Ted’s Talk: Predicting Nehemiah Pritchett’s rookie season

With pick No. 136 in the fifth round – a selection acquired when the Seattle Seahawks traded back from No. 102 – Seattle added to their cornerback room by taking Nehemiah Pritchett from Auburn University. Pritchett has fantastic straight-line speed and his previous kick return experience might be his ticket to making an impression as a rookie.

Athletic Profile/Comps

Relative Athletic Score (RAS)

Mockdraftable

Nehemiah Pritchett is very fast. Like 4.36 second forty with a 1.49 second 10 yard split fast. I don’t know why RAS uses 1.55 seconds on the 10 yard split because Mockdraftable and the NFL Combine site both show 1.49 seconds.

In fact, if we build the RAS card using the lower split, we get a better result…and another green overall player!

So, yeah, Pritchett has elite speed.

If you want another way to quantify that, Pritchett clocked the third-fastest MPH by a CB at the 2024 NFL Combine.

Besides his wheels, Pritchett is a bit of a mixed bag in terms of athletic profile. His RAS shows “good” size but the Mockdraftable spider graph reveals below average length and very small hands. Pritchett also is just “okay” in terms of explosion and agility. His overall RAS is good (if we use the 1.49 second split), no doubt buoyed by the elite speed.

Comps-wise, Chimdi Chekwa was on both the RAS and Mockdraftable lists so we should take a closer look at that one.

Pritchett and Chekwa are nearly dead ringers for size, speed, and vertical. They would be even closer if this used the 1.49 second split for Pritchett. Chekwa had a much better broad jump but didn’t have any agility scores.

I don’t even know why I thought to run this next comparison but the overall RAS is very close so I figured I would share it. I apologize in advance.

Gut reaction to the pick

Depth at cornerback was an underrated long-term need for the Seahawks heading into the draft, so the selection of Pritchett wasn’t a huge surprise. Really, Devon Witherspoon is the only CB that I feel confident saying that the new coaching staff has written in pen as a 2024 starter – and if he continues to get snaps at nickel, that opens opportunities on the outside.

I’d like to think that Riq Woolen will man one of the starting outside CB spots…and he probably will. However, he took a step back in some areas such as tackling in 2023 and needs to prove himself in Mike Macdonald’s defense. Tre Brown, Mike Jackson, and Artie Burns are only under contract for 2024. Coby Bryant might be solely a safety. Adding Pritchett to the competition makes sense given the murky future at the cornerback position.

Plus, he’s had some good stretches in college.

Pritchett also returned kicks for Auburn in 2021 with 10 returns for 313 yards. That might be a way to get his elite speed on the field with the new-look kickoffs this season.

Rookie season prediction

Special teams, special teams, special teams. That’s how I see Pritchett making an impact as a rookie. With all the competition in the CB room, his roster spot isn’t assured – yet, Pritchett has an inside track to making the team due to his elite speed and cheap rookie contract. He should provide depth at outside CB but can truly show off his skills on the special teams units. Maybe they let him return kicks? If not, he should be a great candidate as a gunner on the punt teams with his speed. I expect Pritchett to play less than 50 snaps on defense but still be a presence on special teams and log 10 total tackles between defense and coverage units. If they allow him to return kicks, he’ll average 25 yards per return but won’t make a house call.