Will Byron Maxwell make it? Poona Ford? Seahawks beat writer Bob Condotta makes his picks in the wake of their third preseason game, a 21-20 loss in Minnesota.
The heavy lifting of the preseason is now over following Seattle’s loss to the Vikings in the third preseason game Friday night.
All that’s left now is three practices next week, the dreaded fourth preseason game against the Raiders Thursday night and then cutdown day Sept. 1.
Here’s my latest guess at what the Seahawks’ initial 53-man roster may look like.
QUARTERBACK
KEEP: Russell Wilson, Alex McGough.
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CUT: Austin Davis.
COMMENT:Â McGough was a little more erratic against the Vikings than you’d figure the Seahawks would like, which makes Davis still maybe the safer bet. As such, this is one position where I think the final preseason game has some real meaning. Davis hasn’t gotten anything done in his limited playing time the last two weeks. You’d figure the Seahawks will try to get him a few more snaps against the Raiders. But they know what they have in Davis while McGough remains the wildcard. One thought on how Seattle decides this is that Davis’ contract would be guaranteed if he is on the roster week one. That’s not the case for McGough, which could help him.
TAILBACK
KEEP: Chris Carson, Rashaad Penny, C.J. Prosise, Mike Davis, J.D. McKissic.
CUT: Gerald Holmes, Justin Stockton.
COMMENT: It seems like the team intends to keep McKissic on the 53-man entering the season since he may only miss a few games. If so, you’d think the other four who have played in the preseason will make it for sure to assure the team has the depth it needs. I’ve had all five making it throughout, anyway. Davis has had some solid moments and Prosise has stayed healthy enough so far.
FULLBACK
KEEP: Tre Madden.
CUT: None.
COMMENT: Madden didn’t play against the Vikings — not sure if there was an injury or just the way it worked out as he was there. I’ve thought all along Seattle would keep a fullback this year and Madden was a core special teams guy last year, as well, and I’ll stick with that thought for now.
TIGHT END
KEEP: Ed Dickson, Nick Vannett, Will Dissly.
CUT: Tyrone Swoopes, Clayton Wilson, Kyle Carter.
COMMENT: Dickson remains on the Non-Football Injury list and if his injury lingers the roster makeup of tight end — yep that’s what I also wrote last week and the week before. But the Seahawks have said it’s not too late for Dickson to be ready for the season, and for now, Dickson/Vannett/Dissly look like locks with Swoopes a practice-squad guy again and potential depth down the road.
WIDE RECEIVER
KEEP: Doug Baldwin, Tyler Lockett, Jaron Brown, David Moore, Brandon Marshall, Marcus Johnson.
CUT: Amara Darboh, Tanner McEvoy, Cyril Grayson, Damore’ea Stringfellow, Caleb Scott, Keenan Reynolds, Malik Turner, Marvin Bracy.
COMMENT: One of the most interesting players to watch the last week is Darboh, a third-round pick in 2017 who didn’t do much last season (eight receptions for 71 yards) and has yet to play in the preseason dealing with a couple of different injuries, most recently a clavicle. Pete Carroll said Darboh will play against the Raiders and while his status as a third-round pick a year ago can’t be discounted — not even just because of what it would say to cut a third-rounder a year later but because there are reasons they drafted him where they did and they’d want to make sure they are wrong before releasing him — you’d think he has to show a little something to make the roster. For this week, I’m going to go with Johnson as the sixth receiver on the roster instead of Darboh. Johnson had a nice catch against the Vikings, the team likes his speed and he would have a big special teams role. The other five at this point seem like locks.
OFFENSIVE LINE
KEEP: Justin Britt, Ethan Pocic, Germain Ifedi, D.J. Fluker, Duane Brown, George Fant, Jordan Roos, J.R. Sweezy, Isaiah Battle.
CUT: Willie Beavers, Rees Odhiambo, Joey Hunt, Skyler Phillips, Marcus Henry.
IR: Jamarco Jones.
COMMENT: I’m keeping the same nine here this week which means keeping Sweezy, who has yet to play due to a high ankle sprain. But if he can’t get healthy enough to play against the Raiders then all bets are off on that. The Seahawks last week moved both Sweezy and Odhiambo to play on the other side from where they had been obviously hoping to see if each can be a swing guard — backups need to be able to play multiple spots. Also worth watching is Jones. The Seahawks may keep him on the 53-man roster to start the regular season but could then put him on IR that week so he could return later in the season — players placed on IR during the preseason cannot return during the regular season. For now, I think only the starting five and Fant are complete locks to make the roster.
DEFENSIVE LINE
KEEP: Jarran Reed, Frank Clark, Nazair Jones, Rasheem Green, Tom Johnson, Branden Jackson, Shamar Stephen, Quinton Jefferson, Erik Walden.
CUT: Poona Ford, Ricky Ali’ifua, Joey Ivie, Josh Forrest.
PUP: Dion Jordan.
COMMENT: Walden’s two sacks against the Vikings indicate he still has something to offer and that would seem to have solidified his spot on the team. The rest have seemed pretty secure for a while. The one big question is Ford, who has been a standout the last two weeks, mostly in the later stages of the games, which can’t be completely ignored when evaluating him. You’d assume he has to beat out Stephen to earn a roster spot but Stephen seems to be in good position to make it. But one thing Seattle obviously has to consider is it if thinks it would lose Ford if he were waived. Or maybe he compels Seattle to keep a 10th defensive lineman.
LINEBACKER
KEEP: Bobby Wagner, K.J. Wright, Shaquem Griffin, Barkevious Mingo, Jacob Martin, Austin Calitro.
CUT: Emmanuel Beal, Jake Pugh, D.J. Alexander, Jason Hall.
COMMENT: I’m also leaving this position the same as it was a week ago. But one thought is that if the Seahawks decide they want to keep Ford they could maybe do without Calitro and go with five linebackers and assume they can get him on the practice squad.
CORNERBACK
KEEP: Shaquill Griffin, Byron Maxwell, Justin Coleman, Tre Flowers, Dontae Johnson.
CUT: Neiko Thorpe, Akeem King, Trovon Reed, Jeremy Boykins, Elijah Battle.
COMMENT: I’m still leaning toward them keeping both Maxwell and Johnson. But Mike Tyson is intriguing since he can play in the slot and also at safety, which has been his primary position of late — he’s officially listed as a free safety at the moment but his experience playing corner could come into play in putting together the back end of defense. And whether Seattle would want to keep both of veterans Maxwell and Johnson may also depend on how much confidence they have that Flowers could contribute immediately if needed. Maxwell also has yet to play in the preseason and his contract would be guaranteed if he’s on the roster week one. So don’t ink him in just yet.
SAFETY
KEEP: Bradley McDougald, Delano Hill, Tedric Thompson, Maurice Alexander.
CUT: Tevon Mutcherson, Lorenzo Jerome, Mike Tyson.
RESERVE/DID NOT REPORT LIST: Earl Thomas.
COMMENT: No changes here though as noted in the cornerback comment, Tyson seems to be making a little of a run at a roster spot of late with injuries to others at both safety and corner.
SPECIAL TEAMS
KEEP: Sebastian Janikowski, Michael Dickson, Tyler Ott.
CUT: None,
COMMENT: This is all set now after the moves during the week to waive Jon Ryan and Jason Myers.