Projecting Seahawks’ 53-man roster: A veteran rallies to save his job, another loses his
Valuing recent performances in preseason games, where results don’t count?
Or what they’ve thought of guys over the last year or, in the curious case of C.J. Prosise, longer?
That’s what many of the Seahawks’ roster decisions come down to for Saturday’s 1 p.m. deadline to cut from 90 to 53 players for next week’s start to the regular season.
First, for the many trade-for-Jadeveon Clowney folks: coach Pete Carroll was asked late Thursday night if he’s satisfied his Seahawks have the pass rushers he needs for this season, which begins Sept. 8 against Cincinnati.
His answer indicates, again, that the defense, and a large part of this coming season, rests on the surgically repaired shoulder of 30-year-old defensive end Ziggy Ansah, who just practiced for the first time since last year on Tuesday and hasn’t played as many as 31 snaps a game since 2015.
“Yeah,” Carroll said following the final preseason game, a 17-15 win over Oakland with all reserves playing. “These are the guys we’ve got. We have to make something special of it.
“Ziggy has been in our minds the whole time that he was going to make it. He went through pregame tonight. He practiced during the week. He’ll practice this next week. And he’s ready to go. The docs have given him the ready to go, as long as he makes it through his days (of practice next week). We’ll have a plan on how to do that.
“I’m thrilled. This is a guy that we expected to come in here and be a big factor to us. He plays really hard. He’s really a tough guy. That kind of mentality coming along with the big ability that he has will fit really well. We’ll put that together.”
In the meantime, they will put together the initial 53-man roster for the 2019 regular season.
Here below is what The News Tribune projects it will be. Keep in mind there will be a trade. Carroll and general manager John Schneider almost always make a trade on cutdown day. And there will be a player or three, likely a pass rusher and special-teams players, who will make Seattle’s 53-man roster for next weekend’s opener who aren’t on the team right now.
There are over 1,100 players who will be dropped from other rosters across the league Saturday. That’s a lot of shopping for Carroll and Schneider to do this weekend.
QUARTERBACKS (2): Russell Wilson, Geno Smith.
Cut: Paxton Lynch. J.T. Barrett to practice squad.
Wilson on the headset calling plays for Smith in the first half of Thursday night’s preseason finale against Oakland was one of the highlight’s of the offense’s month.
Smith going 4 for 7 for 107 yards and two brilliantly thrown touchdown passes—while still playing on a pained knee—cemented he is the clear choice over Lynch to backup Wilson. Lynch’s accuracy throwing after having to move his feet was poor all spring and summer.
Seattle informed Lynch on Friday it was putting him on waivers.
The Seahawks think Barrett can clear NFL waivers and get on the practice squad as the third quarterback, in deep reserve.
RUNNING BACKS (4): Chris Carson, Rashaad Penny, C.J. Prosise, J.D. McKissic.
Cut: Bo Scarbrough, Xavier Turner, Nick Bellore.
Why would Carroll have stuck with Prosise through 10 injuries in three-plus years only to finally give up on his third-round pick from 2016 now, when he’s just played the two best games he’s had since the last two of his rookie year? No reason. He beats McKissic for the job of third-down back.
“He is all of the things we’ve always known about him, but he just hasn’t been available,” Carroll said of Prosise late Thursday. “So, when he had two weeks to be available, he showed again what he’s made of. I thought it was a really good showing for him.
“He did everything he could.”
McKissic beats Homer because of special teams, specifically McKissic’s ability to be a kick returner to lessen Tyler Lockett’s burden there this season.
Bellore may be back after week one as the only true fullback, so they don’t have to guarantee his entire veteran salary for the season.
WIDE RECEIVERS (6): Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf, Jaron Brown, John Ursua, David Moore, Jazz Ferguson.
Cut: Gary Jennings, Nyqwan Murray, Terry Wright, Kahili Lewis, Malik Turner, Keenan Reynolds.
No way, after what they went through to preemptively steal him away from half the league, that the Seahawks try to sneak Ursua through waivers and onto their practice squad like most seventh-round rookie picks.
Ferguson makes it if Carroll is serious about his stated goal to get bigger at receiver to take more advantage of Wilson’s accuracy on deep passes. Ferguson (6 feet 5) and the 6-4 Metcalf are two of the biggest receivers in the NFL. Ferguson is still raw, but they likely couldn’t get the undrafted rookie through waivers because of his tempting size.
Jennings played his way off the team with personal fouls in the last two preseason games, his inability to get feet down inbounds on sideline catches, a summer hamstring injury and general disappearance from preseason practices. In the fourth round at 120th overall, he becomes the highest of Carroll and Schneider’s draft picks to not make the team as a rookie since Chris Harper in 2013 (fourth round, 123rd overall).
“He got those two glaring plays that you see: the penalty last week (a blindside block against the Chargers as Wilson was running past him on a 15-yard scramble) and the penalty in this one (Thursday blasting a Raiders punt returner before the punt arrived),” Carroll said. “Those are fantastic plays; he’s just a hair early. ... He just didn’t quite hit it right, but he did everything he could to make a big play there.
“But other than that, we’ve seen a lot of him, and we’ve seen him in practice, and he’s done a nice job, and he’s competed like crazy, just like the other guys have.
“We have some extremely difficult decisions at this time, and it will take us all weekend to figure it out. That’s exactly what we want. We want it to be like that. We want it to be really hard and challenging, with complexities and all of that.”
TIGHT ENDS (3): Will Dissly, Nick Vannett, Jacob Hollister.
Cut: Jackson Harris, Wes Sexton.
To IR: Ed Dickson.
Hollister, acquired in a trade from New England this spring for a late-round pick in 2020, has a chance to be a new, versatile piece to the passing game.
Dickson goes to IR after knee surgery this month. He has an easy-to-cut contract that saves the team $3.55 million against the salary cap if it cuts him. But teams can’t by NFL rules cut players who are injured. He likely gets an injury settlement.
Offensive tackle George Fant is coming back from a sprained ankle that cost him most of the preseason. He was effective in 14 snaps per game last season as an extra, run-blocking tight end. His role at that may expand this season for Seattle’s league-leading rushing offense from 2018.
OFFENSIVE LINE (9): Duane Brown, Mike Iupati, Justin Britt, D.J. Fluker, Germain Ifedi, Ethan Pocic, George Fant, Jamarco Jones, Marcus Martin.
Cut: Jordan Roos, Landon Turner, Elijah Nkansah, Brian Wallace, William Holden.
Injured reserve: Joey Hunt.
Physically-unable-to-perform list: Phil Haynes.
Iupati’s sprained foot may not be ready for the regular season, but it seems he will return sooner than the first eight games if the team put him on IR with a designation to return. They really like Jones, the fifth-round pick from 2018 who spent his rookie season on injured reserve. Martin makes it because he can backup Britt at center with Hunt having a high-ankle sprain and Pocic for now playing for Iupati, who hasn’t played a full NFL season since 2012 with San Francisco.
DEFENSIVE LINE (10): Ziggy Ansah, Cassius Marsh, Poona Ford, L.J. Collier, Al Woods, Quinton Jefferson, Jacob Martin, Branden Jackson, Jamie Meder, Rasheem Green.
Cut: Barkevious Mingo, Bryan Mone, Earl Mitchell, Logan Tago.
PUP list: Demarcus Christmas.
Reserve/suspended list: Jarran Reed.
The NFL suspending Reed for the first six games leaves them one short here; Seattle uses eight defensive linemen in the first quarters of most games each season.
Mingo was even worse in practices than you saw in preseason games. And that was bad. The first play of Thursday’s game he got driven back 5 yards and knocked on his rear end by Oakland’s reserve tight end. He lost easy edge contain on a 17-yard run past him. He won maybe one pass-rush rep in practices all training camp. One. In a drill set up for offensive linemen to lose more times than not.
And he’s scheduled to earn $3.4 million this year? No way he should be on the team. Yet the Seahawks are so desperate for edge pass rushers, Mingo may stay. Jackson could do what he’s done, has done more, and counts $3.38 million less against Seattle’s salary cap for 2019.
Jackson has been better than Green, who has done almost nothing since Seattle drafted him in the third round last year. The only reason to keep Green is the only reason to keep wide receiver Jennings: not wanting to admit a scouting and drafting mistake so soon.
That, and, again, this team desperately needs pass rushers.
Carroll said late Thursday doctors have cleared Ansah to play in the opener. But he hasn’t averaged 31 snaps a game, half an average game, since 2015, his Pro Bowl year with the Lions. The Seahawks must have a pass rusher emerge almost out of nowhere, like Reed did last year, to be a playoff team this season. That’s why Jackson is still on the team.
Meder and Mitchell seem like the same player—except Meder is faster, did more this preseason, is three years younger and cheaper.
LINEBACKERS (6): Bobby Wagner, K.J. Wright, Mychal Kendricks, Cody Barton, Ben Burr-Kirven, Austin Calitro.
Cut: Jawuan Johnson, Juwon Young,
To IR: Shaquem Griffin, Justin Currie.
If Carroll and defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. practice what they’ve been preaching—that game performances are the biggest factor in making a team—Burr-Kirven won a job with his last two preseason games. He had 12 tackles, a sack, two quarterback hits, two tackles for losses and a pass defensed Thursday night, “a huge game...huge game,” Carroll said.
Griffin’s ongoing knee pain gives the Seahawks an out to keep him on the team but not the roster. He gets a redshirt year as a second-year veteran, to stay with his twin brother, Shaquill.
CORNERBACKS (4): Shaquill Griffin, Tre Flowers, Jamar Taylor, Neiko Thorpe.
Cut: Jeremy Boykins, Simeon Thomas, Akeem King.
Taylor is the new nickel back, and he deserves it. He was their best cover man throughout preseason practices. Thorpe makes it for special teams again. DeShawn Shead can do everything in this secondary, including back up Griffin and Flowers at corners and Taylor inside at nickel.
SAFETIES (6): Bradley McDougald, Tedric Thompson, Lano Hill, DeShawn Shead, Marquise Blair, Ugo Amadi.
Cut: Shalom Luani.
Carroll loves Shead perhaps more than any other Seahawk in his decade coaching the team. Grass-roots player in the program, from undrafted rookie to Super Bowl champion, starting cornerback opposite Richard Sherman and special-teams captain. The fact Carroll took Shead up on his lobbying to return to the team at Cliff Avril’s retirement party this spring tells a lot.
Sure, they could cut Shead then bring him back after week one to save from guaranteeing his veteran salary. But that seems petty for such a Carroll-bred and beloved Seahawk who is already on a minimum contract.
Blair’s hip pointer could put the rookie on injured reserve, with an eventual designation to return.
If the impressive second-round pick had not been hurt the last half of August, or if Lano Hill didn’t miss the first half of the month coming back from his cracked hip, one of them would likely be starting now with McDougald. Thompson’s job isn’t a sure thing all season.
SPECIALISTS (3): Kicker Jason Myers, punter Michael Dickson, long snapper Tyler Ott.
They all ran unopposed this summer.
This story was originally published August 30, 2019 at 12:14 PM with the headline "Projecting Seahawks’ 53-man roster: A veteran rallies to save his job, another loses his."
