No real surprises as Seahawks set initial 53-man roster

By Bob Condotta / The Seattle Times

RENTON — Yes, the Seattle Seahawks will continue to benefit from “More Bobo.”

As the team set its initial 53-man roster Tuesday, undrafted rookie free agent receiver Jake Bobo of UCLA may have been the biggest winner, making the cut after a sterling preseason and training camp in which he became something of a teammate and fan favorite.

Otherwise, there were not a lot of surprises as the Seahawks had to pare their roster by 25 to get to the max of 53.

Seattle waived 17 players outright, waived another three as injured, left two on the physically unable to perform list and released two veterans.

Receiver Dee Eskridge also does not count against the roster as he will be suspended for the first six games of the season.

Those waived Tuesday were quarterback Holton Ahlers, linebacker Levi Bell, cornerback Lance Boykin, tackle Greg Eiland, nose Matthew Gomel, receivers John Hall, Cade Johnson and Matt Landers, linebacker Patrick O’Connell, safety Ty Okada, defensive end Roderick Perry, guard Kendall Randoph, defensive end Jacob Sykes, running back SaRodorick Thompson and linebacker Christian Young.

Waived as injured were safety Joey Blount, linebacker Vi Jones and safety Jonathan Sutherland. All will revert to injured reserve if they clear waivers and are out for the season.

Left on the PUP list are nose tackles Bryan Mone and Austin Faoliu and released as vets were linebacker Ben Burr-Kirven and center Joey Hunt.

Bobo was the sensation of camp, with teammates adopting the saying “More Bobo” expressing their desire to get him the ball as often as possible, capping a solid preseason with an 18-yard TD grab against Green Bay. Afterward, Bobo said he would indeed feel a little anxious and had Tuesday’s cutdown date circled on his calendar.

But his performance and the team’s depth issues at receiver — including that Jaxon Smith-Njigba may not be ready Week One and Dareke Young and Cody Thompson are each dealing with injuries as well, even though both made the initial roster — seemed to make it a given that Bobo would make the team.

He was one of 12 rookies to make the roster, which included all 10 draft picks, as well as snapper Chris Stoll.

Burr-Kirven, as could any of the rest of the players the team waived or released, could re-sign with the practice squad on Wednesday — or simply back to the roster if Seattle opens up spots in other ways.

One player who had been thought on the bubble was sixth-round safety Jerrick Reed II. But the move with Blount helped create a need to keep Reed, who also had a strong final game at Green Bay.

Seattle also kept veteran Artie Burns at cornerback, giving them six at that spot, a possible hedge against Devon Witherspoon continuing to deal with a hamstring issue.

All waived players can now be claimed by any NFL team, with teams picking in the native order of the 2023 draft (meaning, Seattle has the 20th choice).

Vested veterans (meaning, four or more years of accrued service) who are released can now immediately sign with any team.

Once players clear waivers, or released players who don’t sign with any other team, can re-sign with Seattle’s 16-man practice squad on Wednesday.

The Seahawks are sure to want to re-sign many of their waived or released players for the practice squad.

The Seahawks also could make claims of their own, as they did last year when they claimed cornerback Isaiah Dunn and linebacker Darryl Johnson.

Seattle could also make moves to put a few players on injured reserve. Now that the 53-man deadline has passed, players can go on IR and only have to sit out four games, as opposed to having to miss the entire season if they were placed on IR before the roster cutdown. That could be the case with receivers Young and Thompson.

In other words, the moves are far from done, and a handful of players on the roster Tuesday may not be when the regular season begins Sept. 10 against the Rams at Lumen Field.

Here’s a quick look at the roster:

Quarterback

(2) Geno Smith, Drew Lock.

Running back

(5) Kenneth Walker III, DeeJay Dallas, Zach Charbonnet, Kenny McIntosh, Nick Bellore.

Tight end

(3) Will Dissly, Noah Fant, Colby Parkinson.

Wide receiver

(6) DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Dareke Young, Cody Thompson, Jake Bobo.

Offensive line

(9) Charles Cross, Abraham Lucas, Evan Brown, Damien Lewis, Phil Haynes, Stone Forsythe, Jake Curhan, Anthony Bradford, Olu Oluwatimi.

Defensive line