Seahawks Make First Round of Roster Cuts

The Seahawks made a cluster of moves today to get themselves down to 76 on the official roster, by my count. Seattle has announced that they have waived/injured Jameson Konz, Lazarius Levingston, Roy Lewis, and Cameron Morrah, waived Phil Bates, Edawn Coughman, Donny Lisowski, Ron Parker, Tyrell Sutton, and terminated the contracts of Alex Barron, Deuce Lutui, and Terrell Owens. Seattle has until 1PM tomorrow to get down to 75, and they could possibly place James Carpenter or Walter Thurmond on the official reserve/PUP list to pare down one more spot. Both are still eligible to be taken off of the preseason PUP list.

Konz, Lewis, and Morrah have all really struggled with injuries and just could not get themselves healthy enough to challenge for a roster spot at this time. Konz was a Seahawks' draft pick in 2010 as a TE, and after making the switch to defense last year, tore his ACL on special teams duty in first game after being called up to the active 53 last year. He's a physical freak of nature and could have found a spot as a core special teams guy, but I don't think he's back to full speed at this point, rehabbing his knee. Lewis is also having knee issues after starting out last season on the PUP list with the same problem. Morrah is seemingly perpetually injured, and had a toe thing flare up this past week. I hadn't heard what Levingston was having issues with, but when you're a bubble player like he was, being injured is a tough break. All four players, if they clear waivers, will be eligible to be placed on IR.

Phil Bates was an intriguing player to me, early in camp, but had faded quite a bit over the last few weeks. He saw very little playing time in the Seahawks first three preseason games so his odds of making the team had really diminished as of late. I still think the Seahawks' front office likes him, and he could be a nice practice squad type if he clears waivers. Edawn Coughman played at both guard and tackle, and then this last week saw some time at defensive tackle. He is the type that I could see hanging around on practice squads for a while as well. Ron Parker had the injury bug this preseason as well, and though he flashed as a versatile S/CB, just couldn't get healthy enough to show what he could do.

Tyrell Sutton looked good last week against Denver, scoring a long touchdown on a screen pass, but is a victim of the numbers game at this point. His early release gives him a chance to catch on elsewhere as depth. Donnie Lisowski was impressive as a free agent signing at Rookie Camp, but was also a victim to the numbers game.

Deuce Lutui is probably the biggest surprise cut of the day, but it shows that the Seahawks are very happy with their young depth at the guard position. J.R. Sweezy has emerged, and the team has liked the play of Rishaw Johnson as well and with Lemuel Jeanpierre, Allen Barbre, and Frank Omiyale also factors at that position, Lutui became expendable. I had originally had pretty high hopes for Lutui, but he didn't seem to pick up the ZBS super quickly and looked lost a few times out there, moving around into the second level. Alex Barron isn't a huge surprise cut, nor is Terrell Owens.