Rookie draft pick Gary Jennings waived, Adrian Colbert apparently up from practice squad
Gary Jennings is gone without playing a game.
The Seahawks kept Jennings off the practice field Wednesday, then decided to waive their rookie first-round draft choice without the former West Virginia University wide receiver playing a game for then.
As Jennings went off the roster, former San Francisco 49ers starting safety Adrian Colbert was apparently coming on it.
Joe Fann of NBC Sports Northwest reported Colbert was being promoted from the practice squad, and he was taking Jennings’ place on the 53-man active roster.
Nothing was official on that from the team nor the NFL. Not yet, anyway, as of Wednesday night.
Jennings has been inactive for each of Seattle’s first three games this season.
He was so injured with a strained hamstring in the spring then so ineffective throughout training camp and the preseason, it appeared he may get waived among the final cuts of the preseason. He becomes the highest Seahawks rookie draft pick waived without playing a game for them since wide receiver Chris Harper, a fourth-round choice in 2013.
That, of course, doesn’t count the failed Malik McDowell. Seattle’s first-round pick from 2017 had his career end before it even began, after one rookie minicamp in the spring then a head injury from an ATV accident.
Offensive tackle Terry Poole was Seattle’s fourth-round pick in 2015 before the team waived him in early September and put him on its practice squad for his rookie season. The Seahawks released Poole the following year.
Another team may now claim Jennings on waivers based on his reputation as a big, and big-play, slot receiver at WVU—but may not if its pro scouting department knows what he didn’t do for Seattle. If he clears waivers Jennings could do what Poole did and go onto the Seahawks’ practice squad.
That’s where Colbert was, for just one week. The Seahawks signed him there Sept. 18.
Colbert, 25, is listed as a free safety. He started six games in 2017 and six games last season for San Francisco.
Seahawks free safety Tedric Thompson returned to full practice Wednesday. Thompson started the opener at free safety against Cincinnati, then missed the last two games with a hamstring injury. Lano Hill has been the strong safety and Bradley McDougald has moved from free safety to strong safety the last two games.
Carroll said Hill has played well enough to continue starting.
“The comp is on, for sure,” Carroll said. “He has played well enough to start for us. We’re lucky in that regard. We’ve got two guys that can start at that spot and feel comfortable about it.”
This story was originally published September 25, 2019 at 4:43 PM.
