'Renewed' Seahawks secondary enjoying throwback offseason

Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll talks with coaches during organized team activities practice at Virginia Mason Athletic Center in Renton on Wednesday, June 1, 2016. Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll talks with coaches during organized team activities practice at Virginia Mason Athletic Center in Renton on Wednesday, June 1, 2016. Photo: Grant Hindsley, SEATTLEPI.COM Photo: Grant Hindsley, SEATTLEPI.COM Image 1 of / 33 Caption Close 'Renewed' Seahawks secondary enjoying throwback offseason 1 / 33 Back to Gallery

RENTON -- The new Seahawks "Legion of Boom" secondary will look a lot like the old "Legion of Boom" secondary.

Following the re-signing of cornerback Jeremy Lane and the addition of cornerback Brandon Browner two years after he left Seattle via free agency, the Seahawks' secondary in Week 1 of the 2016 season will likely resemble the one that took the field at the beginning of their Super Bowl-winning 2013 campaign.

Browner was a founding member of the unit that grew to refer to itself as the "L.O.B." along with cornerback Richard Sherman, free safety Earl Thomas and strong safety Kam Chancellor. But for parts of last offseason, the secondary bore little resemblance to the one that many regarded as the best in the game.

Though they took part in voluntary workouts last year, both Sherman (elbow) and Chancellor (knee) were coming off serious injuries, while Thomas (shoulder) and Lane (knee, arm) were sidelined after undergoing surgery. Thomas wouldn't get back onto the field until training camp, while Lane didn't return until late November.

Speaking with reporters after the Seahawks' second open organized team activities (OTA) session at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center on Wednesday, Sherman said this offseason felt like a return to form.

"Yeah, I guess it's back to normal," Sherman said. "That was one odd year of being injured. Guys are a lot more healthy this year. We have more guys here this year, obviously, and guys are just competing."

The return of a healthy Sherman, Chancellor, Thomas and Lane -- as well as re-introducing Browner to the mix -- has been a welcome change from 2015, according to head coach Pete Carroll.

"You can imagine the offseason we had last year when Earl was hurt and Richard was hurt and Kam was hurt. All those guys were banged up, and Jeremy Lane of course -- he had a terrible time just trying to make it back," Carroll said after practice last week. "Those guys are having great offseasons. All of that, you can feel the energy that they bring."

With injuries to their veteran leaders -- and with Chancellor's contract-related holdout that cost him all of training camp and the preseason as well as the team's first two regular-season games -- Seattle's young players had an opportunity to take increased snaps in the early part of the season, particularly in practice.

And while they took their lumps in come-from-ahead losses to the Rams, Packers, Bengals and Panthers early in the season, the depth built up behind the starters is beginning to show up, with the 2016 defensive backfield looking as competitive as any position group on the roster.

"It's more the continuity of it than the depth. We've just got more of the same guys," Sherman said. "The guys that have been here, that have put in the work, that have grown with the program are starting to flourish, and we're excited to see that."

With all the talk of how much difficulty the team faced last offseason -- not to mention the 2-4 start to the regular season -- it's easy to forget that the Seahawks' defense had another standout year statistically. It ranked second -- behind only the Super Bowl-champion Denver Broncos -- in both passing yards allowed and total yards allowed, while leading the league in scoring defense for the fourth straight season.

According to Sherman, that scrutiny is simply a product of the heightened expectations for the group.

"An off year for us is being No. 2 in pass defense and No. 2 in total yards," he said. "That's a

bad year for us."

After back-to-back Super Bowl appearances, the team had a longer-than-usual offseason following their divisional round defeat to the Panthers in January, which saw Seattle surrender 31 first-half points before shutting out Carolina in the second half ("They made a few plays, we made a few mistakes," Sherman said.)

While the Seahawks certainly would have like to have made their third Super Bowl appearance in a row, Sherman said the extra rest has had a rejuvenating effect on the veteran secondary.

"Guys just come back renewed," he said. "We had two years of going to the wire, and that's just -- you beat your body up to a certain degree playing that long. This year we got -- what, two or three, three extra weeks off? That does a lot for the mentality and the body. Just let your body rest.

"You always want to make it to the Super Bowl and win it and do all that," he continued. "But there was a silver lining of sorts for us not making it last year and letting guys rest their bodies and their minds, because that's a lot of football on your body after a while. So guys got to heal, guys got to sit back, enjoy their families for a second and come back renewed."

Seattle's final open OTA session will take place on June 9, with the team's mandatory minicamp June 14-16.

Visit seattlepi.com for more Seattle Seahawks news. Contact sports editor Stephen Cohen at stephencohen@seattlepi.com or @scohenPI.