Do the Seahawks’ CB target rates warrant concern

The answer to that question might surprise you

The recent focus on (and scrutiny of) the Seattle Seahawks cornerbacks got me curious about something . . .

How often are opposing quarterbacks targeting Seattle’s cornerbacks, and is that something the 12s should be concerned about?

I don’t necessarily mean targeting from a volume standpoint (ex. Devon Witherspoon was targeted 4 times on Sunday whereas Tariq Woolen was targeted 7 times), but rather from a percentage standpoint – which may or may not align with volume.

Let’s start by looking at Week 1, aka the only game that Devon Witherspoon wasn’t on the field:

Note 1: Raw data was pulled from Pro Football Focus (PFF); target rates were hand-calculated using the PFF data.

Note 2: Target rate is simply the number of targets divided by the number of coverage snaps a given player has/had.

Tre Brown

• Total snaps: 61
• Coverage snaps: 31
• Targets: 4
• Target rate: 12.9%

Michael Jackson

• Total snaps: 21
• Coverage snaps: 11
• Targets: 1
• Target rate: 9.1%

Artie Burns

• Total snaps: 18
• Coverage snaps: 16
• Targets: 1
• Target rate: 6.3%

Riq Woolen

• Total snaps: 81
• Coverage snaps: 39
• Targets: 2
• Target rate: 5.1%

Note 1: I was originally going to list the players alphabetically (by last name) but realized that listing them by target rate was far more interesting and relevant.

Note 2: The target rates won’t add up to anywhere close to 100% since we’re not including the safeties, linebackers, or defensive linemen who sometimes end up in coverage

Main Takeaway(s): The Rams tested the player they didn’t have a lot of tape on (Tre Brown) and largely avoided the player that finished 3rd in the DROY voting last seasoN

Next, let’s look at Week 2 through Week 4, aka the three games that Devon Witherspoon played leading into Seattle’s Week 5 bye:

Artie Burns

• Total snaps: 84 (Weeks 2 & 3; DNP Week 4)
• Coverage snaps: 69
• Targets: 14 (13 of those were vs. Carolina Week 3)
• Target rate: 20.3%

Devon Witherspoon

• Total snaps: 220
• Coverage snaps: 152
• Targets: 22 (13 of them vs. Carolina in Week 3)
• Target rate: 14.5%

Riq Woolen

• Total snaps: 84 (injured Week 2, missed Week 3)
• Coverage snaps: 58
• Targets: 8
• Target rate: 13.8%

Tre Brown

• Total snaps: 72 (injured Week 3, missed Week 4)
• Coverage snaps: 43
• Targets: 5 (Week 2, no targets Week 3)
• Target rate: 11.6%

Michael Jackson

• Total snaps: 125 (0 defensive snaps Week 2)
• Coverage snaps: 101
• Targets: 9
• Target rate: 8.9%

Lance Boykin

• Total snaps: 2 (Week 4 vs. New York)
• Coverage snaps: 0
• Targets: 0
• Target rate: 0.0%

Main Takeaway(s): (1) Andy Dalton threw the ball 58 times in Week 3 and 26 of those passes were in the direction of Devon Witherspoon and Artie Burns (!!!), and (2) Michael Jackson’s target rate was basically unchanged (9.1% Week 1 vs. 8.9% Weeks 2-4)

Now, let’s look at Week 6 through Week 8, aka all of the post-bye games except the most recent one:

Riq Woolen

• Total snaps: 196
• Coverage snaps: 120
• Targets: 17 (10 of them vs. Cincinnati in Week 6)
• Target rate: 14.2%

Devon Witherspoon

• Total snaps: 196
• Coverage snaps: 114
• Targets: 13
• Target rate: 11.4%

Tre Brown

• Total snaps: 102
• Coverage snaps: 72
• Targets: 8
• Target rate: 11.1%

Michael Jackson

• Total snaps: 12 (8 of them came against Cincinnati in Week 6)
• Coverage snaps: 10
• Targets: 1 (versus Arizona in Week 7)
• Target rate: 10.0%

Kyu Blu Kelly

• Total snaps: 1 (versus Arizona in Week 7)
• Coverage snaps: 1
• Targets: 0
• Target rate: 0.0%

Main Takeaway(s): The coaches had clearly settled on a Top 3 coming out of the bye: Woolen, Witherspoon, and Brown; only 13 total defensive snaps (11 coverage snaps) went to Seattle’s backup CBs over these 3 games.

Last, but not least, let’s look at the most recent game, aka the 37-3 shellacking in Baltimore:

Riq Woolen

• Total snaps: 65
• Coverage snaps: 35
• Targets: 7
• Target rate: 20.0%

Tre Brown

• Total snaps: 53
• Coverage snaps: 30
• Targets: 4
• Target rate: 13.3%

Devon Witherspoon

• Total snaps: 76
• Coverage snaps: 36
• Targets: 4
• Target rate: 11.1%

Michael Jackson

• Total snaps: 11
• Coverage snaps: 2
• Targets: 0
• Target rate: 0.0%

__________

Main Takeaway(s): The targeting numbers only tell part of the story, but the targets are the story today (or, rather, the target rate is) so we’re not going to dig any deeper (unless it’s in the Comments).