Subscribe
NewsOne Featured Video
CLOSE

For weeks, we have heard Detroit Lions head coach Jim Caldwell speak highly of rookie cornerback and practice squad member Mohammed Seisay. On Friday afternoon, it was reported that Lions intend to promote Seisay from practice squad to main roster according to a report from Justin Rogers of MLive.com

Now when it comes to Seisay being moved up, chances are the Lions won’t make the move official until Saturday. However it does make you wonder who will be cut or at least placed on IR to make room for Seisay. Rogers of MLive.com who reported the news first about Seisay’s, has a theory that linebacker Travis Lewis, who suffered an injury last Sunday could be placed on IR, considering he has not practiced all week and that his main role is on special teams.

Regardless of who is moved, this is obviously a great and well deserved opportunity for Seisay. As I said before, Seisay was with the team during training camp. However due to the fact that he was not able to get past fellow nickel-backs Bill Bentley and Nevin Lawson, who the Lions kept as part of the final 53-man roster, Seisay was released by the team during final teams cuts. Even so, the Lions decided to bring him back as part of the practice squad in the hopes that he would continue to develop while being around some of the Lions veteran cornerbacks like Rashean Mathis and Cassisu Vaughn.

Going into their game against the Packers. Not only will Seisay help to add depth to the secondary, but he will also be another good skilled cornerback that the Lions could count on in both dime and nickel situations.

At 6-foot-2 and 206 pounds, Seisay is already big and athletic with intriguing length and solid quickness which has allowed him to develop into a solid press corner in coverage. In fact, he showed some of those skills, during preseason play, when he caught an interception, while also showing his natural ability and instincts in the open field when it came to make plays on the ball.

Then if that’s not enough, he has also proven that he is versatile enough to make an impact on special teams. You may have not noticed but special teams is the other area where Seisay made the most impact during his time with the Lions. Which is not surprising considering at Nebraska, they considered him to be “one of the Huskers’ top special-teams performers,” during his time as a Cornhusker.

If your worry about the fact that he would be possibly jumping from the practice squad to immediate game action. Keep in mind that while he may have to deal with the obvious learning curve, that all rookies deal with. He will be coming into game action, having gone up against Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson everyday in practice, which means he is not only getting continuous reps, but he is getting those reps while going up the against the best receiver in the NFL.

“[Working with Calvin] definitely killed my confidence for a little bit, because he is just the No.1 guy in the world and he is just as great at what he does.” Seisay said with slight chuckle and smile. “But [working with Calvin] definitely makes me better and it’s definitely going to help me out going up against other receivers…He gets me better everyday and you know he talks to me and gives me advice and all of that. So it’s definitely an honor to go up against one of the athletes in the world everyday and practice. Seeing that there are not many young corners who can say that, I’m going to take full advantage of it.”

While there is no doubt that Seisay has the talent to move up the to main roster, the real thing that stands out to me about him, is his drive and desire to dominate his opponent.  More importantly, he brings the leadership and “team-first” type attitude which makes him a good player but an even better teammate.

“Everyday I come here to work and to prepare like I am going to play the game, so nothing about my work ethic is going to change.” Seisay said while speaking about possibly being called up to the main roster. “I have the vets here that I look up to like Rashean [Mathis], Cassius [Vaughn] and the all the other corners we have here. Like coach [Caldwell] said, ‘someone goes down, next man goes up.’ So I’m very prepared and whatever happens, happens but every week I prepare like I will be playing a game [on Sunday].”

Well in this case, Seisay will indeed be playing on Sunday and if you ask me, I think he will be on the field for many Sundays to come.

Written by LBeasley (Lauren Beasley), Sports Editor of Radio One Detroit

For more of L-Beasley’s (Lauren Beasley) sports news and in-depth sports content, click here.

Report: Lions Expected To Promote CB Mohammed Seisay From Practice Squad  was originally published on wchbnewsdetroit.com