The Seattle Seahawks are getting ever closer to the regular season. Funny how the offseason takes eight months but feels like three while training camp and the preseason take two months and feels like eight. Oh, well. We are almost there, 12s!
But Seattle still has a bloated roster. There are 90 people of the team and by August 29th that has to get down to 53. Then Seattle has to fill up the practice squad - up to 16 players - and most will probably be from players they release. At least Pete Carroll and the coaching staff have a good idea of what they have on the practice squad.
Still, those final cuts are rough. The coaches have to get the team just right in all three phases, of course. But players also have to show they deserve one of the coveted 53 spots. What follows are four players who might be in jeopardy of either losing their roster spot or losing their spot on the depth chart.
No. 1 - Seahawks safety Jerrick Reed II
I feel bad for Reed. If the Seahawks weren't moving a bunch of players around and those players, like Coby Bryant, weren't actually doing pretty well, then Reed might have a much better shot at making the Week 1 roster. He still could make the team. I mean, he was good enough to draft instead of just picking up as an undrafted free agent, but he still just doesn't have what some others have.
Reed isn't going to be a starter, of course. He's behind Julian Love and Quandre Diggs (and Jamal Adams, too, should he ever return) most definitely. This means Reed is battling for a backup spot. He had a better chance before Bryant was moved to the backend of the defense from his slot corner spot. Oddly enough, Reed has a worse chance of staying with the Seahawks active roster because Seattle chose cornerback Devon Witherspoon in the 2023 NFL draft as well.
Witherspoon, if healthy, will move Bryant from his nickelback spot to safety. Bryant was pretty good at safety in Seattle's first preseason game against the Vikings. This means less room for other potential backups and this includes Reed, of course. I like Reed. He plays with passion and he wants to make the team. But Bryant, as well as veteran Joey Blount might push him out of a job on the active roster.
No. 2 - Seahawks receiver Dee Eskridge
This player goes without even mentioning probably, but still he must be mentioned. I have written a bunch of times (as have other sites; I am far from being a genius) how Eskridge probably shouldn't make the 2023 Seahawks. During his two-year career before the 2023 offseason, Eskridge was either injured, didn't play well, both, or...you know, simply wasn't good.
As is a matter of course for Eskridge, he was hurt in Seattle's first play of this preseason. On Seattle's kickoff to the Vikings, the receiver injured his knee. He left the field and later returned with a wrap on it. While I in no way want any player to get hurt, Eskridge missing time likely only saved himself from being non-productive on the field during games.
He is already suspended for the first six games of the season after an offseason off-field domestic situation (we can kind of guess at what actually happened, but we don't really know what occurred) so even if we assume that Eskridge is going to make the team then the Seahawks still have to find at least a temporary replacement for him. But why even entertain that thought? Seattle should just release him now.
Undrafted receiver Jake Bobo might not have Eskridge's raw physical ability, but Bobo plays like he wants to earn a spot. Eskridge has never come across this way. 40 times matter before the NFL draft, but once a player in in the league their play dictates their future. Bobo looks like he can be a player, while Eskridge doesn't and he should lose his job.
No. 3 - Seahawks edge rusher Darrell Taylor
Taylor is another guy we have written a bunch about on this website. For the record, I have nothing against Taylor. He played at the University of Tennessee and I lived near the school for years and I hope they do well. Taylor was good in college and was versatile on enough bad Vols teams (the Vols have a different coach now and are a much better team) to be among the best players on his teams. In fact, he deserved to be on better teams in college.
But he has yet to truly develop his game in the NFL. Players know the drill. You come into the league, find your niche, perfect that, and then do the best you can in other areas. But Taylor hasn't truly perfected his pass rush moves, and rushing the passer is what he does best. And he doesn't seem to focus at all on getting better at his run defense technique, so he is basically a player who is only decent on obvious passing downs.
Seattle has drafted two promising edge rushers over the last couple of years. Derick Hall (2023) and Boye Mafe (2022) weren't taken with the singular idea that they would replace Taylor atop the Seahawks pass rush rotation, but because Mafe and Hall appear to be much better at stopping the run (Hall hasn't played a down in a real game, of course, but he is bigger and stronger than Taylor) so they could get more reps based on that alone.
Taylor is going to make the team, of course. I am not trying to imply that the Seahawks release him. That would be silly. But as far as Taylor's spot on the depth chart, that could definitely be in question. He's also dealing with an injured shoulder currently, but even if he was healthy, Hall and Mafe, especially, would be pushing him.
No. 4 - Seahawks receiver Dareke Young
Another receiver that, like Eskridge, is dealing with an injury. Unlike Eskridge, however, Young hasn't constantly been injured in his career so far. He played in 13 games last season, mostly on special teams, but he did make a couple of catches in the last game of the season for Seattle. He flashed in those two catches as it appeared he had a little wiggle to his moves once he caught the ball.
But while I am hoping Young still makes the team, there are clearly no guarantees. He is being pushed by Jake Bobo and Cody Thompson. (Thompson missed the Vikings game to begin the preseason with a groin injury, but the injury does not appear to be serious.) Whether Young makes the 53-man active roster could come down to several things.
One is how soon Young can return from being hurt. While he played in 2022, the Seahawks may want to see a bit more of what Young can do catching the ball instead of simply saving a spot for him because he can play special teams. Bobo and Thompson can do that as well. But Young is unfortunately missing valuable reps currently while Bobo is not.
There is also the question about how many receivers Seattle wants to keep on the active roster. If that number is six, that helps Young. But if the number is five, then Bobo, Thompson, Eskridge, and Young are trying to four players into two spots. If I had to guess, I would think Seattle would keep Bobo and Young, but I am not smart enough to make those tough decisions.