Why Seahawks released popular Luke Willson--and signed back two vets to practice squad
Techno Thursdays for the Seahawks will never be the same.
Or will they?
The team released popular, dance-music-loving tight end Luke Willson Tuesday, according to the NFL’s official transactions.
The move is not a surprise.
Willson, 30, has played only 10 snaps on offense through the first seven games this season. The position was already stacked with offseason-addition Greg Olsen, Will Dissly returning from a torn Achilles in 2019 and recently featured Jacob Hollister. Last week, rookie fourth-round draft choice Colby Parkinson came off the non-football-injury list and make his NFL debut in Seattle’s win over San Francisco.
Parkinson had been out since foot surgery in June.
Parkinson’s new availability made Willson a fifth tight end the Seahawks no longer needed.
The Seahawks could bring Willson back onto the team on their practice squad. New NFL roster rules for this season amid the coronavirus pandemic allow for veterans of any experience onto the expanded practice squad. Previously, only players with less than three years of service in the league were eligible for the practice squad.
The team drafted Willson in the fifth round in 2013 out of Rice. The native of Ontario, Canada, won a Super Bowl with the Seahawks in his rookie season. He left the team after the 2017 season to sign with close-to-home Detroit in free agency.
After one season with the Lions, Detroit released him. In September 2019, a few weeks into last season and after working out on his own in his apartment complex’s gym, he signed back with the Seahawks.
He has no catches in the five games he’s played this season. He also played 31 snaps this season on special teams.
Tuesday’s NFL transactions also showed Carlos Dunlap’s roster exemption from COVID-19 tested following his trade last week from Cincinnati ended. He’s on the 53-man active roster to practice Wednesday and make his Seattle debut Sunday at Buffalo.
The Seahawks released linebackers Mychal Kendricks and Michael Divinity from the practice squad Tuesday.
Wednesday, the team signed Kendricks back to the practice squad, after he tried but failed to sign onto another team’s active roster. Kendricks initially signed to Seattle’s practice squad last month after starting at strongside linebacker for the team in the 2018 and ‘19 seasons.
The Seahawks also signed back Alex Collins to the practice squad. The running back was the Seahawks’ fifth-round draft choice in 2016.
The Seahawks’ top three running backs are injured. Chris Carson has a sprained foot. Carlos Hyde has a strained hamstring. Travis Homer has a bruised knee he played sparingly through last week against San Francisco.
Rookie DeeJay Dallas is the only fully healthy running back on the active roster entering Sunday’s game against the Bills.
Collins, 26, played in 11 games and rushed 31 times for 125 yards and a touchdown as a rookie for the Seahawks in 2016. Coach Pete Carroll believed Collins was out of shape, and the rookie lost the trust of the coaching staff. By the end of the next training camp, late summer of 2017, Seattle had cut him. Releasing fifth-round draft choices before they begin their second season is unusual, but that’s how quickly Collins fell out of favor with Carroll’s staff.
That move looked like a mistake after Baltimore immediately signed him. Collins flourished in the Ravens’ run-heavy offense. He went from beginning on Baltimore’s practice squad to a 12-game starter who rushed for 973 yards and six touchdowns in 2017.
The Ravens re-signed him for 2018. He had seven more rushing scores that season but went on injured reserve after 10 starts that year.
Baltimore released Collins in March 2019. That was hours after Baltimore County Police said a passerby spotted Collins asleep in the driver seat of his Chevrolet Corvette. The car had crashed into a tree about a mile from the Ravens’ team headquarters.
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 10:57 AM.
