A few Thursday night notes as the third day of the free agency period comes to a close.
A few notes to pass along with the third day of free agency just about in the books. …
— The Seahawks got visits today from C Stefen Wisniewski and Shelley Smith. But there are no indications that a signing is imminent. The Denver Post reports that Smith will visit the Broncos Friday. And the the Seahawks may be patient in trying to add a linemen or two, as noted in the story/post below. Or they find the right fit and sign a guy tomorrow. You never know. But the Seattle brass, as detailed below, has sent signals that it won’t rush to add linemen.
— One Seahawk unrestricted free agent no one figured would be back has indeed moved on — O’Brien Schofield — who signed today with the Atlanta Falcons, where he will play for former Seattle DC Dan Quinn, now the head coach there.
Schofield becomes the fourth Seahawk free agent to move on. The others are: CB Byron Maxwell (Philadelphia), LB Malcolm Smith (Raiders) and OL James Carpenter (Jets).
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Seattle has gained three players so far — TE Jimmy Graham and CBs Will Blackmon and Cary Williams.
The good news for Seattle out of that is that all four of the free agents lost could be players for whom the Seahawks would get a draft pick back as compensation — Maxwell and Carpenter for sure, and based on this formula, Smith would also qualify for compensation and Schofield likely would, as well, though I’ve yet to see Schofield’s contract.
The players lost will be offset if Seattle signs any free agent. But so far, Seattle has yet to sign a free agent who would qualify for compensation as both Blackmon and Williams had already been released — players who have been cut, or “street” free agents in the NFL vernacular, do not merit compensation. Players whose contracts simply run out, like all four that Seattle has lost, do merit compensation.
That’s worth remembering going forward as we all know how much the Seahawks like their draft picks. They will almost certainly get the maximum four for this year’s draft for the free agent losses of last offseason. And it’s certainly something they will keep in mind when signing UFAs.
— One player who had been linked to Seattle, Cleveland defensive end Jabaal Sheard, signed today instead with the Patriots.
— OvertheCap.com, which has accounted for all of Seattle’s additions, has the Seahawks with $14.5 million in cap space.
— Graham said today he wants to wear 88 since 80 is out of the question, having been retired for Steve Largent, who wasn’t all that happy with the way the Jerry Rice thing went down. That made me wonder who the best 88 in Seattle history was and led me to this list picking the best players at each number. Reading that list makes me think someone wearing No. 6 really needs to step up.
— If you haven’t seen it yet, Graham has his own web site.