Shaquem Griffin, Stephen Sullivan, UW’s Aaron Fuller among 14 on Seahawks’ practice-squad
Shaquem Griffin isn’t the only name familiar to Seattle on the Seahawks’ new practice squad.
Former University of Washington wide receiver Aaron Fuller was another of the 14 players Seattle signed Sunday to its initial practice squad of the season. He had an impressive training camp the past month. He caught most passes thrown his way, accurate or not.
All 14 signed to the practice squad Sunday were with the Seahawks through the end of training camp on Thursday. They were released Saturday when the team got its active roster down to 53 players for the start of the regular season.
Stephen Sullivan, the rookie seventh-round draft choice from LSU who has a remarkable road into the NFL, is also on the practice squad. The tight end was the only one of Seattle’s eight rookie draft picks waived Saturday. The former wide receiver is the most developmental of the eight picks.
The others signed to the practice squad after clearing waivers Sunday: quarterback Danny Etling, offensive tackle Tommy Champion, wide receiver Penny Hart, cornerback Gavin Heslop, defensive tackle Cedrick Lattimore, wide receiver Lance Lenoir, tight end Tyler Mabry, cornerback Ryan Neal, cornerback Jayson Stanley, wide receiver Cody Thompson and offensive tackle Kyle Wheeler.
Etling appears to have beaten out undrafted rookie Anthony Gordon from Washington State for the job as third quarterback behind Russell WIlson and Geno Smith. The Seahawks signed Etling Aug. 18, five practice days into training camp.. He’s been with the Patriots and Falcons in his first two NFL years. Conveniently, those are Seattle’s first two opponents.
The one import to the practice squad known so far is former Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Anthony Rush. Yahoo Sports reported his signing, which has yet to become official.
Rush’s signing leaves one opening on Seattle’s practice squad.
This season the NFL expanded practice squad from 10 players to a maximum of 16. That’s because of COVID-19 and the possibility of needing more players to back-fill any on the 53-man active roster who may test positive for the virus during game weeks.
Six of the 16 practice-squad players now 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. Under the old, pre-pandemic roster rules, Griffin as a three-year veteran would not have been eligible for the practice squad and would as of Sunday have been shopping to all teams as an unrestricted free agent without much more than special-team experience to get another job. Same with the veteran Wheeler.
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. The Seahawks could sign any member of the practice squad to the active roster by Saturday afternoon of a Sunday game, including next weekend’s opener at Atlanta.
This story was originally published September 6, 2020 at 7:12 PM.
