Seattle Seahawks safety Coby Bryant is going underrated as a free agent in offseason projections due to broadcast angles and the generationally loaded defensive back room he just played in.

PFF posted an article labeling an underrated free agent at each defensive position group, and picked Coby Bryant for safety. Their grading system has been high on his contributions the last two seasons, giving him a 72.7 grade in 1,163 snaps since the start of 2024- good enough to rank 15th/66 and 22nd/65 safeties who’ve played at least 50% of an average team’s snaps. Playing a ton on his rookie contract already makes him valuable, and being above-average while doing so has gone relatively uncelebrated within the Seahawks community- but the fact that he did it immediately after switching to the position from cornerback? That’s what makes it so underrated.

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The most interesting part of the PFF article, though, is that they “it’s likely he has not quite reached his full potential as a defensive back.” They mention that he’s only turning 27 in March and think he has a bright career as an above-average safety for years to come. This reminds me of something Mike Macdonald said about his defensive structure during the playoffs–

“If you can defend the run in split-safety, that’s some high-powered stuff.”

Bryant was essential to this exact high-powered stuff the Seahawks’ head coach is talking about, but it’s easy to see why fans might not know so, and PFF does. The broadcast cameras don’t always show the two high safeties in their frame of view, so it looks like Bryant is just getting to the run plays late. In reality, he’s coming downhill at an elite level and enabling the players who show up on the screen to make the flashier plays.

Bryant isn’t even a top 4 defensive back by name-brand recognition on the roster- he’d be behind Devon Witherspoon, Nick Emmanwori, Tariq Woolen, and Julian Love- but he’s been awesome in the roles he’s given. The common argument you’ll hear ahead of free agency is that the Seahawks “seemed fine” when Ty Okada stepped in, which looked the case to the untrained eye- but losing a player like Bryant could prove his impact to be bigger than is now realized.

This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Seahawks safety Coby Bryant is an underrated NFL free agent