Seahawks won’t tender DeShawn Shead or Brock Coyle, making them unrestricted free agents

While the Seattle Seahawks slapped an original-round tender on restricted free agent right tackle Garry Gilliam, they will not be doing the same for either starting CB DeShawn Shead or backup LB Brock Coyle. Seahawks beat reporter Sheil Kapadia reported the news on Tuesday.

What this means is that both Shead and Coyle are now unrestricted free agents. Shead is doubtful to start the 2017 season after tearing his ACL in Seattle’s season-ending playoff loss to the Atlanta Falcons. He underwent successful surgery at the end of January. Coyle has appeared in 42 games (35 in the regular season) for the Seahawks since he was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2014. He’s earned five starts in total, filling in when Bobby Wagner was hurt in 2014, and likewise for Mike Morgan in 2016. Brock’s contributions have otherwise largely been on special teams.

Today’s news isn’t a suggestion that we won’t be seeing either of these two in a Seahawks uniform next year. Keep in mind that the original-round tender is one-year, $1.797 million, which is a considerable bump from the one-year, $760,000 deal Shead signed in the previous offseason, when he was an Exclusive Rights Free Agent (ERFA). Meanwhile, Coyle’s 2016 cap number was $601,000. Seattle can bring them back on cheaper one-year deals than had they gone with the tender offers, as was done with Christine Michael last offseason.