With Nick Vannett dealing with a back issue, the Seahawks added an extra tight end for insurance before Sunday's game against the Raiders, signing former Texas QB Tyrone Swoopes off the practice squad.
The Seahawks announced Saturday that they have signed tight end Tyrone Swoopes off the practice squad.
Swoopes will be on the active roster when the Seahawks play the Raiders in London on Sunday morning. He helps to shore up a position group that has been hit hard by injury this season.
Swoopes was with the Seahawks all through training camp but was cut as the team trimmed its roster to 53 men. He re-signed with the Seahawks’ practice squad this week.
Starting tight end Nick Vannett dealing with a back issue that forced him to sit out practice on Wednesday. So the Seahawks clearly felt they needed some insurance at the position to join Vannett and second-year pro Darrell Daniels.
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To make room for Swoopes on the 53-man roster, Seattle waived receiver Keenan Reynolds.
Injury has plagued the Seahawks’ tight ends this year. Ed Dickson has dealt with a quadriceps injury since he signed with the Seahawks as a free agent, and he started the season on the non-football injury list — though, he’s eligible for return after the Seahawks-Raiders game.
Rookie tight end Will Dissly performed surprisingly well early in the season but suffered a season-ending patellar tendon injury to his right knee against the Cardinals on Sept. 30.
In Dissly’s absence, Vannett stepped into the starting role, but is now dealing with a back issue that forced him to sit out practice on Wednesday this week. Vannett was limited in practice on Thursday, and on Friday, he got what Seahawks coach Pete Carroll termed a “rest day.”
Vannett is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against Oakland, but Carroll has said he expects the tight end to play.
Swoopes (6-4, 254 pounds) played quarterback at Texas before switching to tight end as a pro. He was on the Seahawks’ practice squad for most of 2017, though he was promoted to the active roster for the Seahawks-Cardinals game on Dec. 31, 2017.