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Kam Chancellor’s departure leaves Seattle nearly 'Boom-less'
Kam Chancellor's NFL career appears to be over. Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

Kam Chancellor’s departure leaves Seattle nearly 'Boom-less'

This past Sunday, four-time Pro Bowl safety Kam Chancellor made official what fans, the team and even Chancellor himself feared for months — that the neck injury he sustained in November will curtail what has already been a remarkable playing career at the age of 30. 

Just weeks ahead of Seahawks training camp, Chancellor desperately hoped for signs of improvement so he could return to the field. Doctors, however, indicated his most recent test showed no signs of healing, and the risk of permanent paralysis is too great to clear him.

Chancellor is just the latest founding member of the Legion of Boom to leave Seattle. His reason is more tragic than the others. The message he posted on Twitter was heartfelt yet also filled with frustration at facing the swift end of his life’s work. It closes with a haunting message that should dig at all football fans: “Pray for your boy. I have no idea how these head injuries will go after the game.”

Richard Sherman is now in San Francisco after a falling out with the Seahawks. Like Chancellor, his 2017 season ended in injury, though thankfully of the less debilitating sort. 

Fellow safety Earl Thomas is holding out ahead of the final year of his current contract, months after telling the Cowboys to “come get me” following a game in Dallas in December. His days as a Seahawk appear numbered.

Chancellor has been careful not to use the word retirement, instead emphasizing that he’s not medically cleared, as he’s still owed about $12 million in guaranteed money over the next two seasons as part of the extension he signed last summer. That may give the team even more pause when considering Thomas’ next contract, even if that’s a possibility with every NFL player who takes the field.

While it’s tricky and possibly even pointless to determine the most important member of the Legion of Boom, Chancellor exemplified the Boom more than anyone else. His skill set far transcended the ability to lay out receivers. That quality was among the things that made going against the Seattle secondary so intimidating and helped build the mystique of that position group.

In eight seasons, he compiled a host of highlights, including a game-clinching pick-six of Cam Newton in the playoff run leading up to Super Bowl XLIX, which would have been Seattle’s second straight championship were it not for a certain questionable goal line play call by the Seattle coaching staff.

It was a play early in that first championship that stands as the best testament to Chancellor’s hitting prowess. Seattle would eventually win that game in a blowout, but the Seahawks held a nascent 5-0 lead early in the first quarter when a historically good Denver offense went to its bread and butter: quick crossing routes and pick plays. When Chancellor smacked Demaryius Thomas to the ground following a meager gain, it signaled that the Broncos weren’t going to be able to finesse their way to victory.

Sadly, a Super Bowl championship and memorable highlight aren’t the only legacies of big hits. It’s impossible to separate a terrible neck injury from bang-bang plays that inevitably result in severe contact at dangerous angles and the body bending in ways it in no way should. The NFL is paying lip service to this with the impending crackdown on helmet hits. Unfortunately, in the current state of the game, it will just result in the league frustrating players and fans with an impossible standard for defenders. The intent would be noble if it weren’t unmistakably just the league covering itself for legal liability reasons.

The main problem with replacing Chancellor is that there’s little chance of replicating his full skill set in a single player. Five-year veteran Bradley McDougald played well in coverage in Chancellor’s absence late last season but struggled against the run. There are a few players who can help there, including incoming rookie sensation Shaquem Griffin. Again, this is a committee needed to produce the ability of a single player, meaning it will require more guesswork on the Seahawks’ part to know when to deploy which player, and their choices will make it clear to the opponent what aspect of the offense they are prioritizing to stop. The Seahawks seldom used complicated scheme in the Legion of Boom heyday. They were just plain good.

Of course, those complications are compounded by the fact that the Seahawks don’t even know if Thomas will return in time for the start of the regular season. Aside from Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner, Thomas is all that remains of the core of that Seahawks championship window. Just this offseason, the team has bid farewell to Cliff Avril, Michael Bennett, Richard Sherman, Thomas Rawls and a slew of coaches, including the infamous Darrell Bevell. For a while it seemed like Chancellor would be around to help the team transition to the next phase. Instead, the change will be that much more stark.

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