RENTON — Dwight Freeney posted on his Twitter account Wednesday, the day after the Seattle Seahawks waived the future Hall-of-Fame pass-rusher less than a month after signing him: “Completely confused to be in this situation but excited for the future.”
His “future” is with the Detroit Lions. They claimed the seven-time Pro Bowl defensive end Wednesday.
Seattle signed rookie wide receiver David Moore off the practice squad Wednesday to take Freeney’s place on the active roster for Sunday’s game at San Francisco (1-9).
As you try to compute Freeney cut for Moore, here’s the best, most-real explanation Carroll gave: “There’s cap concerns and all kinds of issues that we are dealing with right now.”
The Seahawks signed the 37-year-old Freeney on Oct. 25 to a prorated amount for the rest of this season at the top value for a veteran-minimum contract: $1 million. Freeney was earning $58,823 per week from Seattle, as he now will from Detroit, plus an $8,000 roster bonus
The Seahawks save $400,941 — his total for the remainder of this regular season — against their salary cap by waiving him.
Seattle is at its cap limit, after making go-for-it moves since September such as trading for Pro Bowl defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson and Pro Bowl left tackle Duane Brown. Last week, after Richard Sherman went on injured reserve with his ruptured Achilles, the team signed veteran cornerback Byron Maxwell.
They didn’t get those guys for free.
Moore comes at a cost of $164,117 for the final seven weeks of this season. The savings from Freeney to Moore is $250,291.
That’s how up against the cap the Seahawks are.
Plus, Seattle’s defensive-line and salary-cap situations changed in the four weeks since Seattle signed Freeney.
Dion Jordan has since come off the non-football-injury list following knee surgeries. Jordan, 10 years younger than Freeney, played 19 snaps Monday night to Freeney’s 17. That was one week after Freeney played 41 snaps to Jordan’s 33 at Arizona, Jordan’s Seahawks debut and first NFL game in three years.
Jordan is costing Seattle $379,212 this season, a proration of the minimum salary of $615,000 for a player the league has credited two accrued seasons.
Whenever any team can get younger and cheaper for what they feel is comparable production, they will. Especially ones tight against the salary cap.
So Seattle did.
Extra points
Luke Joeckel practiced for the first time since knee surgery last month. Offensive line coach Tom Cable said the team needs to see how Joeckel responds to that before determining if he will return to his starting left-guard spot Sunday. If he can, the Seahawks will be deciding between rookie Ethan Pocic or Mark Glowinski starting at right guard. Pocic, the second-round draft choice, has started at left guard in Joeckel’s absence. … Carroll, asked if the Seahawks have any doubts about Blair Walsh after the kicker missed three field goals in the three-point home loss to Washington and then missed the 52-yarder at the end of Monday’s game that would have sent it to overtime: “No. He is our guy.”
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