Seahawks release two, add one on Thursday

The Seattle Seahawks announced the signing of defensive end/tackle Tylor Harris on Thursday. Harris was seen practicing with the team Thursday morning. In a corresponding move, they released undrafted free agent linebacker Montese Overton.

In four years at Wake Forest, Harris had 83 tackles, five sacks, and 13.5 tackles for a loss as a defensive tackle. The Seahawks list him at 6’3, 308 pounds but despite his massive frame, they also call Harris a “defensive end” in their announcement. It’s not too unusual for a Pete Carroll defensive end however, as Red Bryant is taller and heavier than Harris is listed at now. He had four fumble recoveries in his career, but three of those came in a single game against Louisville in 2014. See him force and recover one of those said fumbles for a touchdown right here:

He is the first player since “fumble recoveries” became a stat in 1992 to recover three fumbles in a single game. But Harris went undrafted and was available to sign on Thursday, so he’s still a longshot to make the final 53-man roster. Definitely they appear to have some interest in him as at least a practice squad candidate, it would seem.

Overton’s chance to make the practice squad just went down, however. The DE/LB out of East Carolina had impressed some during minicamps, with Carroll noting that he would compete at the SAM spot, but it appears that he’s just nowhere close to as ready as the three guys leading for that job: Mike Morgan, Cassius Marsh, and Eric Pinkins. The team clearly needed size upfront more than they needed another outside linebacker.

In a separate move, the Seahawks released injured linebacker Christian French. They waived him in May but when nobody picked him up off waivers, he reverted to the injured reserve and would not count against the 90-man roster. Still, they released him again on Thursday. French started out at Oregon as a tight end before moving to defensive end and going undrafted this year before signing with Seattle.