Editor's note: Josh is working on an article this week that will reference some of the concepts in this piece, which was originally published back in July of 2014. It's a little outdated because of that, obviously, but the core fundamentals of the analysis remains true. Give it a read.
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I think we all knew coming out of the 2012 season that the Seahawks needed to address the nickel corner -- or, slot cornerback position -- for use against against three-wide sets or obvious passing schemes. There is no doubt that Marcus Trufant struggled at times that year, and that fans often tore their hair out on 3rd and long when the slot guy would eventually work free from coverage.