Terry Blount, ESPN Staff Writer 10y

Voters tab Paul Richardson to return kicks

If the voters were in charge of the decision, a rookie would be returning punts for the Seattle Seahawks this season.

Wide receiver Paul Richardson, the second-round draft choice from Colorado, was the clear winner in the Sound Off Saturday survey for which player you would pick to return punts for the Seahawks in 2014.

Fourteen players received at least one vote, including a couple of tongue-in-cheek votes for center Max Unger.

But Richardson received more than double the votes of any other player. Richardson received 49 percent of the total votes. Receiver Doug Baldwin was second with 21 percent of votes.

No other player received more than six percent of the vote. Receiver Percy Harvin was at 6 percent and running back Christine Michael received 5 percent of the vote.

Maybe the biggest surprise of the survey was the fact that free safety Earl Thomas only received a couple of votes. Coach Pete Carroll said last month that Thomas was the leading contender for the job, but some of the voters said it was too much of an injury risk to use the All-Pro safety as the team’s punt returner.

Wide receiver Golden Tate did an excellent job returning punts for the Seahawks last season, averaging 11.5 yards per return. But Tate signed with the Detroit Lions as a free agent.

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