Jadeveon Clowney getting away? All the moves, position breakdown of Seahawks 53-man roster
Jadeveon Clowney may be going to sign with the Titans, not the Seahawks.
Ben Burr-Kirven made it over Shaquem Griffin at linebacker.
Former Miami Dolphin Linden Stephens is a new Seahawks cornerback.
And a Seattle rarity: no undrafted rookies made the team.
Those were the biggest moves on Saturday, as the Seahawks set their initial, 53-man roster for the regular season Saturday by the NFL’s 1 p.m. deadline to do so.
After a long saga of free agency derailed by the cornavirus pandemic, Clowney was going to choose to sign with Tennessee. That’s according to a report late Saturday afternoon from ESPN’s Dianna Russini.
Then, about a half hour later, ESPN’s Josina Anderson reported: “Jadeveon Clowney just told me he still has not made a decision. Teams are still calling.”
THAT’S leveraging.
When we were at the NFL combine in February, general manager John Schneider was asked if he would ask Jadeveon Clowney to give the Seahawks a chance to match another team’s offer before he may sign elsewhere.
“Yeah,” Schneider said Feb. 25, “absolutely.”
Well...
The Seahawks had made re-signing the three-time Pro Bowl edge rusher they traded for from Houston 12 months ago their top offseason priority. Clowney entertained offers from the Saints, Titans and Ravens while knowing Seattle’s bid since March. The Seahawks apparently didn’t raise their offer—or not enough—late.
There were no surprises on Seattle’s reserve lists.
Running back Rashaad Penny begins the season on the physically-unable-to-perform list. The number-two rusher behind Chris Carson tore knee ligaments in December and had reconstructive surgery.
Rookie second-round draft choice Darrell Taylor plus tight end and fourth-round pick Colby Parkinson went on the non-football-injury list. Taylor had surgery Jan. 30; surgeons put a Titanium rod in his leg to fix a stress fracture he played with last season at the University of Tennessee. Parkinson broke a bone on the outside of his foot in June.
Reserve defensive back D.J. Reed also went on the NFI list.
Penny, Taylor, Parkinson and Reed cannot practice or play for at least the first six weeks of the season.
Both in appearance during training camp and Carroll’s comments, Parkinson seems ahead of Taylor in getting back to the field. The coach said last month Taylor is going to be out “a bit.” He was expected to be rotating in the first-team defense as an edge rusher in a pass rush that needs him.
Penny’s recovery timeline is trickier because of his reconstructive knee surgery. Carroll said last month the team’s first-round pick in 2018 has had a “strong” rehabilitation from the injury and surgery, but the coach offered no timeline on his return.
After the first six weeks of the season, the Seahawks will have a five-week window to decide if Penny can begin practicing. He must return to practice, go on injured reserve or be released within that five-week window beginning in mid-October.
As expected, all 10 of training camp’s undrafted rookies, plus seventh-round draft choice Stephen Sullivan, did not make the team.
Seattle has for the last decade been a leader in the NFL in playing rookie free agents into prominent roles: Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse and Thomas Rawls were a few. But this training camp truncated by the COVID-19 virus and league restrictions on practices made 2020 the wrong year from developmental projects to shine in training camp.
The Seahawks just went with known veterans and ready-to-play higher rookie draft picks instead.
The biggest cut, for multiple reasons, was Griffin. The team chose to keep former University of Washington middle linebacker Burr-Kirven for special teams instead.
For now, anyway.
Griffin is the twin, roommate and soul mate of Seahawks Pro Bowl cornerback Shaquill Griffin, who is entering the final season of his contract. Shaquem is the first one-handed player drafted into the modern NFL. That made make this more than a mere routine roster move.
But the coronavirus pandemic has changed the league’s roster rules. Those changes make Shaquem Griffin’s return to the team possible, if not likely.
Teams will have until 1 p.m. Sunday to put claims in on the 800-plus players waived across the league Saturday when each club had to get its 80-man rosters down to 53. If no team claims Griffin, whose speed is his biggest asset though he remains unproven as a pass rusher and linebacker, he could come back to Seattle’s practice squad.
NFL practice squads have gone from 10 to a maximum of 16 players this season. That’s because of COVID-19 and the possibility of needing more players to back-fill any on the active roster who may test positive for the virus during game weeks. Six of those 16 practice-squad players can be veterans of any experience. Previously, only players with fewer than two accrued seasons of service time were eligible to sign onto any team’s practice squad.
Also new this season: each team can add two players from its practice squad onto the active roster to expand it to a maximum of 55 players for any game.
So if Griffin clears waivers, he not only could be back on the practice squad but possibly on the active roster for next weekend’s opener at Atlanta.
The Seahawks’ initial 53-man roster for the 2020 season (subject to change as early as Sunday with waiver claims, possible signings and injured-reserve moves):
Quarterbacks (2): Russell Wilson and Geno Smith
As planned.
Running backs (4): Chris Carson, Carlos Hyde, DeeJay Dallas, Travis Homer
Dallas wowed coaches all training camp. The rookie third-round draft choice will get chances as the third-down back C.J. Prosise could never be consistently because of 10 injuries in four seasons.
Wide receiver (6): Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf, Phillip Dorsett II, David Moore, Freddie Swain, John Ursua
Swain makes it despite the rookie sixth-round pick showing little during training camp. Josh Gordon is signed. But the former All-Pro receiver is still officially suspended by the NFL. That may change soon, which would necessitate another roster move.
Tight ends (4): Greg Olsen, Will Dissly, Jacob Hollister, Luke Willson
Willson looked slower in training camp yet the offense and Wilson trusts the veteran. Dissly’s strong return from a torn Achilles and Olsen’s signing in January make this one of the team’s strongest positions.
Offensive line (10): Duane Brown, Mike Iupati, Ethan Pocic, Damien Lewis, Brandon Shell, B.J. Finney, Phil Haynes, Jordan Simmons, Jamarco Jones, Cedric Ogbuehi
Ogbuehi excelled as a swing tackle on both sides during camp. But he was injured late in it. The former first-round pick by Cincinnati could go in injured reserve soon, but since he was on the initial regular-season roster he could return in as few as three weeks, per new NFL roster rules for this COVID-19 season.
Defensive line (8): L.J. Collier, Rasheem Green, Benson Mayowa, Damontre Moore, Alton Robinson, Poona Ford, Bryan Mone, Jarran Reed
The best performer daily in camp in this group was Robinson. The rookie fifth-round pick from Syracuse seems poised to get Taylor’s reps as edge pass rusher rotating into long-yardage situations.
Linebackers (6): Bobby Wagner, K.J. Wright, Bruce Irvin, Cody Barton, Jordyn Brooks, Ben Burr-Kirven
Brooks, the rookie first-round pick, is beginning as a nickel linebacker in situational roles so far. It’s Irvin, Wagner and Wright in base 4-3 defense to begin the season.
Cornerbacks (5): Shaquill Griffin, Tre Flowers, Quinton Dunbar, Neiko Thorpe, Linden Stephens
Griffin and Dunbar are the starters. Stephens, claimed this offseason off waivers from Miami, was low-key excellent on balls in the air during camp.
Safeties (5): Jamal Adams, Quandre Diggs, Marquise Blair, Ugo Amadi, Lano Hill
Blair beats out Amadi as the new nickel, fifth defensive backs. Hill is the new dime, sixth DB for long-yardage downs.
Specialists (3): P Michael Dickson, K Jason Myers, LS Tyler Ott
Same as last year. They had no camp competition.
This story was originally published September 5, 2020 at 4:20 PM.
