'Essential' Kelcie McCray gives Seahawks value, flexibility

Seahawks' Kelcie McCray (33) watches as Richard Sherman runs defensive drills during a pre-season practice, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016 at Virginia Mason Athletic Center. Seahawks' Kelcie McCray (33) watches as Richard Sherman runs defensive drills during a pre-season practice, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016 at Virginia Mason Athletic Center. Photo: GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI.COM Photo: GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI.COM Image 1 of / 50 Caption Close 'Essential' Kelcie McCray gives Seahawks value, flexibility 1 / 50 Back to Gallery

RENTON -- He's not Earl Thomas, nor Kam Chancellor. But that's OK. Being Kelcie McCray is good enough.

In fact, "good enough" might be selling the 27-year-old Seahawks safety short, according to McCray's defensive backfield teammate Richard Sherman.

"He's essential," Sherman said of McCray following Seattle's final training-camp practice at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center on Tuesday. "He's a huge part. He's a core member of our team. For what he gives us in terms of versatility in the back end, but also his intensity and his range on special teams."

That's quite the statement given the probability that most Seahawks fans hadn't heard of McCray when the team acquired him from the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for a 2016 fifth-round draft choice one week before the start of the 2015 regular season.

Since coming to Seattle, however, McCray has established himself as one of the team's best special-teams players, as well as the top backup to both Thomas at free safety and Chancellor at strong safety, in less than a calendar year.

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That hasn't gone unnoticed by his head coach, who labeled McCray "solid as a rock" when asked about the fifth-year pro last week.

"He is really a good football player, and we have no problem with him coming in as the third safety at either spot," Pete Carroll said. "Very accountable guy, does everything right. He is a fantastic special teams player, one of our leading special teams players. Kelcie is a really nice player and we are very lucky to have him."

The 6-f00t-2, 202-pounder entered the league as an undrafted free agent out of Arkansas State in 2012, spending his rookie season with the Miami Dolphins on injured reserve, then appearing in 15 games with the Dolphins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2013.

The Bucs traded him to Kansas City in 2014, and he established himself as a solid special-teams player with the Chiefs. But after re-signing in the offseason, he was shipped to the Seahawks on the same day teams around the league made their final cuts ahead of the 2015 season.

McCray came to Seattle to provide last-minute depth at strong safety with Chancellor in the middle of the ill-fated contract holdout that cost Chancellor all of training camp and the preseason, as well as the first two games of the regular season.

But McCray showed he was much more than just a run-of-the-mill reserve when called upon to start Seattle's final three regular-season games -- the first starts of his four-year NFL career -- in place of an injured Chancellor, beginning with a Week 15 matchup against the Cleveland Browns.

"I was always confident I could play in this league and play at this level. Never had the opportunity of starting a game until last year. It took, I would say, up to the first play. I was kind of nervous," McCray said Tuesday. "I think I made a tackle the second play of the game. That's kind of when I calmed down. I was like, 'OK, it's just football. I can do this. Put all the nerves to the side and just play ball.'"

McCray earned rave reviews from his defensive teammates and coaches for his work at strong safety at the end of the 2015 season, and the Seahawks allowed just 222 yards and 14 points per game over his three starts.

This offseason, McCray saw more reps behind Thomas at free safety. Then when Chancellor suffered a groin injury in training camp that sidelined him once again, McCray hopped into the starting role at strong safety.

In a "the-more-you-can-do" league like the NFL, McCray is proving he can do a lot.

"He's got tremendous value for our football team," defensive coordinator Kris Richard said of McCray last week. "Strong safety, free safety, he's a core guy on our special teams, and we know he has the ability to start."

McCray's ability to play both safety spots might also give the team more options when making final roster decisions ahead of the season, perhaps allowing them to keep an extra player elsewhere instead of carrying two true backup safeties.

"It does give us flexibility," Carroll said. "Where that fits in, I don't know yet, but we are definitely in good shape with him. He's taking all the reps when Kam was out of here. Really, we didn't skip a beat in terms of the calls and all that, which is great."

A year into learning the intricacies of the Seahawks defense, McCray wouldn't put himself in Thomas' or Chancellor's league in terms of system knowledge, and still relies on them for what he called "reassurance" on a play-by-play basis.

But with an entire offseason and training camp with the Seahawks behind him, McCray hopes he can be counted on by his teammates and coaches, no matter what position he's playing.

"I just want to be a guy that they can feel confident going in at either spot and producing," he said.

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