Has Josh Jobe earned a starting job in the Seattle Seahawks secondary?

As expected, Macdonald made no guarantees about Jobe’s status, and he certainly wouldn’t announce him as a starter two weeks before Seattle’s next game in San Francisco. There’s time not to rush to judgment and tearing down films in the coming days will be part of the equation.

But Macdonald made it happen reward players who earn reps on the practice field a priority, evidenced by Jobe starting each of Brown’s last two weeks despite the latter being active and eligible. While Brown’s health has been cited as the reason for this, the fact that he has not played evenly in either of the previous two games proves that Jobe has earned the trust of the coaching staff and thus earned more opportunities to play.

“You have to earn it every day in practice. That is the message,” Macdonald said on Monday. “Guys who bring it every day and show up at practice and show up in games and help us win, they’re going to play. When you take a step back, you have to be accountable.”

With those odds, while he wasn’t perfect and allowed a few explosive receptions in coverage of a Week 8 loss to the Bills, it’s safe to say Jobe not only showed up, but exceeded expectations, making it will be much more difficult for Macdonald and his staff to return Brown to his previous starting spot. Or, from a glass-half-full mindset, easier to wait things out and make sure Brown is fully healthy.

Through three starts, Jobe has allowed just seven catches on 16 targets, including one reception on four targets for 16 yards in Sunday’s loss to the Rams. Those receptions have turned into 129 yards and north of 18 yards per reception, but he hasn’t given up a touchdown, shutting out Josh Allen on a near defensive touchdown two weeks ago, and has three pass breakups, which is an excellent passer rating of 46.1 produces. in terms of coverage.

Even considering a still-small sample size with 108 shots in coverage so far, Jobe ranks second in passer rating allowed, behind only Bears star Jaylon Johnson, according to the Pro Football Focus chart. He also ranks fifth in completion percentage (43.8 percent) and 14th in forced incompletion percentage (19 percent). Despite playing less than half the games of his peers at cornerback, he also has the same number of pass breakups as Woolen and Devon Witherspoon.

Of course, context matters and should be considered in conjunction with raw statistics. On one of the fouls thrown in Jobe’s direction yesterday, Rams receiver Tutu Atwell would have had a first down on the sideline, only to drop a well-thrown ball from Matthew Stafford. He also had a pass interference penalty on Cooper Kupp in the red zone that led to a touchdown pass to Demarcus Robinson to open the third quarter.

Still, Brown wasn’t exactly tearing up before injuring his ankle in a loss to the Giants in Week 5, posting a 136.6 passer rating in coverage with two touchdowns and 15.4 yards per reception allowed. That could be part of the reason why the Seahawks were hesitant to bring him back into action at all.

If Macdonald really wants to run a ship where players earn opportunities based on merit and not predisposed status, sending Jobe back to the bench when he has played quite well in Brown’s place would contradict that message and potentially have a detrimental impact on the player’s position. Seattle’s locker room.

Having lost five of their previous six games, the Seahawks have no shortage of concerns that will need to be addressed by the coaching staff and front office in the coming days. On the plus side, Jobe’s standout play has created a positive dilemma to be resolved, and it will be interesting to see if Macdonald continues to back up his words by giving him a starting job that he has rightly earned and at the very least to stay at the top. hands for now.

‘Not yet’: O-Line continues to prevent Seahawks from reaching their potential

Game Summary: Seahawks fall short in crushing OT loss to Rams

Quick reaction: Turnover haunts Geno Smith, Seahawks in 26-20 loss to Rams