Stealing Green Seahawks Third-Round Draft Pick Has All The Moves, Speed Of A First-Rounder

Seventy-five players went before he did in the National Football League draft.

More than one steady observer at training camp with the Seattle Seahawks is willing to bet that there aren’t 75 more valuable rookies in the NFL.

Ahman Green, at least from the vantage point of early preseason, is a steal.

You saw it last Friday night, when Green, doing what great running backs do, found a way to get into the end zone from the 11 after he appeared trapped by the Dallas Cowboys defense.

The great ones are a blend of speed, deception, smoke and mirrors. Ahman Green, like Curt Warner in the 1980s, can turn a sure loss into 4-yard gain.

Here may be the Curt Warner of the ‘90s, only bigger and faster.

Green flashed Warner-like instincts against the Cowboys, averaging 4.5 yards a carry when no other Seahawks back averaged more than 2.8.

The potential goes back on display tonight when the Seahawks take on the Indianapolis Colts in the Kingdome.

His TD run “was more instinct than anything,” Green said this week as the Seahawks wrapped up preparations at Eastern Washington University for their second preseason game. “It was an inside play. I hit up the middle but there was nothing there. So instinct tells you to take it outside.

“That’s what I did. One of the guys out on the edge, my tight end or my tackle, held his guy just long enough.

“The other guy I just outran.”

Green will do that with 4.34 speed in the 40. And that 4.34 might not reflect how blazing his speed really is.

“I did 4.34 at the (scouting) combine (before the draft),” he said. “In my personal workout I improved that to a 4.18.”

We’ve seen it on the run. Green can also jazz up the passing game.

“Me going out as an extra receiver is going to be an advantage to the team,” said the Seahawks’ third-round draft pick out of Nebraska. “We have so much speed at receiver. I’m going to add the extra gear coming out of the backfield. Maybe it’ll be a 5-yard out, or maybe it’ll be all the way to the end zone.”

Green doesn’t lack for speed or confidence. For those who like more humble heroes, consider that he could be in a funk right now, brooding about the money he could have made as a first- or second-round pick.

“I wasn’t surprised by that at all,” he said, after declaring his eligibility after his junior year with the Cornhuskers. “I did what I could control. I worked out. I got drafted. That’s all I wanted. It didn’t matter to me if I was the first pick or the last pick. As long as I got drafted, I was happy.”

After running for 42 touchdowns and nearly 4,000 yards in three seasons - and averaging 6.8 yards a pop last year on an unbeaten team - you weren’t the least bit disappointed?

“My family was,” Green allowed. “Personally I wasn’t, really. I respect what comes to me and roll with the punches.”

Green is used to winning. The last time the Seahawks made the playoffs he was 11. Still, he likes what he sees on the practice field.

“There’s a big-time winning atmosphere out here,” he said. “We have guys who’ve been to the big game (Ricky Watters and Brian Habib are two newcomers who played on a winning Super Bowl team). We’ve got the talent and the chemistry.

“Now, we’ve just got to put it together.”