Seahawks release Malik McDowell

You won’t have to hear about Malik McDowell again any time soon. At least not as it pertains to his future with the Seattle Seahawks. Less than two years after selecting McDowell with the 35th overall pick in the draft, the Seahawks have released him and he is now on waivers.

You know the story with McDowell already.

Ian Rapoport added that his source says McDowell wants to continue to pursue a football career, but clearly Seattle does not see one, even if it’s just out of their concern for his own safety. I personally don’t endorse bashing McDowell; he suffers way more than the Seahawks do. If he does continue to pursue a football career, I hope he’s healthy, happy, and productive.

On Seattle’s side, what does the McDowell story teach them? I don’t think that they’ll be able to reconcile with choosing “safer” players because Pete Carroll has often supported the freedom for players to do what they want in the offseason as far as potentially dangerous sports. There’s no real injury lesson to take away from it because his injury was not field related, it just ties into the behavior questions. McDowell was labeled as a low effort player and maybe that is something to consider, but the Seahawks already preach “competition” above all else. For some reason McDowell didn’t fit the competitive narrative, but maybe that’s because his physical gifts had top-five qualities and they decided that was enough to tip the scales. Maybe now that’s not the case.

Either way, that lesson was finalized today.