Seahawks claim B.J. Daniels off of waivers from Niners, release John Lotulelei

The Seahawks have claimed QB B.J. Daniels off of waivers from the San Francisco 49ers, releasing LB John Lotulelei to clear a spot on the roster. Most will see this another in the ongoing tit-for-tat exchange with the Niners, but considering the Hawks had to release a guy they seemed to be pretty high on in Lotulelei, I would venture that during the draft process, the Hawks had a pretty high grade on Daniels. In fact, Daniels is known worked out for Seattle coaches in Florida prior to being selected by the Niners in the 7th round.

It makes sense, really, that Seattle would show in interest in Daniels, in that he appears to be a similar style of quarterback to Russell Wilson. I've seen Kip from over at Seahawks Draft Blog compare him to a hybrid version, stylistically, of Russell Wilson and Cam Newton, and Jared here compared him something between a Michael Vick and Robert Griffin in style. Either way, assuming Tarvaris Jackson may want to seek a starting job next season (why wouldn't he?), Seattle may be looking to develop a long term backup at the position.

In fact, the Niners were actually using Daniels as a proxy stand-in for Russ in the run-up to the Seahawks-Niners game. At that time, Pete Carroll had intimated that the Hawks had wanted to grab Daniels had he not been drafted by the Niners or had he been released at roster cutdowns.

Said Carroll- "We thought he was a very good football player and somewhat underrated and under the radar a little bit, but obviously not (underrated) there (in San Fran) because they figured it out and drafted him."

Of course, in the meantime, perhaps this front office see Daniels as a KR/PR and WR/RB type as well - a swiss-army knife type in the mold of Golden Tate. Daniels, at 5'10, 222, ran a 4.63 40 with a 1.57 10-yard split, and added a 4.27 short shuttle and 7.02 3-cone at the Super Regional Combine, all decent numbers for his size and very good numbers for a quarterback. He practiced for the Niners at KR/PR and RB during the preseason, and apparently he looked pretty good at quarterback when he got in during games. I'll have to go back and watch some of those games.