Roster news: Seahawks non-tender two ERFAs

Amidst the news of the Seattle Seahawks making major roster changes, with Michael Bennett being traded to Philadelphia and Richard Sherman’s impending release, a bit of minor news has gone largely overlooked.

The deadline for teams to tender their Exclusive Rights Free Agents (ERFA) is Wednesday, March 14 at 4:00 pm New York time, but news about a couple of ERFAs the team intends to non-tender has started to make its way out.

Garrison Smith was awarded to the Seahawks off waivers from the San Francisco 49ers in 2016, but spent most of that year on injured reserve. In 2017 he was moved between the active roster and the practice squad multiple times, but the team appears to have seen enough during his two seasons to feel comfortable moving on at this time. Christian French, meanwhile, played his college ball at the University of Oregon who spent 2017 on injured reserve after suffering an undisclosed injury during training camp. After being non-tendered, both Smith and French will become unrestricted free agents able to sign with any team.

With word is leaking out about these two ERFAs being non-tendered, it would seem logical that the other ERFAs have been tendered. That would include players such as J.D. McKissic, Tyler Ott, Tyrone Swoopes, Quinton Jefferson, Branden Jackson and Joey Hunt. That is not an all-inclusive list, but it is the names with which fans are most likely familiar. As word of the tender status of the other ERFAs becomes public, I’ll do my best to keep readers updated.

In any case, wishing nothing but the best of luck to both Smith and French in their future endeavors. Unless they find themselves on a team facing the Seahawks, and in that case I hope their future team suffers a soul crushing defeat.