RENTON — Saturday was the NFL’s cut day. Sunday its league-wide swap meet.
And for the second straight season, the Seattle Seahawks used the day after cut day to peruse the list of newly available players and make a few changes to their roster. Seattle claimed off waivers defensive tackle Landon Cohen, defensive tackle Al Woods, kicker Steven Hauschka and tackle Jarriel King, all of whom were cut-day casualties a day earlier.
To make room for the new players, Seattle released defensive tackle Junior Siavii, kicker Jeff Reed, defensive tackle Pep Levingston and linebacker David Vobora.
Siavii, who started six games last year and had 30 tackles in his only season in Seattle, is the biggest surprise on that list, but the Seahawks apparently felt they could upgrade on the line with Cohen and Woods. Woods, who played his college football at LSU, was a fourth-round pick last year, but New Orleans cut him before the start of the season. He was on Pittsburgh’s practice squad before eventually landing on Tampa Bay’s active roster, where he played under current Seahawks defensive line coach Todd Wash. Cohen, a seventh-round pick in 2008, finished last season in New England and spent training camp with the Patriots before being waived.
The Seahawks elected to get younger at kicker, swapping the 32-year-old Reed for the 26-year-old Hauschka, who spent the preseason as Denver’s No. 2 kicker — you may remember him as the guy who hit the 51-yard field goal to beat Seattle in preseason game No. 3. Reed was accurate throughout the preseason, but didn’t show great leg strength on kickoffs.
King, meanwhile, is an undrafted rookie out of South Carolina who spent the preseason with the New York Giants. The 6-foot-5, 324-pound King is described as athletic but still raw fundamentally.
The moves were less significant that last year’s day-after-cut-day swaps when the Seahawks parted ways with running back Julius Jones, fullback Owen Schmitt and safety Jordan Babineaux (who was later re-signed), but was still the latest step in a massive overhaul of the roster under head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider.
The Seahawks also signed six players to their practice squad: defensive end Maurice Fountain, defensive end Jameson Konz, wide receiver Ricardo Lockette, guard Brent Osborne, safety Josh Pinkard and wide receiver Owen Spencer, all of whom spent part or all of training camp with the Seahawks. Konz, a seventh-round pick last season, moved from tight end to defensive end in training camp this season.
Teams are allowed eight practice squad players, so expect Seattle to add a couple more in the next couple of days. Look for Levingston, a seventh-round pick this year, to fill one of those spots if he clears waivers.
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at heraldnet.com/seahawksblog
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