Seahawks release DT Tony McDaniel in cap-savings move

The Seahawks have released veteran defensive tackle Tony McDaniel a day after signing Bobby Wagner to a long-term contract extension and two days after inking Russell Wilson to a new deal. Wagner, who tweeted out that the Seahawks "can't keep everyone" on Friday, appears to be right, and McDaniel's $3M cap hit for this season ended up being too much for Seattle to take on.

This has been a move that we've been anticipating for some time -- not necessarily McDaniel for sure, but the thought has been that Seattle would have to release a defensive tackle in order to accommodate the Wilson and Wagner extensions. It most likely came down to Brandon Mebane and McDaniel, and for now, it looks like Mebane is safe.

The 30-year old McDaniel has been with the team the past two seasons on a three-year, $5.75M deal, and he started 29 games for the Seahawks. He's primarily a base-down three-technique defender, but his experience in a 3-4 defense made him valuable for his versatility. The Seahawks will likely turn to a rotation of players to replace him, starting with Jordan Hill and free agent acquisition Ahtyba Rubin, and dipping into their group of relatively unknown defensive tackles -- Jimmy Staten, D'Anthony Smith, T.Y. McGill, Julius Warmsley, and potentially Demarcus Dobbs. At the moment, I see Greg Scruggs and David King as more of defensive end types.

McDaniel will very likely catch on elsewhere, potentially in Atlanta or Jacksonville under former Seahawk defensive coordinators that are trying to run similar schemes.