Seahawks trade LB Barrett Ruud to New Orleans

The New Orleans Saint announced Monday night that they have acquired linebacker Barrett Ruud from the Seahawks for an undisclosed draft pick.

The Seahawks signed Ruud in April prior to the draft as a potential replacement at middle linebacker for David Hawthorne, who incidentally signed with New Orleans in the offeseason. Later in the month, the Seahawks drafted Bobby Wanger in the second round out of Utah State. Wagner quickly took over the starting job, in part because Ruud missed most of Seattle's offseason workouts while recovering from offseason surgeries. Pete Carroll made no secret of the fact that he hoped Wagner would win the job, and after seeing Wagner play extensively in Seattle's first two preseason games, he apparently felt comfortable parting with Ruud, who served as an insurance policy if Wagner wasn't ready to start from Day 1.

(And here's an article leading into last weekend's preseason game on the development of Wagner).

Terms of the trade were not announced, though the pick Seattle acquired is almost certainly a late-round pick.