Denying DK Metcalf latest gem in rookie corner Coby Bryant’s wowing 1st Seahawks camp

Coby Bryant knows they are coming at him.

What else is new?

They’ve been coming at Bryant for years. When he was at the University of Cincinnati opponents avoided the opposite Bearcats cornerback, Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner, the fourth-overall pick in this year’s NFL draft by the New York Jets. Bryant was so good while on the spot at UC he won the 2021 Jim Thorpe Award as the nation’s best defensive back.

“Absolutely,” Bryant said, “I knew the challenge.”

Now he’s got another one.

He is lined up facing and close to DK Metcalf near the goal line in an red-zone drill. Bryant is in his first days at Seahawks training camp. The team has just minted Metcalf with a $70 million contract, with $30 million of that already deposited in the 2020 Pro Bowl wide receiver’s bank account as a signing bonus.

Bryant’s signing bonus from his rookie contract as Seattle’s fourth-round pick this spring? Just under $808,000, on top of a base salary of $705,000.

Drew Lock sees the matchup outside to his right. The 25-year-old quarterback has started 21 NFL games, for Denver until he arrived in Seattle in March as part of the Russell Wilson trade. Lock’s enough of a veteran to see Metcalf on a rookie cornerback and salivate.

At the snap, the 6-foot-4, 235-pound Metcalf lowers his shoulders and charges at Bryant like an angry mountain goat. Bryant, 6-1 and 193 pounds, leans in to meet the blow with one of his own. Then he turns and zooms with Metcalf, who has dreams of making the Olympics as a sprinter. They are stride for stride, shoulder to shoulder, into the end zone.

Undrafted rookie safety Joey Blunt is running over to where Lock was about to throw the ball. Blunt yells out “Ball!” to Bryant, to get his defensive mate’s head turned back around to the ball before it arrives. Bryant’s already done that. He perfectly times his leap to match Metcalf’s as the pass arrives.

Yes, Lock’s throw could be higher to let only Metcalf (vertical leap: 40 1/2 inches) catch it. Yet the play Bryant makes to knock the ball away from Metcalf at the right sideline of the end zone is brilliant. It’s another in a series of such plays he’s made in the first week of his first NFL training camp.

There’s been a young star shining through the first week of Seahawks camp. He’s named after an NBA legend.

“I knew that when he was coming over, (that) they were going to test me just because he’s a great receiver and like I said, I’m a rookie so I’m still trying to earn my name,” Bryant, wearing Kobe Bryant’s old Lakers jersey number 8 as a Seahawk, said. “He has earned his stripes in the NFL. I’m still trying to put my name out there.”

Oh, his name is way out there.

The competition’s on

Seattle’s supposed three-man competition for a pair of starting cornerback jobs is now four. Bryant has been the best in camp at playing the ball in the air at the left-cornerback spot.

Really, this competition now has five guys in it. Tall, supersonic Tariq Woolen, whom the Seahawks drafted one round after Bryant in April, was with Bryant on the starting defense for the first time in 11-on-11 scrimmaging Thursday.

That was with veteran Artie Burns getting a rest day. Burns has been fast and sharp in his first Seahawks camp arriving in free agency from Chicago. And near the end of Thursday’s practice, 2021 starter Sidney Jones was walking into the team facility with a trainer.

Coach Pete “Always Compete” Carroll has turned up the heat on Jones (who made two more strong plays knocking an end-zone pass away from Metcalf and another in the red zone Thursday against Noah Fant), Burns and second-year man Tre Brown to win two jobs.

“The creativity and the play-making ability that Coby brings, you know, is obvious,” Carroll said. “He’s got incredible hands and play-making ability on the ball. You can already see that.

“We have not had a guy more physically able than Tariq. He’s long and tall and really fast. He’s a natural mover. He’s smart and gets it.”

Brown has yet to practice in training camp. The team’s fourth-round pick in 2021 was starting last year until he needed knee surgery in November. He’s on the physically-unable-to-perform list.

“I just have to step up to the test,” Bryant said. “And obviously, that’s what this culture is about: competition and competing.

“So, when guys like that step up to the plate and test me, I’m going to go up for the ball as well and make a play.”

How does Bryant think he’s doing on the tests from Lock, still-first-team quarterback Geno Smith and the offense each practice?

“I feel like I’ve been passing the test,” Bryant said.

“Just constantly making plays on the ball. I know the NFL is big on making plays on the ball for defensive backs. Like I said, I’m just trying to get my name out there to inform people that I can compete and make plays on balls.

“Obviously, there’s more work to be done. I’m just keeping my head down and continuously working.”

Carroll’s view

An even better indication of how Bryant is excelling comes from the Seahawks’ 70-year-old head coach.

Carroll was a college defensive back and began his coaching career as a defensive backs coach. He still regularly gets into the individual cornerback drills and meetings with new secondary coach Karl Scott. So Carroll is keenly aware of every cornerback’s progress and weaknesses learning his unique, step-kick technique of staying tight then turning and running with receivers off the line of scrimmage.

“He stays on us,” Bryant said.

Could Bryant be starting when Seattle’s games get real Sept. 12 against Wilson and the Denver Broncos?

Carroll isn’t saying no.

“The best thing about that is it’s a competition,” the coach said before he went into a five-day quarantine for a positive COVID-19 test that is expected to end Friday. “We want to give them a lot of chances to make sure we see those guys. We gather a lot of good information against the best guys we can put him against. And we’ll see what happens, you know.

“I’m not worried about how old the guy is, I never have. It just depends on how far he comes. ...There is no rush into making this decision at all. It’s just we got to do a nice job of repping them.”

While Carroll waits to decide the two winners to this cornerback derby, how is Bryant measuring success each day? Does he have daily goals in his first NFL camp?

“Absolutely.,” Bryant said. “You just said it, just having daily goals. Doing something different that I didn’t do the day before.

“Coach Scott always comes up to me: ‘What do you want to work on today?’ I have to hone in on that, on what I’m working on, and try to succeed in that area, and get better.

“I’m just taking it one day at a time. I’m pretty confident in myself. And I’m pretty confident in the coaches that they’re going to prepare me for whatever they ask me to do, I’m going to do.”