Seahawks deal with fallout from their ‘unexpected’ release of former All-Pro Aldon Smith
Last week, Aldon Smith was wrapping Kerry Hyder in a bear hug, practicing form tackling as Seahawks teammates.
Now Hyder is shaking his head over what’s happened to his friend. Again.
“Every time he’s been here he’s been ready to work. He’s been great,” Hyder told The News Tribune Wednesday about the former All-Pro pass rusher and fellow veteran defensive end.
“So...unexpected, from us.”
Hyder was reacting to the Seahawks abruptly waiving Smith earlier Wednesday.
Smith had been noticeably fit and strong in practices, a standout over the first two weeks of training camp.
He participated Sunday in the team’s mock-game scrimmage at Lumen Field.
The players had a day off from the field Monday. Smith did not appear to be at practice on Tuesday.
A league source told The News Tribune Wednesday the 31-year-old Smith failed to follow the conditions coach Pete Carroll and the team set for him when they signed him this spring. That was after Smith was out of the NFL for four years, ending in 2020, on suspensions. During that time he was an inpatient in an alcohol and drug treatment center, as the San Francisco Chronicle detailed.
Hyder played for Dallas in 2019, a season before Smith returned to the NFL with the Cowboys. Hyder played last season for the San Francisco 49ers, for whom Smith had 33 1/2 sacks bursting into the league over the 2011 and ‘12 seasons.
“He’s still a brother of mine,” Hyder said. “We are still looking out for him.
“It’s unfortunate, you know, but we wish him all the best...you know?”
Smith talked two weeks ago of his daily challenge to stay sober.
“Learning how to enjoy, learning how to trust people, and just being open,” he said, when asked his approach to sobriety.
He is due in court in Louisiana Aug. 24 following his alleged battery of a man in a coffee shop there this spring. That alleged incident happened days after Seattle signed him to a non-guaranteed contract for the 2021 season.
The Seahawks signed Tacoma native and Spanaway Lake High School graduate Lakiem Williams to replace Smith on the roster. Williams arrives to help with linebacker depth thinned by injuries to backups Cody Barton and undrafted rookie Jon Rhattigan.
In April, Seattle signed Smith to a non-guaranteed deal worth $990,000, around the NFL veteran minimum. Cutting him saves Seattle $850,000 against this year’s league salary cap.
The Seahawks began the week with an estimated $8.2 million in cap space, per overthecap.com. They need about half that amount for their three draft choices, practice-squad salaries and potential injury contingencies this season.
Smith was a quintessential Carroll-Seahawks signing this spring.
From Mike Williams and LenDale White early in his Seahawks tenure to Brandon Marshall, Josh Gordon and Antonio Brown, Carroll has rarely passed up a chance to pursue top talent and athleticism for Seattle, regardless—and sometimes because of—a player’s past. The 69-year-old motivator, mentor and friend to his players has never met one he hasn’t believed he could help by force of personality, leadership and compassion.
Williams, White, Marshall and Gordon failed to remain in Carroll’s Seahawks program.
Now Smith has failed, too.
He was out of the league on suspensions for four years ending last season. He signed with Dallas and played one season for the Cowboys, following incidents involving alcohol and domestic violence. He’s been fined $4.7 million during his NFL career that began with 14 sacks and making the league’s all-rookie team in 2011 with the 49ers.
In 2018 he pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges in a deal with San Francisco prosecutors. That was from a domestic violence case. Smith pleaded no contest to violating a court order and false imprisonment. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail and three years of probation.
Smith was allowed to serve the sentence at an inpatient alcohol and drug treatment center.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell reinstated Smith last year. Dallas signed him for the 2020 season.
“It was a blessing,” he said. “I was gone for a long time.
“During that time, a lot of thoughts cross your mind. You don’t know if you’re going to play this game, if you want to play this game, how you feel.
“I’m a human. I deal with emotions. And I think having the people around me who are positive and telling me positive things, then, me believing that positive stuff got me in that place where I knew I could play the game, I knew I was ready to play the game.
“I was blessed with the opportunity to get back and play the game. I’m grateful for that.”
His daily fight isn’t beating offensive linemen off the edge, getting to the quarterback. It wasn’t the math of roster spots and cut-downs from 91 players to 53 when he was with the Seahawks.
It’s staying sober.
Carroll said this month he had made his and the Seahawks’ expectations of Smith “very clear” to him amid Smith’s pending arraignment and possible NFL punishment from his latest arrest, through the red flags of a career once lost and now seemingly lost again.
“I want him to succeed at this in the worst way, and I want him to come through and show that he can do what he needs to do,” Carroll said two weeks ago. “We’re going to give him every opportunity.
“The level of communication is very clear, and he’s been very open with us. He’s told us when things were harder than others. He’s been upfront in that regard, and that helped us to understand, believe, and trust he’s working at it. It isn’t easy, and it’s a lifelong commitment he has to make. We really sense that the more we can support him, the more obviously we can be there for him, the stronger it makes him.
“That’s really what our intent is here.”
The Seahawks and Cowboys now have each let Smith go in a span of seven months. Dallas didn’t renew his contract this winter.
So ends the fourth chance of Smith’s career.
The former star looked sleek in his new Seahawks number 99. He had been flying around training camp more like he’s 21.
After four years out of the league, trust was what Smith was counting on to stay in it.
Carroll’s trusted defensive coordinator, Ken Norton Jr., was Smith’s coordinator with the Raiders in 2015. Seahawks assistant special teams coach Tracy Smith was also on that Raiders staff when Aldon Smith played for Oakland. Seattle’s offensive line coach Mike Solari had that job with the 49ers during Aldon Smith’s first four, starring seasons with the 49ers—including when Smith had 19 1/2 sacks and made All-Pro in 2012.
That was before alcohol, domestic violence and other incidents derailed not just Smith’s career, but his life.
Carroll relied on Norton’s, Tracy Smith’s and Solari’s opinions of Smith.
That’s how the Seahawks came to invite Smith for a free-agent visit this spring, when the rest of the league seemingly had no interest in keeping his career going.
Asked what he needed to hear from Smith in order to be comfortable adding him to the Seahawks, Carroll said this month: “It’s a good question, because I wanted to feel him and feel where he’s coming from.
“We talked to him a number of times before we made a decision. We did a lot of homework, a lot of research on him and him as a person. A number of our coaches have been with Aldon in other places, which really helped us. They’ve seen him work on a day-to-day basis. That was really important. Kenny was really important in this decision.”
Carroll sought to learn Smith’s support team, his counselors, the people to whom Smith must confide in, test with, trust to keep his career going per terms of his reinstatement from suspension by Goodell last year.
“I have a tremendous support staff,” Smith said.
“For me, it was just making myself vulnerable and being willing to trust and lean on the people,” he said. “I’ve always had people that were there, but I’ve always tried to carry everything on my shoulders.
“Letting people help me and accepting that help was a major game changer.”
This story was originally published August 11, 2021 at 1:31 PM.
