Seahawks announce two more practice squad signings

The Seattle Seahawks have been making a flurry of moves throughout the afternoon as they finalize their 53-man roster and formulate the corresponding practice squad (go ahead and visit the official Field Gulls practice squad tracker for more). In addition to the players announced earlier, John Schneider mentioned two new names in his afternoon press conference. According to Bob Condotta, it looks like the team is adding another rookie offensive lineman along with a veteran cornerback.

Jalen McKenzie is an undrafted free agent out of USC who played right tackle for the Trojans and made a positive impression with his desirable size/power combination. The NFL Draft Bible over at Sports Illustrated had this to say:

“Watching early-season McKenzie come off of the bench, I didn’t expect to give him a draftable grade or for him to come out this year, but since taking the right tackle job in the Notre Dame game McKenzie has made massive strides as a player. His hands are quicker, depth and footwork in pass sets have improved and he’s always been a brawler in the pit. McKenzie doesn’t quite have the physical tools to be an early-round tackle, but if a team buys into the second half of this season, McKenzie showed enough on tape to get on an NFL roster.”

The Houston Texans selected Xavier Crawford with a 6th round pick out of Central Michigan in 2019, and has since bounced around the NFL, eventually landing with the Chicago Bears, where he actually got to see some significant playing time last season; after primarily being a reserve/special teams guy over his first couple years, Crawford made two starts for the Bears in 2021, logging a serviceable 139 snaps on defense, along with 207 on special teams, according to Pro Football Reference. While he lacks the length that the team has looked for at the position, his experience as a special teams guy and his familiarity with Sean Desai may come in handy during the season.