Why did pass-rush needy Seahawks just cut pass rusher Marcus Smith?

The Seahawks, the remade team in need of as many capable pass rushers as they can find, just gave up on a pass rusher in whom they had invested time, money and hope.

The team made the surprising announcement Friday before leaving for Saturday’s preseason game at the Los Angeles Chargers it had terminated the contract of veteran former Eagles first-round pick Marcus Smith. The move came days after Smith was getting first-team snaps at defensive end, and with Dion Jordan, another edge rusher in Seattle’s plans, out indefinitely with a stress fracture in his leg.

Coach Pete Carroll explained the abrupt decision as a “personal” issue and that Smith not only understood the move but agreed with Seattle cutting him.

“There were some personal reasons that came into it,” Carroll said. “He’s been a great kid in the program, and all.

“All things considered—and this is as far as I am going with it—it was the right thing to do. He understood and he agreed with it.”

When asked if the release was his choice, the Seahawks’ or a mutual decision, Carroll thought a second and said, “We talked. We talked, really, the whole time. I really don’t want to comment anymore because it is personal stuff.”

Smith, 26, came off an injury from earlier this summer and was getting plays with the first-team defense until he missed two days of practice this week. Carroll said then it was for a personal, family matter. Monday, Smith juked past starting right tackle Germain Ifedi with a deft move in a pass-rush drill to gain a clear path to the quarterback.

It was a glimpse of Smith’s potential as a sack man in the NFL, why the Seahawks took a chance on him last summer.

Then, he was gone Tuesday, Wednesday—and now for good.

“He took a personal day,” Carroll said following Wednesday’s practice. “We had something that we had to take care of for him, for his family.”

Asked if Smith’s health was a factor in the decision, Carroll said: “No.”

The Eagles considered him a first-round bust. The 26th-overall pick in the 2014 draft out of Louisville had four sacks in three years in Philadelphia, which then declined to pick up its fifth-year contract option on him.

Smith skipped all 11 of the Eagles’ organized team activities and voluntary minicamp practices in the spring of 2017. That was while Philadelphia was deciding not to pick up his fifth-year contract option Smith could have earned as a first-round pick. The Eagles released him in late July last summer, just as NFL training camps were beginning.

The Seahawks and Carroll, always seeking players with talent, speed and chips on their shoulders to prove themselves after slights, signed Smith to a free-agent contract. That was after he cleared league waivers from Philadelphia.

Carroll was intrigued by Smith’s speed for a man 6 feet 3 and 258 pounds. Carroll liked that Smith had the speed to play his “Leo” outside pass-rusher position, and can also drop back as a strongside linebacker.

“Marcus is a really versatile athlete,” Carroll said in the summer of 2017 upon signing Smith. “He’s got good size. He’s fast. He’s a 4.6 (-second) guy (in the 40-yard dash). He is real coordinated. He can do a lot of stuff. He can come off the edge.

“We are most tuned in to him being a ‘Leo’ in our system, you know. I thought maybe a lot of Chris Clemons coming up.”

Smith played in 14 games last season with Seattle, and tied his career-high with 2 1/2 sacks. His hit on Indianapolis quarterback Jacoby Brissett on Oct. 1 forced a fumble that teammate Bobby Wagner picked up and returned 22 yards for a touchdown that broke open a 25-18 game in Seattle’s eventual 46-18 runaway win.

“To be even playing on this defense is an honor and a privilege, with so many Pro Bowlers and guys who can contribute,” Smith said following that game.

Smith made enough of a positive impression last season for the Seahawks to have him in their plans for 2018, to succeeded departed Pro Bowl ends Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril as a primary pass rusher. The team re-signed Smith this offseason to a one-year contract with $800,000 in non-guaranteed base pay with a $400,000 signing bonus. That bonus is the dead money Seattle absorbs against its salary cap for cutting him Friday.

The Seahawks save $1.01 million with the move.

Also Friday, they signed veteran pass-rushing linebacker Erik Walden, who had 11 sacks for the Colts in 2016 but no more than six in any other of his 10 NFL seasons. His veteran-minium contract for his service time, if he ends up making the Seahawks in these final two-plus weeks of the preseason, would be $1.015 million.

So cutting Smith and signing Walden could prove to be a financial wash. But Walden turns 33 years old next week.

“He’s been an outside (linebacker) and a nickel(-defense) rush guy,” Carroll said. “Been real physical and tough and we’d like to see how he fits into the competition.”

Walden was not on the field for the Seahawks’ walk-through practice Friday, a couple hours before they left for Saturday’s exhibition game in Carson, Calif.

The Seahawks on Friday also signed free-agent running back Justin Stockton and waived recently signed rookie cornerback Elijah Battle.

This story was originally published August 17, 2018 at 12:26 PM.