Seahawks release Alton Robinson

Seattle adds a nose tackle, gets another rookie under contract: 7/25/2023

The Seattle Seahawks released three players on Tuesday, including outside linebacker Alton Robinson, who had come on strong as a rookie in 2020 but didn’t develop as expected in year two and then missed all of last season with a knee injury. This doesn’t necessarily have to be the end of the road for Robinson, but if a team doesn’t want to hold a player’s rights when they have 90 roster spots it usually means that they’re prepared to move on.

This gives edge rushers Tyreke Smith and Joshua Onujiogu slightly better odds to be one of the last players to make the final 53-man roster.

In addition to waiving Robinson, the Seahawks parted ways with cornerbacks Isaiah Dunn and James Campbell. Those moves come hours after Seattle reportedly signed former undrafted free agent Andrew Whitaker, a D-III track star who says he can run a 4.3 40-yard dash on his 6’1, 193 lbs frame. Dunn was added to the Seahawks at final cuts in 2022 and appeared in five games, but exclusively on special teams.

There are probably at least five cornerbacks guaranteed to make the roster barring injury, with Jerrick Reed II as a high probability and Artie Burns hoping to surprise people again as a veteran presence. That would have made it difficult for Dunn and Campbell, an undrafted free agent, to make the roster anyway. Now they have opportunities to find teams who aren’t as deep at cornerback.

More News: Seahawks sign track star cornerback on Tuesday to complete roster

Even More News: Seahawks restructure contract for Quandre Diggs

In one more corresponding move, the Seahawks signed nose tackle Roderick Perry II, an undrafted free agent out of Illinois in 2022—therefore he was teammates with Devon Witherspoon, who is Seattle’s last unsigned rookie after the team came to terms with Zach Charbonnet on Tuesday—to fill another spot on the roster. That should leave the Seahawks with one more opening, if I’m not mistaken, and they have an interesting amount of cap space left, to say the least.

Perry, who is 25 and listed at 6’2, 300 lbs, played in 40 regular season snaps for the Cleveland Browns in 2022 and spent most of the year on their practice squad.

How does this leave the Seahawks roster?

Training camp practices start on Wednesday and while Seattle made things a little less complicated at cornerback—we thought Dunn at least had a good shot at the practice squad—by reducing that number by one, the Seahawks add a body at nose tackle, which is the biggest unknown on defense.

Seattle gets lighter at edge without Robinson and narrowing that position group down to Uchenna Nwosu, Darrell Taylor, Boye Mafe, Derick Hall, Smith, and Onujiogu. The Seahawks may look to add another edge rusher this month or next month.

The Seahawks signed Zach Charbonnet to his rookie contract but haven’t come to a finalized agreement with Witherspoon. That’s an inevitability, however it is interesting to say the least that Witherspoon is the last remaining unsigned rookie draft pick in the entire league. This could be hammering home some agreement to pay out his bonus this year vs. a later year, but there isn’t much room for negotiation so it could be that Seattle just wanted to wait until they had come to a decision on making their final roster addition.

The Seahawks worked out five players on Monday and so far haven’t signed any of them, but Pete Carroll’s roster churn is only getting started. By my count, Seattle has 89 players on the roster and something close to $15 million in 2023 cap space, with Witherspoon carrying a net cap impact of just under $5 million. That would mean the Seahawks will have something like $8-$10 million in cap space and an open roster spot once they sign Witherspoon, assuming that happens first.

With the Seahawks though, best not to assume.

More News: Seahawks sign track star cornerback on Tuesday to complete roster

Even More News: Seahawks restructure contract for Quandre Diggs

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