AJ Francis claims his release was because of Masters Degree

AJ Francis is no longer a member of the Seattle Seahawks. The defensive tackle believes he is now unemployed because he is finishing up his Masters degree.

The Seattle Seahawks released defensive tackle AJ Francis on Monday. He took to twitter to thank the team for the opportunity, as well as to point out why he thinks he was released.

Francis has been a no-show at OTAs so far this offseason. The workouts are optional, and so he’s stayed at school as he works to finish up his Masters degree. The plan was for him to re-join the offseason program once his degree was complete later this month, but that obviously won’t happen now.

A big part of why Francis was let go was because the Seahawks drafted two defensive tackles in the draft and added another as an UDFA. They also signed Sealver Siliga during free agency. With the team looking for roster spots to sign some of the undrafted players that came in for a tryout during the rookie minicamp, Francis was let go.

The Seahawks have the depth at DT to make Francis’ spot on the 90-man roster expendable. He was a roster bubble guy, and guys on the bubble cannot afford to miss workouts, even optional ones. You can say whatever you want about “fairness” in this situation, but that is just the way things are.

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Still, it is tough to see Francis lose out on an NFL opportunity because he decided to use the early portions of the offseason to finish up his Masters degree. Hopefully he’ll get another chance very soon.