squad. Helfet officially made his regular season debut against the Denver Broncos two weeks ago, but his first true action will come in just two days on Monday Night Football.

An injury to starting tight end Zach Miller has bumped second-year tight end Luke Willson up to the No. 1 spot, which leaves Helfet as the Seahawks’ No. 2 tight end until Miller returns. Miller is a Swiss Army Knife type of player — he blocks defensive ends and linebackers one-on-one and is generally viewed as one of the best blocking tight ends in the NFL – but he also possesses the ability to run down the field and make plays in the clutch. Miller is a proven, yet underrated playmaker for the Seahawks’ offense. His absence will be big shoes to fill for both Willson, and Helfet, but Willson has been in this position before.

Helfet played college ball at Duke University, and he was snatched up by the Seahawks as an undrafted free agent in 2012. At 6-foot-3, 239 pounds, Helfet is probably best defined as a grinder. In preseason action, Helfet has always played well enough to make many believe that he could potentially make the 53-man roster, but he always fell short in his first two seasons. This year, however, it finally happened for Helfet, but he was inactive for the first two games of the season.

Now, Helfet has been thrust into a role where he will see extensive playing time, according to head coach Pete Carroll. After bouncing around the practice squad for two years, and finally making the final 53-man roster, only to be placed as inactive, this has got to be exciting for Helfet.

There is no bigger stage during the regular season than Monday Night Football — Helfet is well aware of that. All eyes will be on the unfamiliar tight end, but it will be encouraging to know that his sister will be standing in enemy territory watching, and cheering for her brother.

Tyson Sweet is a Seattle Seahawks writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @The12thDude, like him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google!

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