Seahawks’ strong secondary extends beyond Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas

RENTON, Wash. – Tharold Simon never started a game in his NFL career until Week 7 of this season, when he finally got to line up opposite Richard Sherman in Seattle’s secondary.

Simon was fully aware of what that meant: lots of passes were about to be thrown his way.

“It’s actually fun. You want to get challenged and that’s the big thing about it. You don’t want to go out there and be bored,” Simon said. “(Sherman) likes to be challenged, too, every day. That’s fun when you go out there and you know they won’t challenge him too much. It just gives you more of an opportunity to go out there and show the people what you can do, show yourself, your coaches what you can do out there and go out there and have fun.”

Sherman will always receive the majority of the attention in Seattle’s secondary. But the unwillingness of quarterbacks to challenge Sherman this season – beginning with the opener against Green Bay – has created opportunities for Simon and Byron Maxwell to show off their skills.

So far, they’ve matched what’s become the standard set by Seattle’s talented secondary, helping the Seahawks have the No. 1 pass defense in the NFL.

“Every corner we have in here, every DB, it’s just greatness in that room,” Seattle free safety Earl Thomas said. “Everybody is absorbed in that room because we really love what we’re doing.”