Courtland Sutton Jersey Elite from elaine's blog

Richard Sherman locked down the left cornerback spot in Seattle's defensive backfield from the moment he took over as a starter in the middle of the 2011 season until he went down with a torn Achilles last November.

He made the Pro Bowl four times and was a first-team All-Pro on three occasions over his last six seasons with the Seahawks.

But with Sherman now in San Francisco, the Seahawks are asking Shaquill Griffin to move across to the left side as the team's top cornerback. It's a lot of responsibility for a second-year player.

"It's a little different step for me, but nothing that I can't focus on," Griffin said. "But I'm loving the left side and I'm honored to be on that side now. I'm here to help my team any way I can."

When Sherman was injured last season, Griffin remained on the right side of the defense with Jeremy Lane and Byron Maxwell taking over for Sherman on the left side.

With an offseason to adjust, the Seahawks decided to move Griffin to the left side and allow Maxwell to return to the right side where he started 17 games for Seattle over two seasons in 2013 and 2014.

"We think Maxie has done a really nice job on the other side, and we thought if we're going to balance it out and open it up (for competition), let's open it up on the right side and see what happens," coach Pete Carroll said.

Griffin was a third-round pick of the Seahawks last season and managed to work his way into the starting lineup after the first month of the season. He started 11 games and had 59 tackles with an interception and a sack in his rookie season.

The team has since added Shaquill's brother, Shaquem, to the linebacking group, selecting him in the fifth round of this year's draft. While Shaquem has received the headlines for making the NFL despite having his left hand amputated as a child, Shaquill will likely be the more important piece to Seattle's defense in 2018.

"He has been really comfortably involved with everything." Carroll said of Griffin. "He just looks like he's a veteran. He grew a ton out of last season."

Griffin said he's trying to be more of a leader this season with the lingering uncertainty of Kam Chancellor's playing future following a neck injury and Earl Thomas' holdout Authentic John Ross Jersey , plus Sherman's departure to the 49ers.

Add in the departures of Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett along the defensive line and that's five former Pro Bowlers not a part of Seattle's defense.

"It's just telling me I've got to play more of a leadership role and I'm looking forward to doing so," he said. "We've got some guys who are willing to step up and pull some of the weight and take care of their part. We're not going to miss a beat. We're not going to miss a step."

Griffin has been on the left side throughout the team's offseason activities and Carroll said he's had no issues making the transition.

"Physically it was no problem, he had played back and forth in earlier years," Carroll said. "His mentality about it was fine, he was wide open to it. That's most of it.

"If a guy feels uncomfortable and he's telling you he's feeling uncomfortable, then he is. He never balked at it at all, and there's no signs of any evidence at all that it's going to be a problem."

NOTES: Carroll said all players that were on hand for their three-day minicamp should be ready to go for the start of training camp from a health standpoint. That doesn't include S Kam Chancellor, who is awaiting tests on his neck to see if he can continue his football career, or DT Malik McDowell, who was injured in an incident prior to his rookie season and missed the entire year on the non-football injury list.

The native Nigerian, who learned American-style football as a college student in Canada, is entering his third NFL season as an established starter upon whom the Saints are increasingly comfortable relying to plug up rushing lanes or make quarterbacks uncomfortable when they drop back to pass.

"We certainly look at him that way," Saints defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said after practice on Monday evening. "He's established himself as a starting caliber defensive lineman in our league and he's certainly going to be a big part of what we're trying to get accomplished this year."

Onyemata Adidas Mark Stone Jersey , 25, always looked the part at 6-foot-4, 325 pounds. That's a big reason the Saints decided it would be worthwhile to use a fourth-round draft choice on him in 2016.

But Onyemata never envisioned an NFL playing career when he went to college in western Canada. He was there to study, and took up football because he was looking for an interesting way to diversify his college experience outside the classroom. He'd played soccer growing up, and was ready to try something new that perhaps suited his body type.

Ultimately, his academics-first approach to college 鈥?he earned a bachelor's degree in environmental science 鈥?might have aided his adjustment to the NFL.

"For a guy that had played as little football as he had, there was some terminology things that he had to learn ... but I wouldn't say that was any slower than it was for maybe any other rookie that we've had," Allen recalled. "So I think that's one of the things that's allowed him to be maybe as productive for us as he has, is that he is smart and learns really well. He's not a repeat-mistake offender."

Onyemata played in all 16 regular season games in 2017, starting the last six. He had 40 tackles, two sacks and one batted pass.

This past offseason, Onyemata took some time to return home in March to see family and friends in Africa, but also spent a lot of time in Baton Rouge Youth Jaire Alexander Jersey , working with long-time defensive line coach Pete Jenkins on more nuanced aspect of his position, such as his initial movements at the snap and how to use his hands to improve leverage.

"Just having the mindset to get better and work on things you're not good at 鈥?that has been the goal," Onyemata said, adding that he now has a strong command of New Orleans' defensive scheme and the terminology used to call it. "You know what they're asking you to do and you know what they're expecting you to do, so you just go out there and do your job."

Saints center Max Unger was in his second season in New Orleans in 2016 and has witnessed Onyemata's evolution as a football player up close.

"The accent's still there," Unger said, but quickly added, "He's becoming, I think, the player that a lot of people thought that he was going to be and it's impressive to see his development, especially coming down from Canada and not having a lot of football under his belt.

"It's tough to go against, honestly," Unger continued. "I mean Courtland Sutton Jersey Elite , look at him. He's a big, fast, physical guy that just needs to play as much football as he can. Again, it's a big jump to come into this league and I think that he has progressed pretty rapidly."

Unger said Onyemata's growth is evident in his awareness of what offenses are trying to do and how to defend it.

"You can be fast, you can be physical, but not knowing where the ball is, as a D-lineman, I guess is half the battle," Unger said, adding the Onyemata is also better at disguising his own intentions before the snap. "All of those things, he's showing pretty rapid improvement in."