Seahawks sign 4th quarterback. It doesn’t necessarily mean doom for No. 3 Anthony Gordon
How convenient that Danny Etling was on waivers.
How convenient that the Seahawks claimed the quarterback on Tuesday and added him to their roster.
At first glance, signing Etling might suggest Seattle is not happy with Anthony Gordon, the undrafted rookie record-setter at Washington State the team signed this spring. Gordon is currently the third quarterback behind entrenched veterans Russell Wilson and Geno Smith.
But Gordon has barely had the chance to run the offense in team scrimmages through the first six practices of Seahawks training camp. He got a few plays Tuesday to end practice, some of his first of the initial week. There is no reason to release Gordon this early in camp, with the option of stowing him on the expanded practice squad for 2020 to learn this season just a few weeks away.
The more likely reason the 6-foot-3, 220-pound Etling is now a Seahawk?
He was a Falcon, until Monday. And he was a Patriot in 2018.
The Seahawks play former defensive coordinator Dan Quinn’s Falcons in their opener Sept. 13. They play the Patriots the following Sunday in their home opener.
That’s the way the NFL often works.. Waived quarterbacks are a prime source of intelligence on the teams from which they just came. Even inexperienced ones such as the 26-year-old Etling. He has appeared in as many NFL regular-season games as you have while a deep reserve for NFL MVPs Matt Ryan and Tom Brady his first two years in the league.
Teams sign players dropped by upcoming opponents all the time. What is unusual is for a quarterback, required to be intricately familiar with every aspect of an offensive system just to be in his team’s building, being available for next to no cost when he is formerly of your next two opponents.
Score!
So, when the Seahawks had an open spot below the 80-man preseason maximum on their roster, why not see what information they may be able to glean from Etling, while they also see how he can practice?
Practice, not play. Wilson, 31, has yet to miss an in-season practice let alone a game in his career. And Smith is a former starter for the New York Jets and Giants.
You can bet Carroll and Seattle’s defensive coaches will have longer-than-usual chats with the fourth quarterback on the roster when he joins the team this week.
Atlanta claimed Etling off waivers from New England for the final two preseason games last summer. That was after the Falcons lost third-stringer Kurt Benkert to a season-ending injury. Etling completed 17 of 31 passes in the 2019 preseason, for 193 yards and a touchdown. He also ran 17 times for 115 yards.
The Falcons waived him Monday and chose to stick with Ryan, Matt Schaub and the now-healthy Benkert as their quarterbacks for 2020.
This story was originally published August 18, 2020 at 4:18 PM.
