Seahawks extend McDougald’s deal, waive Shead

Published 1:30 am Monday, March 12, 2018

The Seahawks continued to make moves in the secondary Monday, agreeing with safety Bradley McDougald on a three-year contract extension and waiving defensive back DeShawn Shead.

McDougald serves as Seattle’s Kam Chancellor insurance package on Monday, and the deal for last season’s fill-in strong safety is for $13.95 million, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.

McDougald, 27, was something of a mini-revelation last season after the Seahawks signed the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers starter to a one-year contract for $800,000 to back up both Chancellor and free safety Earl Thomas. Chancellor suffered a season-ending neck injury in the win at Arizona Nov. 9. McDougald ended up starting nine games for the Seahawks, was a sure tackler and proved himself in pass coverage.

Chancellor, who turns 30 next month, may never play again. He’s got tests this spring on his neck and awaits the recommendation of doctors on whether any more football is a good idea. But with his $6.8 million guaranteed for this year he’s likely to remain on the roster.

Although the Seahawks waived the versatile, 28-year-old Shead, he may end up on Seattle’s roster down the line.

He came back from reconstructive knee surgery in January 2017 and a follow-up procedure last summer to play in the final two games of last season.

Shead is now a free agent. Why? Because his contract from last season tolled after he spent almost all of 2017 on the physically-unable-to-perform list. A tolling contract would have required the Seahawks to pay him the same in 2018 as they did in 2017, $1.2 million.

By releasing their one-time special-teams captain into free agency, the Seahawks aren’t bound to that tolling amount and can re-negotiate a new price with Shead for 2018. Of course, Shead can also shop for offers elsewhere. Reportedly, Detroit is interested.

Shead’s agent spoke to ESPN about the Seahawks’ thoughts.

“They called me and they said, ‘Just giving you a heads up that we’re going to release DeShawn on Monday, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want him. That means we are living up to our word and we’re going to release him, otherwise his contract would be required to toll.’” agent Cameron Foster told espn.com.

“So kudos to the Seahawks for doing the right thing. It’s them living up to their word, letting DeShawn test the free-agent world, but they have said they’d like to have him come back.”