Seahawks announce 5 roster cuts well ahead of Tuesday's deadline
Seaside Joe 1263: Competitions at safety, linebacker, and cornerback became a little more clear
The Seattle Seahawks waived four players on Saturday, and released former Chicago Bears linebacker Iggy Iyiegbuniwe, but none of Seattle’s decisions were nearly as surprising as Ugo Amadi being traded in the last wave of cutdowns. Releasing Iggy, who also goes by Joel but I’ll take my opportunity to use a fun nickname when possible, gives Tanner Muse, Vi Jones, Lakiem Williams, and even Joel Dublanko a clear path towards making the roster as a linebacker reserve.
Based solely on the last preseason game, Muse and Williams would stand out the most to me. But Vi Jones was one of the stars of the first preseason game.
Knowing that Jordyn Brooks and Cody Barton are set to start, the Seahawks may not need any of them to play defensive snaps right away. Knowing that Brooks has already dealt with injuries in training camp and that Barton has never been entrusted as a starter, Seattle’s depth at linebacker could be crucial to their defensive success this season.
None of the potential options, including veteran Nick Bellore who has survived the first two rounds of cuts but may not be so lucky next week, are reassuring based on all of the missed tackles in the preseason.
I would rank Muse the highest among them but that is neither a) a strong endorsement or b) based in any sort of in-depth research over the course of many months at a research station in Antarctica. It’s just my feeling based on this camp and preseason and not much there within. He may not have the speed to really stand the test of starting at inside linebacker in Clint Hurtt’s defense.
Seattle brought in recently-released linebacker Kenny Young, a former Rams player who must know Shane Waldron personally, at least to some degree. He’s not a starter.
The Seahawks also waived undrafted free agent rookie safety Bubba Bolden and UDFA cornerback Elijah Jones, clearing space in the secondary competitions. This is good news for Joey Blount, a UDFA safety I highlighted earlier this week, but the road between here and the 53 is still a long one; Seattle will have at least four safeties ahead of him on the depth chart, including Josh Jones and Ryan Neal.
Jones had gotten a little time with the 1s in practice because of injuries but was never seriously challenging for the final roster. This puts Mike Jackson one step closer to reaching the 53 but if the Seahawks decide to keep all the veterans—including Justin Coleman—the numbers will be working against Jackson.
My system for remembering player numbers during the preseason worked out pretty well for me and somehow I remembered “Mike Jackson=Michael Jackson 30th anniversary special” and the rest is History.
In addition, the Seahawks waived UDFA rookie defensive tackle Matt Gotel, who would have not been able to get over Myles Adams and Jerrod Hewitt for the battle to be depth on the line. Even L.J. Collier remains “unsafe” compared to Myles Adams at this point.
Finally, tight end Cade Brewer, the fourth UDFA rookie on this list, was also waived on Saturday. It seems unlikely that even Tyler Mabry will crack the 53 at tight end, so Brewer will hope to impress enough to make it to the practice squad.
The Seahawks must make 27 more cuts after the next preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys next Friday. More likely, Seattle will have at least one more transaction than that as they move chess pieces around, scour the waiver wire for potential additions and trade opportunities, and announce a couple of surprises as usual.
And we’ll have it all covered here at Seaside Joe, so please subscribe (we’re SO CLOSE now to 1,000) and tell a friend. You can now find us at seaside(dot)com or www(dot)seasidejoe(dot)com so it’s easier than ever to tell people, “Check out SeasideJoe.com!”
I’ll leave you with these rookie breakdowns of Charles Cross, Abe Lucas, Tariq Woolen, and Boye Mafe by Brian Baldinger:
I think Seattle will be looking for a linebacker or two, during the final cut downs. One man's left overs can be another man's gold
I appreciate you including so many clips from Brian Balldinger. He has breakdowns that we don’t get to see on telecasts.
My focus this preseason is on our rookies, especially since the QB battle is somewhat irrelevant. Dang but the Hawks have what appears (from limited evidence) to be a great set of rookie tackles.