Seahawks roster projection: 4 undrafted rookies make it; 2022 draft pick and veteran cut
Geno Smith, Bobby Wagner, DK Metcalf, they’re chillin’.
Jake Bobo, Easop Winston Jr., Matt Landers, they’re stressin’.
“I think I put my best foot forward,” Winston, the former Washington State Cougar, said outside the locker room at Lambeau Field Saturday following the Seahawks’ preseason finale.
“That’s all I could do at the end of the day — and live with the results.”
Tuesday is NFL roster cut-down day. For Bobo, Winston and Landers — and about 40 others on the 90-man roster trying to win one of Seattle’s final spots on the 53-man roster for the regular season — these days and hours between now and 1 p.m. Tuesday are the most excruciating they’ve lived.
“Oh, absolutely. Yes, sir,” Bobo said Saturday.
He shook his head and sighed.
“Yep,” Bobo said. “Had that day circled on my calendar for a while.”
Bobo should feel better than most.
The rookie from UCLA, who admitted to The News Tribune last week he had zero expectations when he signed in the spring — “none,” he said — was one of the NFL’s stars this preseason. He had 125 yards and was the league’s co-leader with two touchdown receptions. The second was from Drew Lock Saturday in Seattle’s 19-15 preseason loss to the Packers.
Bobo was so good this summer, him making the roster is no longer a surprise.
He is about to join in the tradition of Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse and Thomas Rawls in coach Pete Carroll’s long line of undrafted free agents to not only make the Seahawks’ roster as rookies but be a regular contributor right away.
“He has done everything he has had a chance to do,” Carroll said of Bobo. “He has blocked well. He has played with terrific effort. He is a smart kid. He has made big plays. He has made routine plays. He just comes through with whatever we ask him to do.
“He has been terrific.”
Injuries to rookie first-round pick Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Dareke Young and Cody Thompson plus the NFL suspension of Dee Eskridge for the first six games leaves spots available at wide receiver behind Metcalf and Tyler Lockett.
Winston isn’t as sure a bet as Bobo to make the initial 53-man roster Tuesday. His three catches for 74 yards at Green Bay, all on the Seahawks’ fourth-quarter drive into the lead Saturday in the preseason finale will help. So will his ability to return kicks and play on special teams. Lock said he trusts Winston will catch the ball when they throw it to him.
Carroll emphasized Saturday he’s looking at this as a 69-man proposition. That includes the 16 players the Seahawks will put on its first practice squad of the season. The coach said he was so impressed with the 90 players’ unity and mentality this preseason he wants most if not all 69 of the players going forward to be from this group, and not imports from other team’s cuts and moves.
“I would love to keep this group. I would love this group to be together,” Carroll said. “We are going to try to do that if we can. We’ll see how it goes.”
So the first way to project the Seahawks’ moves on Tuesday is to forecast the 21 players the team will either waive and cut outright or possibly put on injured reserve. That will get them to 69, from which 16 will become Seattle’s practice squad.
Players that aren’t vested veterans must be released Tuesday then clear waivers to land on the practice squad. Veterans with four or more league seasons get released and immediately become free agents.
Once teams establish practice squads Wednesday after the waiver period from Tuesday ends, any other team can sign a player off another club’s practice squad onto its active roster.
The Seahawks began making their moves Sunday, with no surprises:
Here is The News Tribune’s projection of the Seahawks’ initial regular-season roster — with the caveat this is likely to change this week as Seattle signs one or some of the nearly 1,000 players who will become available league wide Tuesday (Starters in bold; PS = practice squad, after clearing waivers).
Quarterbacks: Geno Smith and Drew Lock.
Waive: Holton Ahlers (PS)
Lock cemented Carroll’s and teammates’ trust with a reassuring preseason that he can do the job if Smith should get hurt this season. Ahlers, the undrafted rookie from East Carolina with flash in his running and throwing, appears headed for the practice squad as the team’s third quarterback.
Running backs: Kenneth Walker, Zach Charbonnet, DeeJay Dallas, Kenny McIntosh.
Waive: SaRodorick Thompson (PS), Wayne Taulapapa.
McIntosh, the rookie seventh-round pick, has been sidelined for 2 1/2 weeks by a sprained knee. He could go on injured reserve after making the initial roster. That would mean he would miss at least the first four games. Players put on IR before getting on the initial 53-man roster must miss the entire season, per league rules. The Seahawks try to get Thompson, who scored Seattle’s go-ahead touchdown and two-point conversation in the fourth quarter at Green Bay, through waivers onto the practice squad.
Wide receivers: DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Jake Bobo, Easop Winston Jr.
Waive: Matt Landers (PS), Cade Johnson (PS), Tyjon Lindsey, John Hall.
Injured reserve: Cody Thompson, Dareke Young.
Reserve/suspended list: Dee Eskridge.
There’s a chance, if the Seahawks think Smith-Njigba won’t return from his wrist surgery last week until mid-October, that the first-round pick goes on IR after making the roster. But Carroll said Saturday Smith-Njigba was already back at the team facility Friday talking about playing in the opener. He is wearing a brace. Put Bobo’s name on the roster in ink, stone, whatever. The entire league has seen what he’s done. No way he gets through waivers onto Seattle’s practice squad. Bobo may be the Seahawks’ third wide receiver for the opener. Winston’s sure-handedness gained the quarterbacks’ trust this summer. He wins out over Johnson and Landers, the undrafted rookie and 4.3-speed guy from Arkansas.
Tight ends: Noah Fant, Will Dissly, Colby Parkinson.
Waive: Tyler Mabry (PS), Sal Cannella, Griffin Hebert.
Same set up here as to begin last season. Fant needs to catch the ball more consistently for him to maximize this contract year.
Offensive linemen: Charles Cross, Damien Lewis, Evan Brown, Phil Haynes, Abe Lucas, Olu Oluwatimi, Jake Curhan, Greg Eiland, Anthony Bradford.
Waive: Stone Forsythe (PS), Liam Ryan (PS), Kendall Randolph.
Release: Joey Hunt.
Oluwatimi, the rookie fifth-round pick, lost ground to Brown at center because of an injury this month. He will challenge to start during the season. Eiland, a massive man (6 feet 8, 321 pounds, can play guard and tackle. Forsythe, the team’s sixth-round pick two years ago, has been slow getting off the ball and getting to edge pass rushers. Ryan, from WSU, is valuable as a tackle who can also be a third center.
Defensive linemen: Dre’Mont Jones, Mario Edwards, Jarran Reed, Mike Morris, Cameron Young, Jacob Sykes
Waived: Myles Adams (PS), Roderick Perry (PS), Matt Gotel (PS), Levi Bell (PS), Jordan Ferguson.
Physically-unable-to-perform list: Austin Faoliu.
Injured reserve: Bryan Mone.
The Seahawks’ thinnest, most concerning position group. Expect them to sign a released veteran, or two, here this week.
Sykes, an undrafted rookie from UCLA, won this spot with relentless play in training camp and preseason games. He spent much of August in offenses’ backfields. Defensive tackles are so unproven on this roster. Rookie draft picks Morris and Young lost a lot of growth on the field being injured most of the preseason. They could go onto injured reserve after initially making the 53, opening two spots for at least a month. Or if the team thinks they are going to be out long term they could join Mone on IR and out for the season. Mone had a major knee injury in December. Gotel, from Lakes High School in his second preseason with the team, and Bell, the undrafted rookie from Texas State, make the practice squad. Faoliu was on the PUP list to begin training camp. That makes him eligible for PUP to begin the season, missing a minimum of four games.
Linebackers: Bobby Wagner, Jordyn Brooks, Uchenna Nwosu, Boye Mafe, Darrell Taylor, Devin Bush, Jon Rhattigan, Ben Burr-Kirven, Nick Bellore, Derick Hall, Tyreke Smith.
Waive: Patrick O’Connell (PS), Christian Young.
Injured reserve: Vi Jones.
If Bush’s contract he signed as a free agent this spring didn’t guarantee he gets $2.99 million from the Seahawks this season, he could be cut. They may be trying to trade him now that Brooks is back from his torn ACL to start with Wagner. Bush playing the first three quarters and getting a concussion covering a punt in the final preseason game, when all other veteran regulars were in sweatpants on the sidelines, makes one wonder. His concussion complicates trying to trade him. If he stays, they are paying a lot for what appears to be a part-time linebacker and special-teams player.
Bellore, at 34, is the team’s oldest player. He’s been the special-teams captain. In February he signed a two-year contract with a $2.6 million salary-cap charge for this year. Carroll said he sees Burr-Kirven, the former Washington Husky, all the way back from two years out with nerve damage in his leg. Smith, the 2022 draft pick who missed all his rookie season on IR, needs to find his way on the defense. Jones has a high-ankle sprain that Carroll last week called “legit.” When the coach says “legit,” it usually means that player is out months.
Cornerbacks: Riq Woolen, Tre Brown, Devon Witherspoon, Michael Jackson.
Release: Artie Burns.
Waive: Lance Boykin, Arquon Bush, Chris Steele, Benjie Franklin.
Burns played well in Green Bay. But with Witherspoon returning soon from his weeks-long hamstring injury the secondary doesn’t need the former first-round pick by Pittsburgh. The team would love Burns on the practice squad, but as a veteran he will becoming a free agent first. If Witherspoon proves healthy before the opener Sept. 10, he’s starting; the fifth pick in the draft isn’t sitting the bench. The question: Is Witherspoon the left cornerback, or primary nickel? This says nickel, for his tackling and cover skills, while Brown surpassed Jackson the last weeks of the preseason.
Safeties: Quandre Diggs, Julian Love, Jamal Adams, Coby Bryant, Joey Blount, Jerrick Reed.
Waive-injured: Jonathan Sutherland
Waive: Ty Okada (PS).
Adams came off the PUP list Thursday. He will begin walk-through practices Tuesday. He may not be all the way back from his torn quadriceps by the opener, but the team keeps him on the active roster because it thinks he will be ready before week four. Otherwise, he goes on IR after being on the initial 53 and misses a minimum of four games.
Reed, the rookie sixth-round pick, won his spot with his play in Green Bay Saturday. Sutherland could be waived with an injury designation. The undrafted rookie was starting at nickel before he got hurt in the second preseason game, costing him his chance.
Specialists: Kicker Jason Myers, punter Michael Dickson, long snapper Chris Stoll.
This story was originally published August 27, 2023 at 11:49 AM.
