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Seattle Seahawks News & Rumors

LB Shaquem Griffin Announces Retirement

August 24th, 2022 at 9:49am CST by Sam Robinson

Shaquem Griffin defied considerable odds by becoming a Central Florida standout and NFL regular, forging a football path despite losing his left hand at the age of 4. The 2018 fifth-round pick played three seasons with the Seahawks and spent time on the Dolphins’ practice squad.

The inspirational linebacker, however, announced Wednesday (via The Players’ Tribune) he will retire rather than pursue a fifth NFL season. The twin brother of Jaguars cornerback Shaquill Griffin, Shaquem said he aimed to catch on with the Jags last year — one featuring a few opportunities elsewhere — but after that did not materialize, he began moving toward leaving the game.

“All this traveling around, working out for teams, trying to catch on somewhere, trying to hang on — it wasn’t what I wanted. Football had already given me so much, and the only thing I still really wanted from the game was to play with my brother again,” Griffin said. “So I told my agent, Buddy Baker, thank you for grinding and bringing me these opportunities. But unless it’s Jacksonville, I’m good.”

Griffin spent the early part of last season on Miami’s taxi squad and worked out for the Cardinals, Titans and Jets. The Bills, Cowboys and Falcons also expressed interest, Griffin said, and he participated in the Broncos’ 2021 minicamp. But after the Dolphins released him from their practice squad in October, the St. Petersburg, Fla., native passed on offers that did not come from the Jags. Jacksonville signed Shaquill Griffin in March 2021, separating the twin brothers after they had played three seasons in Seattle.

For his career, Shaquem Griffin played mostly on special teams. He made 25 tackles with the Seahawks, who drafted him ahead of Shaquill’s second season. Shaquem notched 18.5 sacks over his final two college seasons and helped Central Florida finish the 2017 campaign at 13-0. He tallied one NFL sack, doing so after working his way back onto Seattle’s active roster following a September cut. Shaquem, who played with his brother for four seasons at Central Florida and three with the Seahawks, added a sack on Aaron Rodgers in Seattle’s 2019 divisional-round game.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/23/22

August 23rd, 2022 at 4:31pm CST by Sam Robinson

Tuesday marked the day teams were forced to cut down from 85 to 80 players. Here are the moves teams made made to reach the new maximum. Players who land on the reserve/PUP or reserve/NFI list must miss at least the first four regular-season games.

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Drew Lock Losing Ground In Seattle?

August 21st, 2022 at 7:22pm CST by Sam Robinson
  • Drew Lock missed the Seahawks‘ second preseason game Thursday and remains away from the team. Pete Carroll said the QB trade acquisition is “really sick” with COVID-19, which the team announced he contracted Tuesday. After a solid start (minus a late-game fumble) in Seattle’s preseason opener, Lock is losing ground to Geno Smith by missing time. Smith remains in the lead for the Seahawks’ QB1 post, Eric Williams of Fox Sports writes. This seems like a situation in which both players will start games for the 2022 Seahawks, but Smith remains in pole position to get the Week 1 call.
  • The Seahawks traded one of their slot options, Ugo Amadi, to the Eagles for J.J. Arcega-Whiteside. They may well call on a rookie to man the post as well. Coby Bryant is looking like he will play in the nickel role, Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times notes. The Seahawks have not used presumptive outside starters Sidney Jones or Artie Burns during the preseason. Seattle chose Bryant in the fourth round and Tariq Woolen in the fifth; the latter worked as an outside corner in the team’s second preseason tilt Thursday.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/20/22

August 20th, 2022 at 7:01pm CST by Adam La Rose

With the deadline for more roster cutdowns looming, here are today’s minor moves around the league:

Carolina Panthers

Los Angeles Rams

New England Patriots

Seattle Seahawks

Thompson’s return will be a welcomed sight in Carolina. The 28-year-old had his third-straight 100-tackle season in 2021, adding a pair of sacks and interceptions. Offseason knee surgery cost him time in training camp, but the fact that he passed his conditioning test today means that he can resume practicing with plenty of time before the start of the regular season. Returning to full health in time for Week 1, while expected, would be a crucial development for the Panthers’ defense.

Damien Lewis Avoids Serious Injury

August 19th, 2022 at 8:22am CST by Ben Levine

AUG 19: The Seahawks look to have dodged a bullet here. Pete Carroll said Lewis X-rays revealed only a lateral ankle sprain, according to Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. While Lewis could miss some time, he will have a chance to play this season. Haynes would start in Lewis’ absence, Carroll added.

AUG 18: Damien Lewis appeared to have suffered a serious injury on Thursday night. The Seahawks offensive guard was carted off the field during Seattle’s preseason contest against the Bears.

Lewis suffered a leg injury during a run play in the second quarter. Lewis was down on the ground for a bit while the trainers placed an air cast on his leg. The team, including head coach Pete Carroll, huddled around the offensive lineman before he was carted off the field. Predictably, Lewis was later ruled out for the game with an ankle injury.

Lewis has been a dependable member of Seattle’s offensive line since he joined the organization as a third-round pick in 2020. He’s started each of his 29 games since entering the league, and while he was graded 57th among 82 qualifying guards in 2021 (per PFF), he ranked 13th at the position as a rookie. Thanks to that performance in 2020, he earned PFWA All-Rookie Team honors.

Phil Haynes ended up replacing Lewis in the lineup, and there’s a chance the former fourth-round pick could end up securing the starting gig if Lewis is out. The team could also turn to backups like Greg Eiland and rookie Shamarious Gilmore.

Lewis wasn’t the only player hurt on the play. Bears linebacker Caleb Johnson was also down for a moment, but he was eventually able to walk off the field.

Kenneth Walker Iffy For Week 1

August 17th, 2022 at 2:21pm CST by Sam Robinson
  • Seahawks rookie running back Kenneth Walker represents a key part of the team’s backfield equation, one that recently lost Chris Carson to retirement. Walker will not be available for a bit, with Pete Carroll indicating the second-round pick is battling “a little hernia thing” that may sidetrack him for the rest of the preseason. The Seahawks are now targeting Week 1 for Walker’s return, Brady Henderson of ESPN.com notes (Twitter links). Walker has already undergone surgery to address the problem, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. Seattle re-signed Rashaad Penny in March, and while the injury-prone back missed time recently because of a groin issue, he returned to practice Tuesday.
  • In addition to Walker being out for the Seahawks’ second preseason game, the team’s quarterback competition will see one of its members down for that contest. Drew Lock contracted COVID-19 and will miss the Seahawks’ Thursday tilt against the Bears. Already behind Geno Smith in vying to succeed Russell Wilson, with Carroll saying Tuesday that Smith remains “the No. 1 guy,” Lock will be shut down by the NFL’s current COVID protocols. Players are no longer required to be moved off the roster for virus reasons, but they must isolate for at least five days after testing positive.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/15/22

August 15th, 2022 at 5:39pm CST by Adam La Rose

Today’s minor moves:

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

  • Waived: DE Carson Taylor

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

 Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions 

Green Bay Packers 

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts 

Jacksonville Jaguars 

Los Angeles Chargers

Miami Dolphins 

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

New York Jets

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Commanders

Eagles To Trade J.J. Arcega-Whiteside To Seahawks For Ugo Amadi

August 15th, 2022 at 3:43pm CST by Adam La Rose

Amidst a day of roster cuts and player activations and signings, a rare player-for-player swap is taking place. The Eagles are sending tight end J.J. Arcega-Whiteside to the Seahawks in exchange for safety Ugo Amadi (Twitter link via NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero). 

Arcega-Whiteside was one of several notable draft investments the Eagles have made at the wide receiver position recently. The 2019 second-rounder came to Philadelphia with significant expectations given his size (six-foot-two, 225 pounds) and production at Stanford. Things haven’t gone according to plan, however, as he has failed to secure a full-time starting role across three seasons in the NFL.

After totaling just 16 catches in his first 40 games, the Eagles decided this offseason to move the 25-year-old to tight end. With the likes of first-rounders Jalen Reagor and DeVonta Smith, as well as draft-day trade acquisition A.J. Brown at the position, that transition was Arcega-Whiteside’s clearest path to playing time. The same may not be true in Seattle, however; Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times tweets that the Seahawks plan to play Arcega-Whiteside at WR, where he will compete for a secondary role behind DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. 

The news of a trade is particularly noteworthy in Amadi’s case. ESPN’s Brady Henderson reported (on Twitter) earlier today that the 25-year-old was going to be among the Seahawks’ first round of roster cuts. By acquiring him via trade, the Eagles avoid the possibility of another team claiming him. A fourth-round pick in the same draft as Arcega-Whiteside, Amadi started 12 games between 2020 and 2021. He played a career-high 691 defensive snaps last season, and recorded 54 tackles for the second consecutive season.

The five-foot-nine, 201-pounder will add depth on the backend for the Eagles. Safety was seen as an area of need for much of the offseason after the departure of Rodney McLeod, and Amadi will now look to carve out at least a rotational role behind starters Anthony Harris and Marcus Epps.

Both players will get a fresh start in advance of a contract year, and look to build their free agent values while reinforcing potential weak points on their new teams’ respective rosters.

Seattle 7th-Round WRs Grinding For Roster Spots

August 14th, 2022 at 9:57pm CST by Ely Allen

The Seahawks used the final round of the 2022 NFL Draft to bring in some potential depth at wide receiver, drafting Bo Melton out of Rutgers and Dareke Young out of Lenoir-Rhyne. While Melton and Young still face a bit of an uphill battle to make the final 53-man roster, they’ll get a true look throughout the preseason, according to ESPN’s Brady Henderson.

Melton’s numbers out of Rutgers will not jump off of the page. In his best season, Melton caught 47 passes for 638 yards and six touchdowns, adding two more scores on the ground with 6 rushes for 69 yards. The lack of eye-popping statistics may be more a reflection of the players around Melton than a reflection of his own ability, as Rutgers hasn’t been known for top-tier quarterback play in recent years. Still, Melton led the Scarlet Knights in receiving yards in each of the last three years, accumulating 132 catches for 1,683 yards and 11 touchdowns over that span.

Young is a bit of a project out of Lenoir-Rhyne. Due to COVID-19 and injury, Young has only played in seven games over the last two seasons. In the five games he appeared in last year, he caught 25 balls for 303 yards and four touchdowns, including an eight-catch, 160-yard, three-touchdown performance vs Mars Hill in September. The numbers in this shortened season nearly match the numbers from the two full, fourteen-game seasons he played in 2018 and 2019, showing the tremendous potential for what a matured Young could’ve accomplished in one more full season with the Bears.

Both Melton and Young have impressed throughout the offseason in Seattle. In the team’s preseason loss to the Steelers this past Saturday, the two led the receiving group, Melton with 2 receptions for 47 yards and Young with 4 catches for 30 yards and a touchdown.

While the top-two spots atop the depth chart are set in stone with Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf, injuries to others in the receiving corps should allow Melton and Young plenty of opportunities to earn their roster spots. Freddie Swain was expected to come into the season as the No. 3 wide receiver after finishing third in the room in receiving yards last year. After struggling for much of camp, though, Swain was recently sidelined with a minor injury, leaving the door slightly ajar for someone to overtake him. Free agent addition Marquise Goodwin has stood out so far in camp, giving him a real chance to work his way into the starting group, but he, too, was sidelined recently with an injury. Meanwhile, second-year receiver D’Wayne Eskridge has struggled to stay on the field and is still recovering from injuries in an attempt to return to play.

The absences of Swain, Goodwin, and Eskridge in the preseason will provide Melton and Young ample playing time with the starting offense. This by no means guarantees that they will cement themselves on the final roster, but, similarly, if they continue to perform, Swain, Goodwin, and Eskridge may not want to get too comfortable. It can be difficult for a seventh-round pick to make the 53-man roster as a rookie, but these two pass catchers are getting a prime chance to beat the odds.

NFC West Rumors: Seahawks OL, Jackson, Greenlaw, Humphries

August 13th, 2022 at 5:42pm CST by Ely Allen

With Brandon Shell departing in free agency and Duane Brown and Ethan Pocic now rostered with the Jets and Browns, respectively, the Seahawks have had a bit of work this offseason piecing their offensive line back together. Seattle may even be in the extremely rare position of bookending their offensive line with two rookie tackles, according to Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times.

While Charles Cross has long been expected to start for the Seahawks on the blindside as the No. 9 overall pick in the draft, it appears that third-round pick Abraham Lucas is currently favored to man the tackle spot opposite Cross. The most recent instance of this in the NFL that I could find is back in 2012 when the Cardinals were forced to start seventh-round pick Nate Potter across from fourth-round pick Bobby Massie late in the season. That was a result of some injuries, though. The last time a team started the season with two rookie offensive tackles, I believe, was in 2009 when Jacksonville trotted out in Week 1 with first-round pick Eugene Monroe at left tackle and second-round pick Eben Britton at right tackle.

Additionally, while the Seahawks return Gabe Jackson and Damien Lewis as the starting guards from last year, backup guard Phil Haynes has reportedly been pushing both for playing time this offseason. According to a tweet from ESPN’s Brady Henderson, head coach Pete Carroll had plenty of good things to say about Haynes.

“Phil could start. He plays like a starter,” Carroll extolled. He looks like a starter out there and he’s pushing Gabe, he really is. He’s our guy that’s swinging right and left side right now. If he had to start for either guy right now, I would feel absolutely comfortable…I feel like we’ve got three starting guards right now that we could play and be fine with.”

Here are a few other rumors from around the NFC West, starting with a couple rumors from the Bay Area:

  • The 49ers used a second-round pick this year to select Drake Jackson, a big-bodied defensive end out of USC. But they are determined not to limit Jackson to the outside of the line, according to Matt Barrows of The Athletic. San Francisco has been lining Jackson up all over the defensive line this offseason, placing him not only on both ends but at defensive tackle, as well.
  • When the 49ers rush an extra defensive back on the field in passing situations, one of their three starting linebackers is going to have to come off the field. When asked which starting linebacker would stay on the field with Fred Warner in those situations, Barrows posited that it had to be Dre Greenlaw. Barrows went on to say that the only way Azeez Al-Shaair would take hold over the No. 2 linebacker spot in San Francisco is if Greenlaw is injured.
  • Cardinals offensive tackle D.J. Humphries recently signed a three-year, $51.76MM extension. According to Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network, the deal has a guaranteed amount of $32.82MM consisting of a $17MM signing bonus, the 2022 salary of $3.82MM, $4MM of the 2023 salary, and the 2023 roster bonus of $8.24MM. Additionally, the 28-year-old tackle can earn a per game active bonus of $14,117 for a potential season total of $240,000.
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