Mind Over Matter
As well as the physical ability to play the position, the mental aspect for defensive backs is still important; this is most notable in their ability to communicate and understand defensive schemes as well as the simple willingness to get involved in the run game. For the latter at least, Seymour appears to be more than up to the challenge. He was not asked to be a primary run defender enough last season to make any definitive statements about his tackling technique, but he certainly showed the willingness to engage ball carriers and actively look for work in the run game and against screens:
In terms of his ability to understand defenses, he was generally in the right place at the right time when on the field last season, but he did have a couple of communication breakdowns, most notably against Atlanta. On the first, he appears to attempt to pass off the underneath receiver and look to take away the deep third but he and Shaq Thompson end up doubling the deep receiver with the underneath route left wide open.
It isn’t clear from this whether the blame should lie with Seymour or Thompson for the initial miscommunication, but once Seymour sees that the handover has not been completed, he should look to relocate his initial receiver rather than being content to double Thompson’s man. A more serious error occurred a few plays earlier, with Seymour, Adams and Davis failing to assign the two receivers in their half of the field between them, leading to Julio Jones being wide open in the end zone.
With any miscommunication, it is hard to assign blame without detailed knowledge of the play design, but given the small number of snaps he received, there are more plays like this than one would like for Seymour.
The recent history of Panthers’ training camps suggests that as the leader among the cornerbacks entering camp, Seymour stands a good chance of emerging as the main starter – while there are things to like on tape, he will need to show significant improvement to secure a spot opposite Bradberry going forward. It is not beyond imagining that the Panthers will carry over the cornerback rotation from last season, with different players being used based on the matchup with the opposing receiver and Seymour’s ability to play both inside and out will certainly help him when it comes to making the roster. The Panthers gave up a seventh round pick for Seymour last offseason, and he certainly has played at a higher level than that suggests; however, while his play last season wasn’t bad, the Panthers will certainly be aspiring for a higher level of corner play across from Bradberry in the 2018 season, whether that is Seymour or not.
All video clips courtesy of NFL.com.
