I don’t think there’s been too much drama during cut-downs for the Seahawks this year. A lot of the moves were anticipated, with only a couple of minor surprises. It’s really encouraging to see them protecting young UDFA’s like Jared Ivey and Nick Kallerup. Any good roster will typically have some diamonds you find in the later rounds and beyond. Ivey seemed to have a great pre-season while Kallerup could be groomed to be the long-term version of Eric Saubert.
There are a couple of positions I wanted to discuss though.
At cornerback, cutting Shaquill Griffin might not be as it seems. The Seahawks have in the past cut veterans to avoid guaranteeing their contracts at the start of the season, only to try and bring them back later. They might be doing this here, feeling they can get through the first week without Griffin on their 53-man roster.
(As I was writing this piece, John Schneider did a press conference and alluded to the likelihood of Griffin sticking with the team in some capacity)
In the meantime they can take a look at Derion Kendrick, who they claimed after being cut by the Rams. I wasn’t a big fan of Kendrick’s during the 2022 draft process, giving him an undraftable grade. He was taken in the sixth round but hasn’t played well in LA — aside, it seems, from a standout performance against the Seahawks in 2023. That possibly is the reason why they want to take a closer look.
It might be a short stint in Seattle if he doesn’t shine. We could see Griffin back in the future. This feels like a fluid situation.
Linebacker is a bit more of a question mark for me. There’s a ‘scrambling around for solutions’ vibe to this position. They’ve added Chazz Surratt, a player I graded in round three ahead of the 2021 draft but after going in that range is now onto his fourth team in as many years. Chris Paul has also been added to the practise squad after being cut by the Rams.
Prior to Surratt’s arrival, they only had three inside linebackers on the roster. That includes Ernest Jones (had surgery earlier this year) and Tyrice Knight (had injury question marks throughout training camp). Drake Thomas was the third player.
It’s hard to imagine Surratt is going to provide much of an answer given how it hasn’t worked out for him in Minnesota, New York (Jets) or San Francisco so far. Perhaps Paul can make an impression as a rookie? He seemed to impress Rams fans. Yet it’s hard to work out why the Seahawks haven’t been more pro-active at this position.
We saw last year how the wrong linebackers can potentially derail this defense. Jones and Knight being introduced as the starters had a major impact when they replaced Tyrel Dodson and Jerome Baker. If Jones and/or Knight miss time, which wouldn’t be totally unexpected, how will they handle that? Was there not a free agent or rookie they could’ve added to provide better depth? Or someone they could’ve traded for?
Perhaps there wasn’t? From that perspective it’s all understandable. There aren’t a laundry list of great inside linebackers at the moment. It does, however, feel like an important position within Mike Macdonald’s system — one where they’re a little light on quality depth. It was important enough to trade a fourth round pick for a 10-game initial rental of Jones. It’s curious that they haven’t done a bit more here to offer a degree of cover and protection against injuries.
A final note for today, I wanted to share some news. This season I will be on Seattle Sports with Bump & Stacy for a new weekly segment. This will be on top of the Seahawks Collective podcast we recently started and my weekly conversation on Puck Sports. Plus, all of the stuff I do on my own YouTube channel and the usual writing you can expect on the blog.
I’ll post all of the content on here and you’d be doing me a big favour if you checked it all out. In eight days time I’m heading out to Seattle for opening week and can’t wait to get started.
