Source: Seahawks expected to sign West Point grad Jon Rhattigan for rest of this season
Jon Rhattigan has earned his way into a full-time Seahawks job and full-time deferment from the Army.
A league source told The News Tribune on Tuesday the Seahawks are expected to sign the undrafted rookie linebacker from the practice squad to the active roster on a contract for the rest of the 2021 season. The move could become official on Wednesday, the first full preparation day for Seattle’s home opener Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.
This past Sunday Rhattigan became the first West Point graduate to play for the Seahawks. He was on special teams in Seattle’s 28-16 victory at the Indianapolis Colts to begin the season.
The former middle linebacker for Army played 3-1/2 hours drive time from where he grew up in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, Illinois. He was on the opening kickoff coverage team, on kickoff return and on the punt coverage team.
He is the only one of four military academy graduates from the most recent graduating classes signed into the NFL this offseason and preseason to remain in the league. He will earn at least $660,000 on his new, one-year contract. That’s the minimum salary for a first-year NFL player in 2021, per the league’s collective bargaining agreement.
If not for a Department of the Army service deferment, Rhattigan would be a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army’s infantry with his Class of 2021 mates from the U.S. Military Academy right now. Sunday, he covered Jason Myers’ opening kickoff of the season. In the third quarter, Rhattigan sprinted down the field on Michael Dickson’s booming punt to the 5-yard line and put a vicious hit on Colts returner Nyheim Hines. It drew some “ooohs” in the press box.
That was the bid by the backup linebacker during his first three seasons for Army to get on Seattle’s roster for good. Now, it appears he has.
Rhattigan emerged on the roster as a backup to All-Pro Bobby Wagner at middle linebacker because the incumbent in that role, Ben Burr-Kirven, is out for the season following knee surgery. That means Pro Bowl special-teams ace Nick Bellore could return to offense as the fullback he’s been the previous few Seahawks seasons. Coaches moved Bellore to linebacker last month after Burr-Kirven’s injury. Bellore last played the position in 2017.
Terms of his practice-squad call-up are Rhattigan returned to the practice squad Monday without having to clear NFL waivers. One player can do that twice in a season before his team must either offer him a full-time spot on the 53-man active roster or be given the option of becoming a free agent with regular-season game tape.
If Rhattigan hadn’t received an NFL contract for this season, from Seattle or any other team, the terms of his service deferment from the Department of the Army say he is poised to receive his delayed commission and begin serving as his West Point classmates already are: on active duty in the Army.
“Regardless of what happens, I’m going to represent myself, the Academy and the Army the best I can,” Rhattigan told the TNT last month.
He did that Sunday.
“It was good, his first ball game he was really excited he got a chance to play,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “And he helped out.”
His unique path
Four summers ago, Rhattigan surrendered all his civilian clothes, his hair, everything he’d had and been in high school in Illinois — and reported to West Point.
On “R Day,” as the United States Military Academy calls it, new cadets from all over the nation and world are sworn into the military by taking an oath of office on The Plain, the expansive field in front of Washington Hall at the center of the West Point campus.
In late June 2017, Rhattigan and his fellow, freshly shorn plebes in the West Point Class of 2021 raised their right hands and repeated their oath from a presiding offer.
“I, Jon Rhattigan, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and bear true allegiance to the national government. That I will support and maintain the sovereignty of the United States,” Rhattigan recited on his entrance day into West Point and the U.S. Army.
Two weeks ago he didn’t make the Seahawks out of the preseason’s final cuts. The team put him on waivers with the purpose of re-signing him to its 16-man practice squad. Rhattigan cleared waivers, so Seattle re-signed him to the practice squad.
That kept him on deferment of his service obligation to the U.S. Army.
Rhattigan wants to serve his country. Every cadet does. No one goes to a service academy seeking to avoid serving our nation on active military duty. There are colleges for that. Cadets at West Point and the Air Force Academy and midshipmen at the Naval Academy are volunteering to defend the Constitution, as Rhattigan did by taking that oath in 2017 fresh out of Neuqua Valley High School.
After missing most of August with an injury that threatened to end his pro football career before it really started, Rhattigan needed to show coach Pete Carroll and the Seahawks something in the final preseason game.
He did.
He shined in his Seahawks debut. He had five tackles, a tackle for loss, a pass defensed, and more noticeable play on special teams, in Seattle’s 27-0 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers in the preseason finale.
“I was fired up about Jon,” Carroll said after that game.
Most of his teammates had no idea what was truly at stake for Rhattigan at the end of the preseason.
The life of a military academy graduate isn’t exactly common NFL locker-room talk.
“For the most part, no,” Rhattigan said. “Some might have family members here and there, but certainly it’s a football focus out here.
“I certainly talk about it a good bit. A lot of people are interested. It is an interesting path for me to have gotten here, so I like to share some of my experiences.
“It can be applicable, both in football and just leadership, life on and off the field. It’s good for me to be good at telling what I went through, and how the Army and military life can apply to football.
“Certainly, people are curious about it.”
Rhattigan said some of his Seahawks teammates have been “shocked” to learn he got up at 6 a.m. every day for four years, shined his shoes and his brass for uniform and room inspections, attended mandatory classes for physics, calculus, chemistry and engineering, went to summer Army training instead of the beach — while all other college football players prepared for the NFL by ... well, being in college.
“At the same time, they expect it to be different. You know, you live a structured life, you live an organized life,” he said.
“They are more just interested to hear what it was really like because they could only have an imagination about it.”
Technically, right now the Army considers Rhattigan to be in the Inactive Ready Reserve for three years.
“After my playing career, whenever that may be, I will still require five years of active duty, or service in some capacity,” he said.
Learning curve
Rhattigan said his biggest growth during training camp was not just learning the Seahawks’ defense, but how NFL offenses seek to attack it.
At West Point, he practiced every day against Army’s triple-option offense. He also played against that in the Black Knights’ huge rivalry games against Navy and Air Force.
There are no triple-option offense in the pass-happy NFL. He’s been much more a pass-coverage linebacker with the Seahawks.
“The pass-game transition is pretty huge,” he said.
Rhattigan has learned in his four months with the Seahawks, particularly from All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner, that “you can help yourself a lot pre-snap.” That is, by recognizing the offense’s formation and personnel groups.
Wagner has been an elite teacher at the top of his profession, like a general to this would-be second lieutenant.
“He’s a great leader and a great teammate. I’m thankful to be in the room with him,” Rhattigan said.
He’s not alone
This is an almost out-of-nowhere story, and not just because Rhattigan is the first West Point graduate to play for the Seahawks.
Rhattigan was a reserve and special-teams player his first three seasons playing for Army. He only became a starter last year, in his senior season. He excelled. He became a second-team All-American linebacker for Army’s Liberty Bowl team that won the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy for beating Air Force and Navy again.
Rhattigan is one of four service academy graduates to get deferments of their active-duty assignments to pursue NFL roster spots this summer. The others are Nolan Laufenberg (Denver Broncos) and George Silvanic (Los Angeles Rams) from the Air Force Academy, plus Cameron Kinley (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) from the Naval Academy.
Rhattigan is the only service-academy graduate playing in the NFL.
The Broncos waived Laufenberg last month. The Rams waived Silvanic, and the Buccaneers waived Kinley. All remain unsigned and could be headed back to the Air Force and Navy to begin their careers as military officers.
Rhattigan’s brothers TJ and Joe in Chicago and his parents Debbie and Thomas who now live in Florida are thrilled that their man has made in the NFL.
And in life.
“They are very proud. They are very happy for me,” Rhattigan said. “They know this is something I’ve been chasing since I was a little boy.
“For reality to hit, and I’m a Seattle Seahawk right now, it’s a great feeling for all of us. Myself and my family, as well.”
This story was originally published September 14, 2021 at 4:13 PM.
